Irony and the Liminality of Resistance

This chapter deals with the rise of irony and questions an essential ambiguity that emerges in comedy of this period. On the one hand, new satires advance a set of post- structural concerns with the mediatization of politics and the loss of a coherent subject. On the other hand, the apparent return of reactionary subjects of race, gender and sexuality suggests that irony plays an important role in the accommodation (recuperation?) of significant political dilemmas. This dilemma yields an important perspective on the emerging social democratic consensus over globalization.