Irony

Irony encompasses a broad set of forms of expression and thought that tend to exploit the difference between expectations, reality, or any number of ideas. A classic and simple example of irony is verbal irony, where what is said signifies the opposite of what is truly meant. More sophisticated instances of irony may not show such a clear dichotomy. Examples include sitcoms, which use the detachment between the viewer, the show, and reality for comedic effect, or post-ironic memes, which can contain multiple contradictory strains of meaning.

Irony in Internet memes

In the context of memes, this is often text paired with a facial expression that encourages an ironic interpretation of the text. For example, condescending memes of Willy Wonka were an early form of memes expressing irony.

This form of comedy has become a staple form of expression in meme culture as it functions well memetically. Ironic memes have evolved from merely using ironic text paired with an image that suggests an ironic interpretation, to being self-ironic insofar as the humour of an ironic meme comes from it's absurd non-humour. An example of a self-ironic meme can be seen with the Markiplier "E" meme, where the image and text are devoid of meaning, yet we're still able to ascertain humour from it, thus it's self-ironic by being a meme (which is conventionally supposed to be humorous) and inverting the expectation of memes in much the same way that ironic memes invert the meaning of the text by way of the image used.