‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ film was also a real-life scam • Hacker News Board

Re: ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ film was also a real-life scam

#21

Post by 2038AD » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 10:10 AM UTC

CloudNetworking wrote: post #15

Yajirobe wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. Irony is when the outcome of a state of affairs is opposite the expected one. The movie being about financial scams implies nothing about the making of the movie. Now, if the Wolf of Wall Street criticized (or made fun of) financial scam funded movies, that would be ironic.

> Irony is when the outcome of a state of affairs is opposite the expected one. Like making a movie about financial scams, which one would expect it would be just "a movie about financial scams" and not "a financial scam", but it turns out it was also "a financial scam"? :-)

>Like making a movie ... which one would expect it would be ... not "a financial scam"

I think you have better expectations of the film industry than I do :-)

Re: ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ film was also a real-life scam

#22

Post by mido22 » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 10:12 AM UTC

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #8

mido22 wrote: post #2

Did they just misuse the word "irony"? Or am I just dumb and having trouble identifying which form of irony this is?

Every time someone uses the word "irony" on the internet someone comes along and makes this point. I suppose like stopped clocks these commenters must be right at least occasionally. This is not one of those occasions.

I was just calling out a clickbait, didn't know that is a crime. I went back and checked the definition of "irony". This does not match any of the three:

  * the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
  * a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often wryly amusing as a result.
  * a literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the full significance of a character's words or actions is clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character.

Re: ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ film was also a real-life scam

#23

Post by OscarCunningham » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 10:14 AM UTC

ccjnsn wrote: post #5

mido22 wrote: post #2

Did they just misuse the word "irony"? Or am I just dumb and having trouble identifying which form of irony this is?

A film about financial scams was funded in part by a financial scam. Is this not ironic?

It would definitely be ironic if a movie about honesty and integrity had been funded by a scam. This is sort of the opposite, the topic of the movie and its source of funding are thematically similar, rather than being in opposition. So rather than describing it as "ironic" I'd use an antonym like "fitting" or "congruous".

Re: ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ film was also a real-life scam

#24

Post by desdiv » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 10:17 AM UTC

arethuza wrote: post #20

zhte415 wrote: post #16

Directly related book recommendation: Billion Dollar Whale by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope, published 2018. They book follows the founders of 1MDB, the quasi Malaysia soverign wealth fund wbhose investments included the founding of Red Granite the producers of Wolf of Wall Street, from pre-1MDB days through to it's demise. Quite quick and easy, repeats itself a bit and imho falls apart/seems rushed at the end, but a f…

.

That's really weird. Does it have something to do with its UK distribution rights or something?

Funny enough, I was able to find the Spanish version of the book on Amazon UK[0], but the English version apparently "will be released on September 12, 2019"[1] for Amazon UK.

I guess there exists a tiny niche market here where you can buy "early release" books from "early release" jurisdictions and ship it to "late release" jurisdictions.

[0] https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/6073176899

[1] https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1912854546

Re: ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ film was also a real-life scam

#25

Post by Top5a » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 10:18 AM UTC

mido22 wrote: post #2

Did they just misuse the word "irony"? Or am I just dumb and having trouble identifying which form of irony this is?

No idea why you are being downvoted. You are correct -- one of the forms of irony would, for example, entail the specific intent of making a movie in the most aboveboard manner, only to have it mired in fraud.

Re: ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ film was also a real-life scam

#26

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 10:24 AM UTC

desdiv wrote: post #24

arethuza wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

.

That's really weird. Does it have something to do with its UK distribution rights or something? Funny enough, I was able to find the Spanish version of the book on Amazon UK[0], but the English version apparently "will be released on September 12, 2019"[1] for Amazon UK. I guess there exists a tiny niche market here where you can buy "early release" books from "early release" jurisdictions and ship it to "late releas…

[deleted]

Re: ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ film was also a real-life scam

#27

Post by Top5a » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 10:24 AM UTC

ccjnsn wrote: post #5

mido22 wrote: post #2

Did they just misuse the word "irony"? Or am I just dumb and having trouble identifying which form of irony this is?

A film about financial scams was funded in part by a financial scam. Is this not ironic?

It is not. Rather, you could say that it is congruous, or, seeking the more emphatic tone, apposite.

Re: ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ film was also a real-life scam

#28

Post by Top5a » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 10:25 AM UTC

OscarCunningham wrote: post #23

ccjnsn wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A film about financial scams was funded in part by a financial scam. Is this not ironic?

It would definitely be ironic if a movie about honesty and integrity had been funded by a scam. This is sort of the opposite, the topic of the movie and its source of funding are thematically similar, rather than being in opposition. So rather than describing it as "ironic" I'd use an antonym like "fitting" or "congruous".

Ah, ninja'd!

Re: ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ film was also a real-life scam

#29

Post by ben509 » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 10:26 AM UTC

mido22 wrote: post #22

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time someone uses the word "irony" on the internet someone comes along and makes this point. I suppose like stopped clocks these commenters must be right at least occasionally. This is not one of those occasions.

I was just calling out a clickbait, didn't know that is a crime. I went back and checked the definition of "irony". This does not match any of the three: * the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect. * a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often wryly amusing as a result. * a lit…

It's situational irony, #2 in your list, since you'd expect people working on a film about corruption to be at least reasonably honest.

Re: ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ film was also a real-life scam

#30

Post by Top5a » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 10:27 AM UTC

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #8

mido22 wrote: post #2

Did they just misuse the word "irony"? Or am I just dumb and having trouble identifying which form of irony this is?

Every time someone uses the word "irony" on the internet someone comes along and makes this point. I suppose like stopped clocks these commenters must be right at least occasionally. This is not one of those occasions.

The trolling on HN gets better every week!