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".
The ironic part is that one might expect the producers of a film about a massive financial scam to be more educated and diligent about avoiding the same pitfalls in their own production. The fact that they were so easily gulled while essentially lecturing the world through their film, that's amusingly contrary to expectations, hence ironic.
If the movie was supposed to vilify financial scams instead of glorifying it yes it would be ironic. But Wolf of Wall Street was very glorified. Even when you think the anti-hero is finally going to get his just deserts he gets off relatively easy for supposedly committing a serious crime.
Defining irony has been a continuous argument online, but this definition seems to capture the essence of irony - "a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often wryly amusing as a result."
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"?
I disagree. It's more fitting than deliberately contrary. I would possibly see it if film had a point of being deliberately against the events depicted. A better of example of what I'm thinking is the story of the anti-piracy organisation illegally using music (as in without permission) in their anti-piracy ads.
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.
Alanis has gone on tour with The Lonely Island, replacing Solange as the featured vocalist in their live performance of "Semicolon". When it gets to the part where she points out that all the lyrics are examples where colons would be used, TLI respond "Alanis Morrisette lecturing US about grammar? Isn't that a little... IRONIC?" And then they all segue into the chorus of "Ironic". Good times.
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.
Is this not ironic?