Comic Books
Tony Stark: You wouldn't believe the crap you accumulate when you are a booze-friendly billionaire: Picassos, G.I.Joes, World War Two memorabilia, Captain America trading cards...
Steve Rogers: They made trading cards about me?
Film—Live-action
Rocky: Bullwinkle, can you rappel?
Bullwinkle: Sure, I’ve been repelling viewers for years.
Bullwinkle: Sure, I’ve been repelling viewers for years.
If you see only one movie this Summer, see... Star Wars. But if you see two movies, see Austin Powers!
Live-action TV
Doctor: Where did you pick up this cheap cabaret act?
Dream Lord: Me? Oh, you're on shaky ground.
Doctor: Am I?
Dream Lord: If you had any more tawdry quirks you could open up a Tawdry Quirk Shop! The madcap vehicle, the cockamamie hair, the clothes designed by a first-year fashion student.
Dream Lord: Me? Oh, you're on shaky ground.
Doctor: Am I?
Dream Lord: If you had any more tawdry quirks you could open up a Tawdry Quirk Shop! The madcap vehicle, the cockamamie hair, the clothes designed by a first-year fashion student.
Sam: Wherever "here" is, this - this Twilight Zone Balthazar zapped us into - for whatever reason, our life is a TV show.
Dean: ...Why?
Sam: I don't know!
Dean: No, seriously, why? Why would anybody wanna watch our lives?
Sam: Well, I mean, according to the interviewer, not very many people do.
Dean: ...Why?
Sam: I don't know!
Dean: No, seriously, why? Why would anybody wanna watch our lives?
Sam: Well, I mean, according to the interviewer, not very many people do.
— Supernatural, "The French Mistake"
Newspapers
Sometimes while you're watching a movie, you can sense the presence of a wicked intelligence slipping zingers into a formula plot.
Theatre
You could go next door and see something professional
We wouldn't blame you a bit
It beats sitting through this Ore-shit
We wouldn't blame you a bit
It beats sitting through this Ore-shit
I'm never gonna be the cool guy
I'm more the one who's left out
Of all the characters at school, I
Am not the one who the story's about
I'm more the one who's left out
Of all the characters at school, I
Am not the one who the story's about
—Jeremy Heere, Be More Chill
Web Animation
I must speculate that at some point mid-development, somebody decided it had to be a comedy game now and got some poor bastard to change every line of dialogue, bar none, into a goofy sarcastic quip, no matter how tortured it came across or how incongruous it was with the visuals.
And that's how we came to be spending the whole game with a support character whose constant fucking-valley girl-fucking-Joss-fucking-Whedon-fucking-sar-fucking-castic observations tormented my stomach lining like a jagged metal enchillada.
And that's how we came to be spending the whole game with a support character whose constant fucking-valley girl-fucking-Joss-fucking-Whedon-fucking-sar-fucking-castic observations tormented my stomach lining like a jagged metal enchillada.
Web Original
Some filmmakers are embracing this idea of movies being designed to be consumed ironically, while other filmmakers are just making shitty movies. And the frustrating thing is that there is no observable difference between the two.
This era of the franchise addressed the anachronistic aspects of the character, portraying Bond as a flawed, morally ambiguous throwback to an older era, almost a man out of time. This approach of self-awareness had mixed results. It certainly helped give older fans a taste of what they’d been missing in their Bond movies, but it wasn't very forward thinking, as it did little to adapt the franchise to its modern setting. It was merely a stall tactic.
The smugness that permeates The Revolution reeks of a new direction that is absolutely full of itself. The Doctor doesn't fit in in adventures with a lot of shooting and shouting? Who was that wandering through the Eric Saward era then?
—Joe Ford
on The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield: The Revolution
on The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield: The RevolutionI don't want to be reminded that they're getting older. I don't want to hear both Jon and Ponch say 'a lot of things have changed' at least three times apiece. I don't want anything to change, you understand?
— Paul Mavis, CHiPs '99
David: “I’m sorry…for the lameness of my words." The self-awareness here never ceases to amaze me. [Neal] Adams was like, "This narration is sort of weak. I’ll just have Batman apologize for me."
Laura: I don’t think I’ve ever seen a comic actually apologize for its own writing.
David: Can you imagine if every comic book writer did this? “I’m sorry about the systemic sexism that caused me to wear this outfit.”
Laura: I don’t think I’ve ever seen a comic actually apologize for its own writing.
David: Can you imagine if every comic book writer did this? “I’m sorry about the systemic sexism that caused me to wear this outfit.”
—Laura Hudson, "The Complete and Utter Insanity of Batman Odyssey"
, "The Complete and Utter Insanity of Batman Odyssey"There is a scene in Justice League where a bunch of people watch Aquaman rescue every passenger on a capsized cruise ship, something that would be impressive as hell and is presented as such, and they stand around cracking jokes like they're the writing staff of Robot Chicken.
— Chris Sims, "Aquaman is Basically Terrible"
Web Video
When a movie is self-aware of how bad it is, it's pointless. When it starts camping it up, it's badness is irrelevant because it is trying to be bad. It is review-proof.
"Our fascination with the ironic has forced entertainment to grow entirely too self-conscious: Everything's gotta be done with a smug awareness, lest the public accuse it of taking itself too seriously, or otherwise mock the idea of a movie or book that believes its own silly contrivances...I love Scream—don't get me wrong—but boy was it a harbinger of the smarmy things to come."
Good God, this is just watching a bunch of footage and then seeing somebody comment on it. Who the hell would want to see that?
Arin: Can you imagine somebody watching Game Grumps—
Danny: [interrupting] No.
Blossom: I mean, what a dumb idea: to make a Powerpuff movie.
Professor Utonium: Well, yeah. That was a dumb idea.
Professor Utonium: Well, yeah. That was a dumb idea.
— The Powerpuff Girls (1998), "Film Flam"
Amethyst: That show's really weird. Who wants to watch a cartoon about people crying?
Steven: I do!
Steven: I do!
— Steven Universe, "Reformed"
