How do you feel about breaking the forth wall in fiction (movies, TV, games, books or plays)?
- Thread starter dscross
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Like almost anything and everything (all together now, as has already been said); it depends how it's done. So I feel the same way about that device as I do any other.
A gaming blurring of the fourth wall that comes to mind is Spec Ops TL, with its use of load screens in particular. One of the points of that game was to eventually emphasise the medium itself and make you aware of your own engagement - and sense of responsibility/culpability - as it descended to its rather hellish conclusion. I'd had the WP scene spoiled for me before playing, but not the main twist, and no one mentioned how it used loading screens, so all in all that creeping break of the fourth wall was key to my incredibly strong reaction to it.
I know Deadpool's an obvious example, but I rather liked that some of his special moves in UMvC3 involved using the health bar as a weapon. Not particularly clever, of course, but a nice, character appropriate example of it being used well.
I particularly enjoy moments in films where the fourth wall's teased or played with, e.g. the tension that can arise when a character's eyeline meets the viewers'/camera lens, often at a key moment, at least thematically/contextually, and in a film where narrative conventions of eyelines within scenes are adhered to. There is a film I saw in the last few months that did that, but for the life of me I can't place it... I even remember mentioning it to somebody as I talked about the film.
A gaming blurring of the fourth wall that comes to mind is Spec Ops TL, with its use of load screens in particular. One of the points of that game was to eventually emphasise the medium itself and make you aware of your own engagement - and sense of responsibility/culpability - as it descended to its rather hellish conclusion. I'd had the WP scene spoiled for me before playing, but not the main twist, and no one mentioned how it used loading screens, so all in all that creeping break of the fourth wall was key to my incredibly strong reaction to it.
I know Deadpool's an obvious example, but I rather liked that some of his special moves in UMvC3 involved using the health bar as a weapon. Not particularly clever, of course, but a nice, character appropriate example of it being used well.
I particularly enjoy moments in films where the fourth wall's teased or played with, e.g. the tension that can arise when a character's eyeline meets the viewers'/camera lens, often at a key moment, at least thematically/contextually, and in a film where narrative conventions of eyelines within scenes are adhered to. There is a film I saw in the last few months that did that, but for the life of me I can't place it... I even remember mentioning it to somebody as I talked about the film.
Sometimes it works or doesn't work.
Best example of breaking the fourth wall: Looney Tunes, Animaniacs, Tiny Toon Adventures, Freakazoid, Mel Brooks films, some of Deadpool's comics, Fight Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, American Psycho, Malcolm in the Middle, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Best example of breaking the fourth wall: Looney Tunes, Animaniacs, Tiny Toon Adventures, Freakazoid, Mel Brooks films, some of Deadpool's comics, Fight Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, American Psycho, Malcolm in the Middle, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
- Feb 7, 2011
- 8,802
- 3,383
- 118
- Country
- 'Merica
- Gender
- 3 children in a trench coat
I enjoy the 4th wall breaks in Mr. Robot.
For those who haven't seen it, it's basically Fight Club but with hackers. The main character constantly talks to the audience and the audience is treated as an imaginary friend of sorts that the character has made up due to his mental illness and loneliness. The main character talks to the audience to confide in them what he feels he cannot trust any of the other people around him to understand. This is also used in a few interesting ways a number of times because the main character is an unreliable narrator due to a host of various mental issues, meaning that what he tells the audience may not always be the truth (sometimes due to the character's drug use and various audiovisual hallucinations he experiences).
For those who haven't seen it, it's basically Fight Club but with hackers. The main character constantly talks to the audience and the audience is treated as an imaginary friend of sorts that the character has made up due to his mental illness and loneliness. The main character talks to the audience to confide in them what he feels he cannot trust any of the other people around him to understand. This is also used in a few interesting ways a number of times because the main character is an unreliable narrator due to a host of various mental issues, meaning that what he tells the audience may not always be the truth (sometimes due to the character's drug use and various audiovisual hallucinations he experiences).
My favorite all time has to be in Married With Children. In addition to Al's constant look of pleading with the audience to end his suffering or "Do you see what I have to put up with?" Season 9 Episode 9, No Pot To Pease In, Kelly Bundy, budding actress, tries out for a role on a family based sitcom. She ends up using some of the stories from earlier episodes as examples of her own family life, which the producers end up liking better than their own script. The producers re-write the show and Kelly's stories wind up being the pilot for a TV show on Fox in the Married With Children universe.
Again, it depends on how its done. 4th wall breaks are probably best done in comedies, though.
I'll just leave you with some of my favorites:
(at 44 seconds in)
I'll just leave you with some of my favorites:
(at 44 seconds in)