Fourth Wall Observer/Playing With

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Basic Trope: One character knows about the fourth wall and acknowledge it, but no one else does.

• Straight: Bob is the only character on Tropertown to know about the fourth wall. He regularly glances at the audience and will say things like, "See what I have to put up with here?"
• Exaggerated: Bob will argue with the writer, yell at the cameraman for focusing on Alice's boobs all the time, and occasionally venture out into the audience. Alice, Carrie, and Daniel all remain oblivious to this.
• Downplayed: Bob is the only character to make aside glances.
• Justified:
  • Trapped in TV Land. Bob is actually a real person who got sucked into a TV show, so he knows that there's someone controlling what's going on and that there are people watching them at home.
  • Or the fourth wall is Bob's webcam, and fourth-wall-breaking segments are presented as Bob's vlog.
• Inverted: Truman Show Plot: Bob is the only character who doesn't break the fourth wall.
• Subverted: At first, Bob is the only character who knows about the fourth wall, but he then convinces his friends that it exists. They join in on the wall-shattering fun.
• Double Subverted: But that was All Just a Dream. Bob sighs and says, "Shoulda seen that one coming.
• Parodied: ???
• Zig Zagged: His friends learn about the fourth wall... but that was All Just a Dream... but then Alice glances at the audience and says, "Are you gonna tell him, or should I?"
• Averted:
  • No one knows about the fourth wall.
  • Everyone knows about the fourth wall.
• Enforced: "Fourth wall jokes are funny, but we don't want to overdo it."
• Lampshaded:

Alice: How come these things always happen to me? Bob: The fans don't like you all that much so the writer is trying to make up for it. Alice: What? Bob: Never mind.

• Invoked: Bob always had a feeling that there was something out there controlling the world, so he decided to find out for himself. He stumbled across Real Life, and his suspicions were confirmed.
• Defied: "No! No more of these bizarre rants to nobody in paricular! It's just plain freaky, man!"
• Discussed:

Carly: I'm getting worried about Bob. Daniel: Yeah, the way he talks to no one in particular and glances at random objects is really weird.

• Conversed: "Poor Bob, being the only one who can see us."

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