Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Difference between revisions

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'''Alice:''' Yeah! Usually it sounds strained because it's hard to make this kind of dialog sound completely natural.
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'''Bob:''' But even if they can't pull it off, it's usually good for a bit of comedy.
 
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{{examples}}
== [[Advertising]] ==
* Thanks to food and drug guidelines,[[Yes but What Does Zataproximetacine DO|just about every drug commercial]] on American TV is like this, with characters [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|rattling off side-effects]] in "casual" conversation, sometimes (but [[This Is Reality|surprisingly rarely]]) lampshaded when the other character will say "You sound like you're trying to convince me to use it!"
* A Bamzu.com commercial features [[Two Gamers on a Couch|two people on a couch]] talking about how great Bamzu is. It finishes with the man saying to the woman, "Hey, maybe ''we'' could do a Bamzu commercial!" to which she replies, "You think?"
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* One Honda commercial had a man talking about his car and the deal he got from it, while his friend says that he sounds like a car commercial.
 
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Fairly early in the ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' manga, Ako tells an aged-up version of Negi that she envies Negi because she feels like she's just a supporting character and he's the main character. She is, of course, absolutely right. Negi counters that even if she's a minor character in someone else's story, she's still the main character of her own. As she was the main character of [[A Day in the Limelight|that particular mini-arc]], he was right, too.
** In an especially tongue-in-cheek moment, Natsumi refers to herself as a side character right before making a casual observation that turns the chapter (#257) into a [[Wham! Episode]].
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* In the ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generations]]'' anime, a direct translation from the game leads to a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-FfN65U1OIM#t=145s hilarious fourth wall breaking moment.]
 
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'':
** "Who watches the Watchm-"
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* During the second series of ''[[She-Hulk]]'', the titular character doesn't "lean" on the fourth wall - she blatantly ignores it. In the third series, the second series is regarded as a [[Mutually Fictional]] account of Jenn's adventures. In the final page of issue #3, a collector mentions the [[No Fourth Wall]] nature of the comic and asks her if she can really do "stuff like that". Jenn simply says, "No. I can't", but her sly smirk as she looks towards the reader and says it makes you wonder...
 
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* Subverted in the fanmovie ''[[Metal Gear Solid Philanthropy|Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy]]''. Pierre teases Snake by saying that he's so cool he'd "make a good video game character, no shit - [[Completely Missing the Point|a Nintendo platformer, I'd say!]]"
* The ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'' [[Fanfic]] ''A Different Lesson'' has a brilliant send-up of this trope via a bookseller the heroes visit, where a scroll is for sale which tells the story of the movie. Thanks to [[Gossip Evolution]], willful misinterpretation, and a certain amount of [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]] to [[Fanon]], Po is turned into a [[Fake Ultimate Hero]] who took out Tai Lung all by himself while the Furious Five did next to nothing (the fight at the bridge becomes a "footnote"); Viper [[Flanderization|only cares about makeup and pretty clothes]], [[Mandatory Line|Monkey is mute]], while Shifu's [[Cynical Mentor]] and [[Jerkass]] tendencies are [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]]; the filmmakers' ploy with making Tai Lung ''appear'' to be a mindless beast before [[The Reveal]] of Ian McShane's voice is also referenced by making the snow leopard a drooling savage with [[Hulk Speak]], and...[[Viewer Gender Confusion|Tigress is a man]].
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{{quote|''"Were they nothing more but characters, whose capacities for self-determination were undermined by an unfeeling writer—an omnipotent author that had nothing better to do except enthused prostitution to the ideals of entertainment and fame?"''}}
 
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[Fight Club]]'' does this enough times to make the camera a supporting character. The narrator directly addresses the camera upon multiple occasions.
** The "film" even shakes during one of these, to the point where you can see the guide track at the edges.
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'''Richard:''' Wouldn't you like to know! Maybe it's Marilyn Monroe! }}
* In ''[[Jeepers Creepers]],'' our heroes have just decided to go back and see if the creepy guy was really hiding a body. The sister comments to her brother, "You know the part in scary movies when somebody does something really stupid, and everybody hates them for it? This is it."
* ''[[Ferris Bueller's Day Off|Ferris Buellers Day Off]]''—All of it, and how. In fact, most of [[Matthew Broderick]]'s early movies rely on this trope. The guy verily made his career [[No Fourth Wall|talking to the camera]] as a [[Running Gag]].
* In a 1980s Finnish comedy film from the ''Uuno Turhapuro'' series, a restaurant waiter has been tricked, by two alcoholics, into drinking a full bottle of vodka. Later, when a lady enters the restaurant, and listens to the waiter singing a song, she glances around, and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xph5D2xExIM declares] with an enlightened face: "I see. This must be a Finnish movie. There is no other explanation for the presence of so many drunk people in one scene."
* ''[[Rango]]'' has the title character ask the Spirit of the West why he has to go back to town and save the day. The Spirit's response is "No man can walk out on his own story."
* the ending of ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'' pretty much consists of this. Governor LePetomane's mob are unable to distinguish between a flat set and the real town, the fight spills across at least two other completely unrelated sound stages and the Sheriff and Waco Kid find themselves out in the street, and go to the cinema to see how it ends... which is where they two of them appear back on screen to Count Basie.....
 
== [[Literature]] ==
* The main character of Peter David's ''[[Sir Apropos of Nothing]]'' has the epiphany early on that he's a supporting character in the storybook world around him. He's not pleased and sets out to change this.
* At one point in ''[[The Illuminatus Trilogy]]'', a character pens a scathing review of a book that seems strikingly similar to ''[[Illuminatus]]'' itself:
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* ''[[Bored of the Rings]]'' doesn't just lean on the fourth wall, at times it seems like the fourth wall is actively propping the book up. For instance, there is the prophecy with which Bromosel arrives at the Council of Orlon: "Five-eleven's your height, one-eighty's your weight/You cash in your chips around page eighty-eight." {{spoiler|It's off by only a few pages.}}
 
== [[Live -Action TV]] ==
* Late in the 11theleventh and last season of ''[[Cheers]]'', some of the gang go to an old drive-in theater and see a ''[[Godzilla]]'' movie. Cliff notices that the lead actress in this edition of the Godzilla series has been recast. Cue the following bit of dialogue:
{{quote|'''Norm''': She left halfway through the Godzilla series.
'''Woody''': [http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1912597_1912596_1912583,00.html I don't understand, why would an actress leave right in the middle of a successful series?] }}
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"So are we going to be Wednesdays at 10 every week?"
"No, we're actually going to be Wednesday at 10 for a week, then take a week off, then we'll be Wednesdays at 9." }}
** In another episode, one of the lawyers was so ecstatic at being re-hired by the firm, that he burst into song. The song? [[Diegetic Theme Tune Cameo|The]] ''[[Theme Tune Cameo|Boston Legal]]''[[Theme Tune Cameo|theme song]]. His performance was used in place of the usual opening credits sequence, with scenes of his gleeful singing inter-cut with the usual cast headshots.
** Stars William Shatner and James Spader often have dialog that alludes to their previous film and television roles. For example, Shatner's character reacts with anxiety when he hears about salmon parasites known as "cling-ons," and Spader remarks to Shatner—while both are dressed as flamingos—that he looks "pretty in pink."
** At one point William Shatner's character say: "I'm Denny Crane! I once owned my own spaceship!"
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* In one episode of ''[[Kamen Rider Hibiki]]'', the titular hero is seen telling some customers at the restaraunt where he works about this movie that "just came out the other day". He describes it as a period piece about "this group of really cool warriors", or something along those lines. The day before the episode aired, [[The Movie]], ''Kamen Rider Hibiki & The Seven Fighting Demons'', which takes place in Japan's Warring States era, premiered in theaters.
 
== [[Music]] ==
Not that music really has much of a [[Fourth Wall]] to begin with, but...
* During the 2012 Grammys, [[Taylor Swift]] switched a line in her song "Mean" to read "Someday, I'll be singing this at the Grammys..."
* On the song "[https://soundcloud.com/fatpossum/004-just-lay-still Just Lay Still]", John Congleton sings "...an unrelenting bass drum beat; a stubbornly persistent backbeat" while accompanied by a prominent bass drum beat that spans the entire song.
 
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* ''[[FoxTrot]]'' is all over this trope, usually to make comments about his own writing/drawing process.
** One example is a strip that was released around the time that ''Star Wars Episode I'' was released; Jason goes to see the movie, and when he gets home, Paige asks how he liked it:
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* ''[[Sally Forth (syndicated strip)|Sally Forth]]'' had Ted declare that they shouldn't do a "middle-aged couple gets overwhelmed by social media plot". When asked why he said "plot", Ted answered, "Sometimes I like to imagine my life as a series of week-long story arcs, and I want each one to be gold."
 
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
* [[Triple H]] likes to do this. In his WWF Attitude (video game) intro, he speaks to the player as "that fat-ass guy sitting on the couch." He thinks [[Edge]] is a smart guy. "Marrying the boss to get ahead in the business? That's genius!" Throw in his partner-in-crime [[Shawn Michaels]] and they nearly break the wall down, from a baby photo with [[Triple H]]'s head [[Stylistic Suck|poorly photoshopped on]] to wondering who got Vince's daughter pregnant.
** Also during the writer's strike when [[Triple H]] came out, made a bad joke and then remarked "Who writes this stuff? Oh yeah, they're on strike!"
* On October 10, 2011, [[Michael Cole]] said that he got a ton of Twitter posts and emails about how everybody missed him. When [[Jerry Lawler]] challenged him to show him ''one'' of these, he mentioned somebody named "Sean C" who sent him one of these. Michael Cole's real name is Sean Couthard.
 
== [[Radio]] ==
* The [[Big Finish Doctor Who]] adventure ''Legend of the Cybermen'' has the Doctor and his companions Jamie and Zoe trapped in The Land of Fiction, where they are constantly being tricked into narrating their actions, with a segment where Jamie finds himself in a sound-studio, reading his dialogues from a script while a {{spoiler|Cyber}}man tells him to emote more.
** Also from that adventure:
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{{quote|'''Nobody No-One:''' How do you know if you yourself haven't been travelling through a universe only consisting of written language and sound for decades?}}
 
== [[Theater]] ==
* ''[[Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead]]'' plays with the fourth wall a lot. The first scene centers on the characters flipping a coin ninety times in a row and it comes up heads every time. Guildenstern comes quite close to realizing that the reason this is happening is because they are fictional characters and the result of every coin-flip is determined by the author, not by chance; but he never quite figures it out.
** This sort of [[Meta Fiction|meta-commentary]] on the nature of [[Theater]] is pretty much the whole point of the play, really—especially the part where Guildenstern {{spoiler|"kills" the Player}}.
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'''Jean:''' There's one playing now. [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|both turn to stare at the audience]] Take advantage of it. }}
 
== [[Video Games]] ==
* At one point in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] [[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty|2: Sons of Liberty]]'', Snake lectures Raiden about how computer simulated violence (i.e. video game violence) is completely unlike violence in real life, unintentionally discussing the argument that violent video games contribute to real life violence.
** "I'm a whole different game from Liquid!" yells Solidus. Later, immediately after the penultimate boss battle, he warns the player that there's going to be a lot of cutscenes coming up by promising Raiden, "No more games".
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* Of all games, [[FIFA Soccer]] 2012 does this. Martin Tyler and Alan Smith comment casually on the fact that the players' passing looks like the players are part of a computer game if they're timed right and accurate enough.
* When Milenna is released for a DLC for ''[[Mortal Kombat 11]]'', she finds a subtle way to thank her fans, telling Erron Black, "A million souls cried out for my return." This was a reference to the #WeWantMileena petition on Twitter which had around that many signatures.
* When the demon protagonists of post-apocalyptic and very non-traditional jRPG ''[[Last Armageddon]]'' find "Fantasy Land", a jRPG styled theme park left behind by the departed humans, they express confusion at how the humans would ever find doing the (robot) king's quests fun.
 
== Web Comics ==
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* Done in an episode of ''[[Potter Puppet Pals]]'' where Harry says towards the end, "...leave a comment, or submit a video response. And remember to subscribe!" It is presumed he's saying it to the audience before the camera cuts to Ron and Hermione, who look very confused.
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* The ''[[Justice League]]'' episode "Wild Cards" ends with Hawkgirl and Green Lantern kissing, resolving the [[UST]] that had developed between them since the first season. This is followed by the voiceover of an old woman saying "It's about time!" The camera cuts to show that this is the same old woman who has been playing a slot machine since the beginning of the episode, and she just hit the jackpot.
** Earlier in the episode, Joker announces that the League is being timed on how quickly they can defuse the bombs. A "digital clock" appears on screen and starts the clock ticking at 22:51, the typical run time of the show straight. He then comments "Oh, what were you expecting from me; a ''round number?''" Later he looks at the clock and comments that there isn't a lot of time. Sure he's breaking the fourth wall on his [[Show Within a Show]], but he's leaning on ours as well.
** In ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' [[Green Arrow]] makes an entrance where he [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GMbeQe0klA&feature=related sings along with his own theme song.]
* ''[[South Park]]'' has a funeral for Chef in-show, where Kyle seems to be discussing the out-of-show reasons why the late Isaac Hayes chose to leave the program. Kyle expresses his fondness for Chef, and it's clear that he's also expressing the writers' fondness for Hayes.
** The beginning of the 200th episode has Kyle and Cartman exchanging insults. Stan tells them to stop, saying "all you're doing is rehashing a bunch of old stuff!"
** The 201st episode had the boys saying that it was silly people would care more about knowing who Cartman's father is than showing Muhammad. He is in fact referring to the show's fanbase.
* In the ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' TV show, when [[Stan Lee]]'s resident [[Author Avatar]] for the show hears Spidey's comment on how catchy ''Amazing Spider-Man'' (the original title for the comics in their earliest incarnation) sounds, he promptly writes it down, saying that it could be big. Then Spidey says that it would be less than [[The Spectacular Spider-Man|spectacular.]]
* In ''[[The Boondocks]],'', Bushido Brown tells Huey, "Man, you come straight out of a comic strip." (A [[Shout-Out]] to a line from ''[[Enter the Dragon]]''). [[Animated Adaptation|He literally does]].
* ''[[Futurama]]'' pushes this as far as it can go in ''Bender's Big Score'' with the Fox...er, [[Fictional Counterpart|"Box Network"]]. After being told that ''Futur--''... Planet Express has been uncancelled, Leela stands in front of a pile of ventilation machines and asks "but what does this mean for our many fans?".
** "It means we're back on the air! ... Yes! Flying on the air in our mighty spaceship!"
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** In ''The Beast With A Billion Backs'':
{{quote|'''Harold Zoid''': I got a part in a fancy DVD-movie! It's only one line but I'm gonna ham it up like you wouldn't believe!}}
* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' is surprisingly shy with these, perhaps because creator [[Matt Groening]] was adamant about the show maintaining its own reality and not resorting to fourth wall gags. Still, a few nods slip through. In the first clip show, Bart abruptly sets up a clip of an Itchy and Scratchy episode, which has nothing to do with what is being talked about. After it plays, Marge asks Bart why he brought that up. Bart replies, "It was an amusing episode.... ''of our lives''."
** In the same episode, Grampa SimpsonsSimpson described comas as such: "It's like one of those TV shows where they show a bunch of clips from old episodes."
** And when they think the family is cured of its dysfunction, Lisa muses "Could this be an end to our series ... of events?"
** When the family watches the "Mr. Plow commercial" on a bad channel in the graveyard time slot.
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{{quote|'''Jay:''' And if you ever want to visit ''my'' show --
'''Bart:''' Nah, we're not going to be doing that. }}
** There's [http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090710013658/http%3A//www.snpp.com/guides/meta.html a list of all of the meta-references on ''The Simpsons'' at SNPP: http://arquivo].pt/wayback/20090710013658/http%3A//www.snpp.com/guides/meta.html
** In [[The Movie]], Homer complains about paying money to see the Itchy and Scratchy movie when they could have seen the same stuff on TV for free, and declares everyone in the theater to be a huge sucker. Especially... *points at the camera* you!
** Part 1 of ''Who Shot Mister Burns?'' ends with the following:
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{{quote|'''Jenny''': This is your last chance to back down, Tuck.
'''Brad''': Yeah, once you [[Jumping the Shark|jump that shark]] the show's over. }}
* ''[[Family Guy]]'' does this ALL''all THEthe TIMEtime'', especially in earlier episodes where they would talk about being able to stay on their current network.
* ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force]]'' has an example which combines this with [[Development Gag]]<ref>"Hero Generation" was the working title for Alien Force</ref>
{{quote|'''Kevin''': This is the stupidest show ever.
'''Ben''': This isn't a good one to start with. It's not Sumo Slammers Classic; it's Sumo Slammers: Hero Generation! It's a sequel to the original series, but they kinda messed it up. It's set five years in the future and the bad guy is friends with the good guy. }}
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** In the same episode, Cyborg mentions that they are in the first episode of the fourth season of the program they got trapped in. They were indeed on the first episode of the fourth season on their own series.
* An episode of ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' has Jimmy saying "I'm glad everything worked out, 'cause usually 'bout this point in the story something goes really wrong." No points for guessing what happens next.
* An episode of the 1990's1990s ''[[Spider-Man: The Animated Series|Spider-Man]]'' cartoon had him say, "This is starting to sound like a bad comic book plot!" This was in reference to the show's adaptation of the much-reviled Clone Saga from the comics. The title of the episode was "I Really, Really Hate Clones."
** One of the episodes from the "Six Forgotten Warriors" arc has Spider-Man give us this wonderful line:
{{quote|"[[Take Over the World]], Kingpin? Now you're starting to sound like a Saturday-Morning '''cartoon''' villain!"}}
** Over in ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'', Doc Ock has tired of the [[You Fight Like a Cow]] quips and asks Spider-Man why he won't just shut up already. Spidey smartasses back that his fans "expect a certain amount of quippage every battle."
* Episode 19 of ''[[Scooby -Doo! Mystery IncIncorporated]]'' ends with the producer of a reality show wondering if he could make a show about four kids and their talking dog driving around in a van solving mysteries; the gang [[Who Would Want to Watch Us?|immediately reject the concept as being unwatchable]].
* In the eleventh episode of ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'' Conner gets angry at M'Gann, when she's trying to help him with his daddy issues, and states that they "don't live in a fantasy world where all problems are solved in 30 minutes."
* In the ''[[X-Men: Evolution]] '' episode "Spyke Cam''", Evan is given a video camera to do a class project. So he tapes Kitty and Rogue having an argument, Rogue catches him, and threatens straight into the camera (and speaking directly to the viewer) that if she sees any video on her on the camera "They're gonna be calling you [[Groin Attack|Spike-less."]]
* [[Hawkeye]] joined the Avengers in ''[[The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes]]'' after helping foil the Leader's plan to turn everyone in the world into gamma-irritated monsters. Part of his foiling involved turning four infected Avengers back to their normal selves. The very next episode saw him having to free four Avengers (three of which had previously succumbed to gamma-powered transformations) from the clutches of the Masters of Evil. Once all the heroes reunited, Hawkeye remarked, "I'm not so sure I wanna be part of a team I have to rescue every week."
* On ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'', Doofenshmirtz engages in [[Conversational Troping]] by comparing the misunderstanding between him and his daughter to a crazy sitcom. Then he says, "This isn't a sitcom, [[This Is Reality|this is real life]]!" He and Perry then [[Aside Glance|glance uncomfortably in the direction of the audience.]]
* Used once in ''[[Recess]]'' when Gretchen wins a NASA contest because of her essay, and thinks she's going to be going on the space shuttle. This comes to T.J.'s attention, who'swhose life -long dream is to go on one of those, so he puts her through "training". One part has her having to swing from a rope attached to the top of the swing set while a group of other kids throw dodgeballs at her, and she starts fooling around before they do, prompting T.J. to say this:
{{quote|'''T.J.:''' Gretchen! You're an astronaut, not a cartoon character!}}
* ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' has a couple of episodes with scenes that seem to make a reference to this being a [[Market-Based Title]] where the characters are representations of toys. In one episode, several members of the cast wind up in a child's bedroom on an alien planet with a technology level similar to ours, but where the inhabitants are much larger; thus they are the size of the child's other toys. In another episode, Optimus Prime needs to load a bomb into a gun in order to dispose of it, with Megatron's alternate form being the ideal weapon, but Megatron is injured and cannot transform; Prime does so ''manually'', much like one would with a Transformers action figure.
 
{{reflist}}