Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Difference between revisions

 

'''Alice:''' Yeah! Usually it sounds strained because it's hard to make this kind of dialog sound completely natural.

'''Bob:''' But even if they can't pull it off, it's usually good for a bit of comedy.

 

'''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."

* 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."

* 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.....

 

* ''[[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.}}

 

{{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?] }}

"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." }}

** 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!"

* 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.

 

== Web Comics ==

* 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.

* ''[[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.]]

* ''[[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!"

** 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!}}

** 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.

{{quote|'''Jay:''' And if you ever want to visit ''my'' show --

'''Bart:''' Nah, we're not going to be doing that. }}

** 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:

{{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. }}

{{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. }}

** 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.

** 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."

* 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."

* [[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.]]

{{quote|'''T.J.:''' Gretchen! You're an astronaut, not a cartoon character!}}

 

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