Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

'''Bob:''' Hey, [[Alice and Bob|Alice]], have you ever noticed how sometimes a character will talk to another character about something that sounds like it's really about the show they're in, but it makes perfect sense in context?

 

'''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.

 

 

'''Bob:''' You mean like [[Fourth Wall Psych]]? What about [[Aside Glance]]? And the inverse would be [[This Is Reality]].

{{examples}}

* 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?"

* A series of Geico commercials feature extremely poorly "animated" characters speaking in robotic voices. One of the characters informs the other that the commercial—in which they are currently appearing—took only 15 minutes to produce (which they tie into the amount of time it takes to switch to Geico).

* 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.

 

** 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]].

** It also has a more [[Fourth Wall|fourth-wall]]-[[Buffy-Speak|breaky]] one when Negi sees {{spoiler|what his father was like}}: he exclaims, "It's like he's a character from a totally different manga!"

* More than once in ''[[Naruto]]'', the title character is described as being the sort of person who could never be the main character of anything. They are, of course, absolutely wrong.

** Also, there's one point in the manga where Naruto comes running into a fight late yelling, "The main character of a story usually shows up in these types of situations and instantly kicks the enemy's ass!" Naturally, he then proceeds to be on the receiving end of said ass-kicking.

* When some of the members of ''[[Genshiken]]'' graduate, they have a discussion about where the story could go now that several of the characters have left—except it turns out they're actually talking about [[Show Within a Show]] ''[[Kujibiki Unbalance]]'', which is doing a graduation story at the same time.

* During a [[Breather Episode]] in ''[[Code Geass]]'', Milly remarks "Sometimes you just get these little [[Filler]] moments in life...and that's fine." This could also be seen as a ''[[Take That]]'' toward the fandom, which had a tendency to gripe whenever [[School Festival]] episodes came up.

* 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.]

 

* ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'':

** "Who watches the Watchm-"

** ''[[The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck]]'' shows how Scrooge [[Berserk Button|isn't happy]] about the rumors that his [[Number One Dime]] is [[Flanderization|a lucky charm]].

** In "The Last Lord of El Dorado", Scrooge's response to [[As You Know|a bit of exposition]] from Donald is "I know all that! What are you, a recap caption in some silly comic book?"

* In one ''[[Lucky Luke]]'' album, Rantanplan (after having eaten [[Extreme Omnivore|a piece of soap]]) wonders whether he's the only one making [[Speech Bubbles|bubbles]].

* Done in ''[[Quantum and Woody]]'' when Woody reads the "Dark Kitty" comic book, an [[Expy]] of [[Marvel Comics]]' [[Black Panther]] (also written by Christopher Priest at the time). Woody [[Who Writes This Crap?|badmouths the book]] [[Self-Deprecation|with criticisms that are entirely applicable]] to ''[[Quantum and Woody]]''...

** In a similar fashion, in ''Asterix and the Soothsayer'', when the soothsayer offers to "read" the entrails of Dogmatix, Obelix retorts "No one has ever read us, and no one will!"

* A story in [[Tales from the Crypt]] called "Concerto for Violin and Werewolf" had the main character figure out the plot twist of the story because it was similar to one he had read in an American comic book called Tales from the Crypt. The story he refers to called "Midnight Mess" was an actual story that had been published a few issues before.

 

* 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]].

** [[Ace Attorney|Phoenix]] while investigating the crime scene makes an off-hand comment about one of his world's [[Show Within a Show]] ''The Steel Samurai'', and comments on how amazing it's that a kids show got so popular with the [[Periphery Demographic]]. This wouldn't be a very remarkable comment, but he just happened to say it while being in [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|Equestria]].

** While Phoenix and Pinkie are investigating, she starts to hum ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq1jknZp0ic Pursuit ~ Cornered]'', one of ''Ace Attorney's'' most iconic themes. Phoenix comments that the tune sounds quite familiar to him.

{{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?"''}}

 

* ''[[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.

'''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.....

 

* 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:

* In his ''Zamonia'' novels, [[Walter Moers]] has pretty much declared the fourth wall to be a floor. The books contain a note, that Walter Moers is not actually the author of the book, but actually just a translator and editor. The original scripts have been written by Hildegunst von Mythenmetz (Optimus Yarnspinner in english versions), his [[Author Avatar]] who is an author in the world of Zamonia. However, Hildegunst has the habbit of not simply writing down the story he is telling, but constantly interrupting it and adressing his reader. These parts are so numerous that Moers left them all in when he made the translation. Hildegunst is a [[Bunny Ears Lawyer|Bunny Ears Author]] who rants about nonsense and fictional events, but is himself a satire of the modern literature scene. Hildegunst is leaning very heavily on the fourth wall at all times, but it is explained by him actually adressing his Zamonian readers and not the real world readers.

* In [[Jack Campbell]]'s ''[[The Lost Fleet]]'' novel ''Invicible'', Geary muses about the unrealistic cover that would probably be put on books about his life. He describes the covers the series actually got.

 

{{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?] }}

* When [[Stephen Colbert]] [[Intoxication Ensues|accidentally dropped acid]], the ensuing existential crisis could be taken two ways—either the character worrying about his insecurities and whether he's lying to himself, or the character briefly [[Tomato in the Mirror|realizing that he ''is'' just a character.]] This was mostly to clue in new viewers to the [[Alter Ego Acting]] thing, since the show had just gone global.

{{quote|"Where does this Stephen end and that Stephen begin?"}}

** The [[Arc Words]] "All of this has happened before, and will happen again" seem awfully appropriate for a remake.

* In the second episode of the fifth season of ''[[Angel]]'', Lorne says this about [[Love Triangle|Angel and Spike's mutual love for Buffy]]:

"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!"

* 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.

 

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.

 

 

* [[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.

 

* 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:

{{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?}}

 

 

* 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".

* Near the end of the true final fight of ''[[Asura's Wrath]]'', {{spoiler|Chakratarvin's final form starts doing his own QTE's that are similar to your own QTE's, as if someone else is controlling him.}}

* 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.

 

== Web Comics ==

{{quote|'''Schlock:''' I think [the chin] looks cool. Kinda heroic, like it belongs in a comic book or something.

'''Narrator:''' For the sake of the fourth wall, the chin's coming off. }}

* In ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'', Tarquin ([[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] already) calls out the readers when {{spoiler|Thog turns out to be the arena champion.}}

{{quote|'''Tarquin:''' It's weird no matter how many people he kills, the audience still thinks he's lovable.}}

* [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/like-a-fable/ This] strip of ''[[Wapsi Square]]'' starts with [[Conversational Troping]] between Shelly and Heather, and ends with Shelly asking who the audience is in this scenario while looking directly at the "camera."

* Discussed (sort of) in [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1910/ this] ''[[Dinosaur Comics]]'' strip {{spoiler|wherein God notices the fact that time passes in panels and mentions it, then when questioned about what he meant, insists that he doesn't know and neither should T-Rex}}.

* Nadine in ''[[Demolition Squad]]'' does this from time to time, pointing out that she has completed the SAME year in school three or four times over, that she is an unrelated teenager below the age of majority freeloading at the principal characters' apartment for no clearly explained reason, that he would do well not to mention this is a job interview, that she has been wearing the same outfit for several years, and so on.

* Happens early on in ''[[I Was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space]]''

{{quote|'''Susie:''' Lesbian pirates from outer space! Psh! Sounds like a comic book to me. One that I'd definitely read.}}

* ''[[Servants of the Imperium]]'' on wargames with dice and little figures being [http://www.servantsoftheimperium.com/comic.php?comicid=112 waste of time] ("...and I guess we'd have to paint the models as well").

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* 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.

 

* 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.

* ''[[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|'''Dr. Hibbert:''' "Well, I couldn't possibly solve this mystery. Can ''you''?" *points at camera*

'''Wiggum:''' "I guess I'll give it a shot. I mean, it's my job, right?" }}

* Happens in ''[[My Life as a Teenage Robot]]'', when Tuck, [[It Makes Sense in Context|convinced that he's indestructible]], decides to drive turbo-charged tricycle down a nearly vertical ramp, over City Hall, and into a pool of sharks. Jenny insists she won't save him this time.

{{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."

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

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Alice and Bob]]

[[Category:Metafiction Demanded This Index]]

[[Category:Post Modern Tropes]]