Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Difference between revisions

* ''[[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."

 

* [[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?}}

 

* ''[[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}}.

'''Jean:''' There's one playing now. [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|both turn to stare at the audience]] Take advantage of it. }}

 

* 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".

* 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.