Medium Awareness: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:DeadpoolFourthWall.jpg|link=Deadpool|frame|Dammit, Deadpool, [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|we just fixed the fourth wall]]!]]

 

Audiences are very good at figuring out which elements of a work are on which side of the [[Fourth Wall]]. No explanation is necessary for why our hero can hear a ringing telephone but not the movie's soundtrack—or why the space ship is menaced by the [[Negative Space Wedgie]], but not by the [[Opening Scroll|opening credits drifting by outside the ship]]—it's part of the audience's [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]].

 

 

Generally, this awareness is brief: It's used for a joke or two, then never spoken of again. Used this way, it's [[Lampshade Hanging]] as applied to [[Paratext]].

 

 

See also [[End of Series Awareness]], another specific subtrope.

 

{{examples}}

* In Tsurupika Hagemaru-kun, Hagemaru suffers from this and [[Genre Savvy|Genre Savviness]].

{{quote|'''Hagemaru''': Hey, Kaka, don't sneeze like this while you're naked or the censor guys will cut the scene!

* The manga of ''[[Dragon Half]]'' does this. For example, one character is explicitly describing objects with their colors, only for another to point out that the previous page was the last one to be in color.

* In the rather naughty ''[[Kekko Kamen]]'' anime, the bad guys are caught by surprise due to the fact that there was no heroic music for one of her arrivals.

{{quote|'''Chika:''' Miu... and Matsuri... don't get along.

''(Nobue looks at Chika as if to say, "Um... who are you talking to?")''

* This happens constantly several of Ai Yazawa's works, such as ''[[Gokinjo Monogatari]]'' and ''[[Paradise Kiss]]'' (manga-version only). Characters complain about lack of lines or comment on other characters' thought bubbles. She has also used it in ''Kagen no Tsuki'' and ''[[Tenshi Nanka Ja Nai]]'', albeit in a less over-the-top way.

{{quote|'''George:''' Oooh, Isabella! Your first full-color shot was really impressive! It's a pity it will be b&w in the tankobon edition...}}

{{quote|'''Paramedic''': [looks over his shoulder at a montage playing in the background] "Oh my, her life's flashing by. That's no good."}}

* The first episode following the end of the filler of ''[[Bleach]]'' used half the episode for Inoue to explain to Ichigo where they'd left off in the main story, using slides with pages of the actual manga to bring him back up to speed. Both cases were, needless to say, full of this.

* In the first episode of ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]'', Tamaki can be seen leaning on a notice which pops up on the screen explaining the real meaning of Kyoya's words.

** The line also appears in the original light novel, making this further confusing.

* Every time a character in ''[[Ranma ½]]'' is [[Imagine Spotting|aware of someone else's]] [[Imagine Spot|daydream]], they look ''up'' at the panel containing said daydream. And comment on it.

* ''[[Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt|Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt]]'' makes copious use of [[Written Sound Effect]]s, and at one point, an annoyed Stocking grabs a bunch of the sound effects, wads them up in a ball, and shoves them into [[Team Pet|Chuck's]] mouth.

* When the [[GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class|GA-1]] students were talking about typography, one strips actually have the characters discuss the sound effect typeface ''on that strip''.

* in ''[[Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo]]'', the characters show a certain amount of medium awareness when not directly parodying anything, such as one note in the English version of the anime where Bobobo has to have a pause between words while talking about traveling in order to accommodate for the translation, and he says after "I hope I can talk normally when we get there", actively acknowledging that the dub had just had to mess up. They also show that they are aware that a narrator is explaining things and will sometimes even talk directly to him. The end of the anime also has all characters bemoaning the fact that it's finally the end, and one even notes that it cuts off in the middle of an arc.

{{quote|'''James''': Why didn't we just do this in the first place?

'''Jessie''': We ''have'' to fill a half hour! }}

* In the anime adaption of ''[[Toradora!]]'', Minori mentions [[Censor Box|she saw something black]] when Kitamura dropped the towel covering his pride.

* ''[[Daily Life with Monster Girl]]'' sometimes has this. For example Kurusu Kimihito says he thinks he hasn't seen Centorea's sword for a while, 'since chapter 4' he thinks.

* Early in ''[[Girls und Panzer]]'', the teams are assigned their tanks, and we're shown a picture of each tank with one or more insets holding pictures of the crew members. One of the six girls of Rabbit Team, crowded by the inset picture's edge, has put up her hand to push back against it.

 

* The [[Marvel Universe]] series ''The Sensational [[She Hulk]]'' is famous for its characters' acknowledgement of the comic medium, including climbing across panel borders, referencing captions, and other related awareness.

** When she gained her sidekick Weezi, Shulkie asked how Weezi was able to walk between comic panels, only to be told that it's similar to the way She-Hulk is able to talk to the reader.

** Parodied in an issue of ''[[Damage Control]]'', which made She-Hulk ''look like a lunatic who thinks she's a comic book character''. Then again, she directly responded to the text captions pointing this out, so... Does that make it a subverted parody?

** And in Marvel's short-lived ''Heroes for Hire'' series, Shulkie regularly got into arguments with the third-person narrator... until she fired him.

* In [[DC Comics]] [[The Joker]] from ''[[Batman]]'' can interact with speech and thought bubbles, grabbing hold of or leaning on them. This is most likely part of the idea - also used to partially explain Deadpool - that Joker is so insane that he has become aware of things other characters have not.

** There is a theory floating around that the Joker has become so aware of his role in a comic book that the reason he has yet to kill Batman is because he knows that, if the hero of the book dies, the story and everything in it - villain most definitely included - stops existing. Similarly, some have speculated that the reason he can be so casual about the gruesome crimes he commits is because he realizes the people he's hurting aren't real.

*** So did Harley, once. [[Rule of Funny|Though she was (mostly) sane at the time...]]

*** In [[Batman (film)|the movie]], he talked to himself a few times, serving the same narrational purpose, but preserving the [[Serious Business|seriousness]].

* [[Ambush Bug]] can interact with his writers and editors, walk between pages and panels of his book, and comment on the lives of other characters from an "out of universe" perspective. One time [[Zatanna]] tries to cast a spell on him, and he asks why the words in her speech balloons are backwards. She bursts into tears.

* While playing [[Sidekick]] to [[I Am Not Shazam|Cap]][[Name's the Same|tain]] [[Marvel Comics]], who possessed "[[Psychic Powers|Cosmic Awareness]]," Rick Jones came to develop "[[A Worldwide Punomenon|Comics Awareness]]," in addition to his usual [[Genre Savvy]].

* Like everything regarding her, [[Squirrel Girl]] is a goofy example of this trope. While she never breaks the fourth wall during the issues themselves, she does it during the first pages of pretty much every issue she's starred in. Now that isn't that unique since [[Depending on the Writer|lots of characters]] break the fourth wall during the recap pages, but she [[Justified Trope|justifies]] it by stating that she is only allowed to break the fourth wall during the recap pages. Not to mention that some of her first pages breaking the fourth wall issues has direct importance towards the plot of said issue. And to make all this even more confusing, her pets Monkey Joe and Tippy-Toe [[No Fourth Wall|don't know the meaning]] of The Fourth Wall.

* At times, especially during the [[Silver Age]], even [[Superman]] has appeared to be aware of the Fourth Wall; his trademark wink was always directed at the reader/audience. It was used for the last time (in the comics), and most depressingly, in ''[[Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?]]?''

** Hell, Superboy-Prime is ''from our real world,'' and has gone so far as to blame DC for ruining his life, because they wrote the comic books where he's such a villain--''and'' his friends and family read them. ''That's'' trippy.

* ''[[Katy Keene]]'' covers would do this. One had Sis even trying to draw the rest of Katy's dress.

 

* The aptly named ''Code: Omake'' to ''[[Aeon Natum Engel]]'' has Rei having this. It gets messy when in the ''[[Nobody Dies]]'' crossover she meets Terrifying!Rei while footmarking.

* Used at one point in ''[[Mass Vexations]]'' as a gag on plot-induced stupidity.

{{quote|-- But that works for my advantage. So I'll chalk it up to happening because the plot says so.}}

 

* [[The Muppets]]:

** In ''[[The Muppet Movie]]'', Kermit would explain his situation to other characters he had just met by giving them a copy of the script.

'''Oscar the Grouch''': A very brief cameo.

'''Peter Ustinov''': Me too. }}

* [[Mel Brooks]] has a lot of fun with this trope:

** ''[[Robin Hood: Men in Tights]]'' has many examples of this trope, including the opening scene. A village is attacked with flaming arrows, and the flames on the buildings form the names of the actors, producers, etc. At the end of the scene, however, the irate villagers curse Mel Brooks (the director of the film) for including this scene. "Every time they make a Robin Hood movie they burn our village down!"

*** A difficult to interpret line from the end of the sequence. "LEAVE US ALONE, MEL BROOKS!"

*** From the same film, the characters consult the script to confirm that Robin does, in fact, get another shot.

* At the end of ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]: [[The Movie]]'', Mike and the 'bots riff on their own [[Credits Gag]]. "Puppet wranglers? There weren't any puppets in this movie."

* In ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]'', the prince of Swamp Castle is about to start a musical number, and the background music begins playing, but he is immediately interrupted by his father, who demands that there shall be no singing. This gag is repeated several times, until the king is unable to interrupt and the singing number actually begins, complete with [[Crowd Song|spontaneously forming supporting chorus]]. (As you can imagine, the prince's father has even ''more'' trouble stopping the singing in ''[[Spamalot]]'', the musical based on the movie.)

*** The awareness varies by the character according to [[Rule of Funny|what's funny]]. At one point the knights are tasked with putting on a musical, and the Lady finally [[The Reveal|reveals]] to Arthur that they're in one. He finally notices the audience, which becomes key to the plot's resolution.

*** And before that point they sing a song called [[This Is the Part Where|"The Song that Goes Like This"]], which is...about the song they are currently singing.

** And then commenting on/editing their own character sheets.

* The movie ''[[The Truman Show]]'' is all about this trope. In a more realistic way than most other examples; Truman's world really ''is'' a stage that he's being filmed on.

* At the beginning of the movie ''[[Johnny Dangerously]]'', the year 1935 is laid over a busy street scene to set the flashback. Within a few seconds, a car crashes into the number.

* At one point in ''The Imposters'', a character is eavesdropping on someone talking in a (gibberish) foreign language, which is captioned for the viewers. He eventually realizes that the captions are reflected in the mirror he is facing, and works out what is being said by reading them.

** And then we have the ending of the film, where Jack Slater returns to the movie world with full knowledge of being a movie character and begins to refer to everything around him much like the main once did.

* The German 2004 comedy ''[[Der Wixxer]]'' parodies a number of [[Edgar Wallace Films|popular (also German) crime movies from the 1950s and -60s based on novels by Edgar Wallace]]. In recognition of the age of the source material, one prominent location is Blackwhite Castle, "one of the last black and white castles in the United Kingdom", where the action is filmed ''almost'' [[Deliberately Monochrome|completely in black and white]] with the characters commenting on the palette change. (It's only 'almost' because one renovated wing of the castle is in fact in color, to the visitors' initial surprise.) In the 2007 sequel, they even used a black-white to color switch to defuse a bomb.

** And who could forget Tim Curry as Mr Jigsaw? When Whoopi feigns ignorance of the microfiche he questions her about, he replies "Don't be coy with me, Ms York. This is too important...and it's also the plot."

* ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'' is pretty much all about this trope, with the Toons knowing that they're cartoons made of ink and paint. Then again though they don't know they're in a movie about Toons that know they're cartoons, so it may not count.

** At least until [[That's All Folks|the very end]].

'''Thor''': Well he started it.

'''Narrator''': Did not. }}

{{quote|'''Narrator''': Wait a minute, you're not George!

'''George2''': Me new George! [[Biting the Hand Humor|Studio too cheap]] to pay Brendan Fraser. }}

* Julie from ''[[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World]]'' has a black censor bar flash over her mouth whenever she swears. Scott blatantly asks her "How are you doing that with your mouth?"

 

* The ''[[Thursday Next]]'' books have the books footnotes heard by characters, and used as a contact network. The characters from the BookWorld are very impressed by Thursday's ability to know who's talking even when there's no character tags. This is merely the tip of a iceberg of metatextual fun.

* The [[Terry Pratchett]] book ''[[Only You Can Save Mankind]]'' has aliens in a computer game who seek safety from ruthless humans (the players, blasting them away with careless abandon) beyond "the barrier". The barrier turns out to be {{spoiler|an enormous "Game Over" sign}}. Their environment itself was effected by how aware of the genre trappings the person was. Johnny, whose imagination tends to towards friendly aliens sees them and their ships as non-hostile. Kirsty, who's seen movies and "[[Genre Savvy|knows how these things should go]]" sees the ship's corridors as slime-covered dungeons and the aliens and slavering, razor-toothed monsters. When they hear an alien coming and discover that instead of an armed guard, it's a small and friendly tea-lady, Kirsty complains that Johnny's doing it wrong.

{{quote|''"This is not how these tales end," Calliope said firmly.

"This is not the way that things end when they get to be tales," Amatus said, "but since ours is not told yet, we cannot count on it. There were a hundred dead princes on the thorns outside [[Sleeping Beauty]]'s castle, and I'm sure many of them were splendid fellows."'' }}

{{quote|"Imagine we're in a book. You two WILL fall in love but separate because society will never accept you, your baby will turn out fine thanks to the fact fiction is, well, fiction and you two will go on to live your own happy lives while carrying a torch for each other 'til the day you both die. END OF STORY!"}}

* In one illustrated ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]'' book, when the title character finds himself stranded on a branch too high to safely jump off, he climbs down the block of text on the page. This idea is also used in the animated adaptation...in which the characters are also in a book.

** Also playing on the Book-into-Movie medium is the initial description of the hero:

{{quote|''"He looked like [[Tom Cruise]], or, if he is available, [[Al Pacino]]."''}}

* In ''Sophie's World'', an introduction to philosophy textbook thinly disguised as a novel, has the main characters realising they're in a book and plotting to escape. At one point Sophie is instructed to do very interesting things for a while so that the narrative will focus on her, letting the other character make plans in secrecy.

 

* ''[[The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air]]'': [[Will Smith]]'s character describes another character to Carlton as "The dude who be spinning me over his head in the opening credits"

** The episode above ended with Will deciding to stay in Philadelphia. The following episode started with him being kidnapped. Will seems to know the men and asks why they're kidnapping him. The kidnappers respond by saying the show couldn't be called "The Fresh Prince of Philadelphia." He is then shoved into an NBC van.

** As with the Buffy example above, the Doctor asks a passing milkman in "The Stolen Earth" what day it is. The Doctor responds with "Saturday. Good. Good, I like Saturdays," which is a nod to the show's main broadcast night on BBC One.

*** Similarly, "If you change over to ITV, there's a slight chance it could cause the world to explode"

* The characters of ''[[The Basil Brush Show]]'' seem to be well aware that they are in a television programme and often reference this.

* ''[[The Monkees]]'' did this frequently. Many episodes contain references to the fact that they are characters in a TV show.

* In the ''Society for Putting Things on top of Other Things'' sketch in ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'', the characters are aware when the recording medium changes from video (inside the building) to film (any shots taken from outside):

{{quote|Exterior shot: a door opens and Sir William appears out of it into the fresh air. He suddenly halts.)

(Several members run to window and look out. Cut to film of them looking out of a window. Cut to studio: the members run to a door and open it. Cut to film: of them appearing at the door hesitating and then closing door. Cut to studio: with increasing panic they run to the second door. Cut to film: they appear, hesitate, and go back inside. Cut to studio: they run to Sir William in the centre of the room.)

'''A Member''': We're trapped! }}

{{quote|'''2nd Policeman''': Namely, simply ending every bleeding sketch by having a policeman come in and.. wait a moment.

'''3rd Policeman''': Hold it!

'''2nd Policeman''': It's a fair cop!

The hand of a 4th policeman then enters frame to seize the 3rd policeman by the shoulder. }}

{{quote|"Sorry about this. Normally we try and avoid these little pauses. ''Longeurs''. Only dramatically he's gone down to the basement, you see. 'Course, there isn't really a basement, but he just goes off and we pretend. Actually what happens is he just goes off there, off camera, and just waits there so it looks as though he's gone down to the basement. Actually, I think he's rather overdoing it. Ah!"

(The chemist is shown standing on the edge of the set, sees the camera, and rushes to get back into the sketch.) }}

{{quote|'''Rick:''' I wish they wouldn't ''do'' that!

''' Neil:''' It's the passage of time, Rick. }}

{{quote|'''Vyv:''' Oh look, here comes the postman.

'''Mike:''' Vyvyan, why do you keep telling us what's just about to happen?

''' Vyv:''' We're on a small set, Michael. There isn't any room for a long shot. }}

{{quote|'''Neil's mother:''' Look how flimsy this chair is! (she grabs a chair that falls apart immediately)

'''Mike:''' Actually that's a trick chair that Rick was supposed to get hit in the back with in the next scene. }}

* One episode of ''[[Angel]]'' had Lorne speaking directly to what was purportedly a nightclub audience. Then the show cuts to commercials, and when it comes back...

{{quote|'''Lorne:''' Well, those were some exciting products. Am I right? Mmm. Let's all think about buying some of those.}}

* The plot of ''[[Red Dwarf]]: Back to Earth''.

* Lilly in ''[[Hannah Montana]]'' begins to develop some of this in season 3 to go along with her [[Genre Savvy]] when she not only knows that her fantasy sequence is about to appear, but is able to point out to Miley where on screen it will be appearing.

* The "Wormhole Xtreme!" and "200" episodes of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' pretty much [[Lampshade Hanging|hung a lampshade]] on the entire series and sci-fi in general. Although the SG-1 team never gave specific indications outside of the [[Show Within a Show]] that they weren't [[Serious Business|in the real world]].

** In "Small Victories" two [[Red Shirt|red shirts]] on a Russian submarine are investigating a noise. One says to the other — [[Bilingual Bonus|in Russian]] — "maybe it's one of the bugs from the other episode."

** Similar to the ''[[Law and Order: Criminal Intent]]'' example above, in one promo Shawn and Gus notice small versions of themselves at the bottom of the screen advertising the upcoming episode. Shawn laments that "mini-us" sold out and Gus walks off at the end to call an exterminator for their "rat problem."

* On an episode of ''[[Seinfeld]]'' George says "All you see on TV these days is four morons sitting in an apartment whining about their dates!"

* In one [[Christmas Episode]] of ''[[Married... with Children]]'', Al and Peggy try to watch TV together and both hate anything the other one wants to watch. Halfway through, Al goes to the bathroom, turns to the camera...

{{quote|'''Al:''' And I really ''hate'' this commercial!

'''Simon:''' Since when?

'''River:''' Since Ariel. }}

{{quote|'''Wash:''' Psychic, though? That sounds likes something out of science fiction.

* In one episode of ''[[Boy Meets World]]'', Cory gets caught in a [[Two-Timer Date]] scenario and Shawn teaches him to play it out like Fred did in one episode of ''[[The Flintstones]]'', leading to this exchange:

{{quote|'''Shawn:''' ...and Fred never spent more than 75 seconds at either location.

* The characters of ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' occasionally seem to know that they exist only in Future!Ted's memories. Especially obvious in "The Mermaid Theory", where Future!Ted forgets what happened in the middle of a story, and when his narration trails off into "no that's not right...hang on a minute...let me think..." Barney and Lily, who are frozen mid-conversation on the couch glance anxiously into the camera, break character completely and scowl in exasperation, and even impatiently check their watches as Future!Ted continues to flounder.

* Episodes of ''[[The Saint (TV series)|The Saint]]'' typically had someone speak Simon Templar's name in [[The Teaser]]'s final seconds. Then a stylized halo appeared above Simon's head, and the opening theme and credits played. In several episodes, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWr_1uLjqic he glanced upward just before his halo appeared, evidently expecting it].

 

== Music ==

* The [[Newsboys]] song "Your Love Is Better Than Life" has this line near the end: "I don't know how I can wrap it in a four-minute song."

 

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==

* In [http://www.comicstriplibrary.org/display.php?id=417&full=1 one installment] of ''[[Little Nemo]] in Slumberland'', Nemo, Flip and Imp are so hungry that they begin tearing off lines from their comic panels and knocking down letters from the ''Little Nemo In Slumberland'' logo, eating them. Nemo worries that this will upset the artist but Flip maintains that it will teach the person who draws them a lesson. When Flip asks what's in the letters they're eating nemo replies that it's printer's ink as far as he knows.

* The characters in ''[[Pearls Before Swine]]'' frequently make reference to the fact that they're in a comic strip, often interacting with creator Stephen Pastis's [[Author Avatar|cartoon self]], and other "visiting" comic strip characters.

* ''[[Garfield]]'' is fond of this as well. In one early strip, he is hit by a shoe which makes the [[Written Sound Effect]] "SPLUT!" over his head. He then looks off-panel and says, "Wait a minute! Shoes don't go 'splut'!"

** Another time, he had a cold and pointed to his speech bubble, saying "Loog, eben my thoughts are stuffed ub."

* [http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2444 This] sequence of ''Tank McNamara'' sees a pitcher becoming aware of a batter's thought bubbles in the middle of a baseball game.

* Schroeder considers putting in a transfer to a new comic strip in a ''[[Peanuts]]'' strip from 1952, after Charlie Brown thinks he's talking about baseball when he comments that he has perfect pitch.

* In ''[[Krazy Kat]]'', Ignatz and Krazy are both aware that they're drawings who exist in a newspaper, though Krazy sometimes needs to be reminded. Ignatz even [[Genre Savvy|takes advantage of his position]] by asking the "boss" for extra ink when he needs it.

* ''[[Beetle Bailey]]'' has all kinds of weird gags involving the characters interacting with comic strips elements that are supposed to be only symbolic—such as Sarge eating a "Z" produced by a sleeping Beetle in an effort to get to sleep himself, or characters managing to produce empty speech bubbles.

 

== [[Radio]] ==

{{quote|'''Ruby (narrating):''' ". . . Who ''really'' wanted him dead? . . . Yeah, the Author. Authors—they create characters just so they can blow them away. Writing is a dirty business." }}

 

** "What are you ''thinking''?!?!? We can't talk at the ''same time''!!!!!"

{{quote|'''Jeff:''' What're you doing?

[Peanut and Jose look at him. Jose turns from Jeff, imitating the theme music from The Twilight Zone.]

'''Peanut:''' "Picture, if you will..." }}

* [[Eddie Izzard]] plays on this all the time, a good example being his Dracula bit - "Let's all go to Transylvania, and increase the plot of this movie!"; "Ooh, I wouldn't go up to the castle if I were you - you get filmed if you go up there!", and another gag about a horror movie character navigating a dark forest by avoiding the paths that go "[[Scare Chord|Duh-duh duh-duh]] [[Jaws (film)|duh-duh...]]" and taking the one that goes "[[The Archers|La lala lala!]]"

* One of [[Andy Kaufman]]'s stand-up bits involved his writer and friend Bob Zmuda sitting in the audience and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0a5cMX-0Pg heckling him] by (among other things) saying the punchlines to his jokes before he does. Then they get into an argument, and Zmuda's character calls Kaufman out on the fact that he's a plant and the whole thing is scripted.

* [[Jim Gaffigan]] regularly has an 'internal audience.' A good portion of his jokes are commenting on what the audience must think of his jokes, in a high-pitched whisper.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* The joke ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' supplement ''Portable Hole Full of Beer'' contains a [[Prestige Class]] that slowly causes the character to become aware of the fact that they are in a roleplaying game. At the final level the character becomes a real person and moves in with you.

** Straighter example: A ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' fansite introduced Foxbat II, who rejected his mentor's ludicrous view of the world, and instead believes himself to be an NPC in a superhero RPG.

* The ''Star Munchkin'' RPG based on the ''[[Munchkin (game)|Munchkin]]'' card game has one class called "Farce K'n'gits". Their power is awareness of the great Farce - that they're in a comedic RPG - and thus gaining the ability to manipulate the game and its players ''directly'', as well as ignore things like those laws of physics and common sense not actually covered by the game's rules. Non-K'n'gits can dabble in Farce powers as well.

 

* Late into the first act of [[Mel Brooks]]' ''[[The Producers]]'', Max and Leo tell their [[Sexy Secretary|Swedish intern]] Ulla to tidy up their office. As act 2 begins, Max and Leo return to the office to find everything, from the walls to the furniture, painted white. When asked about when Ulla managed to pull this off, she responds that she did it during the intermission. Later on in the same scene, Ulla will ask Leo why he is moving so far to the right of the stage, replaced with "camera right" in the film version.

** In one scene Leo loses his temper at Max and calls him "FAT!". This insult doesn't work very well when Nathan Lane has been replaced by the much slimmer Tony Danza, causing Tony to look confused and Leo to say "Well, you ''used'' to be."

** Also, in the song "Betrayed", late in the second act, Max is recounting the events leading to him ending up in a jail cell. At the point in the recounting where the play had gone from act I to act II, he shouts "Intermission!", the stage lights dim and he sits quietly on the bunk for a few seconds before continuing the song. In some performances after Nathan Lane left the show (having played Max), Max would pull a Playbill out from under the bunk, thumb through it, and then announce "He's good, but he's no Nathan!"

*** In another performance Max said "They were saving this cell for [[Michael Jackson]]" during the pause.

* During 'Untitled Opening Number' in ''[[Title of Show]]'', the cast calls attention to tropes common in musical theatre as they illustrate them, "We'll softly start the coda from a very tiny point. And then we'll get a little louder to further emphasize the point. And then we'll cross downstage towards you! And now we're yelling fortissimo!"

* All the characters in NF Simpson's play ''A Resounding Tinkle'' are quite aware they are in a play. There are frequent conversations about whether or not the audience will understand what's going on, at one point two characters are on stage being silent and then debate as to whether they should entertain the audience or not, at another point one of the characters wanders off the stage to talk to two cleaners in the theatre, all the characters are unceremoniously pushed off-stage in order for a group of critics to come on and debate the play, and the play ends when a member of the audience complains that the audience have had quite enough and demands to speak to the producer; the play concluding with all the characters thanking the audience for putting up with them.

* ''[[Spamalot]]'' features The Lady of the Lake, who co-sings "The Song That Goes Like This" with Galahad and has "Diva's Lament" as a solo. Her awareness of the 4th Wall actually leads to the plot resolution: {{spoiler|The Grail is under an audience member's seat.}} (Sir Robin, on the other hand, is [[Genre Savvy]] about musicals, but doesn't realize he's in one.)

* Triple dose of [[William Shakespeare]] examples:

** In the epilogue to ''[[The Tempest]]'', [[Author Avatar|Prospero]] asks the audience for applause and cheers to provide the wind that will blow his ship home.

* In ''[[Les Misérables (theatre)|Les Misérables]]'' the characters bring in and even sometimes conduct the pit orchestra during "Beggars at the Feast".

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

{{quote|How do you know Spyro is still alive?

If he wasn't, we'd've gone back to the last save point by now. }}

** The ''[[Time Hollow]]'' example is [[Justified Trope]], because Hollow Pen users retaining their memories even if the past is changed drives the entire plot of the game.

* This can be seen in [[Breath of Death VII]] when the hero, [[Dem Bones|Dem]], complains about the shortness of the game, and is reprimanded by the rest of the party in a [[Take That]] against people demanding too much from inexpensive indie games.

* ''[[EarthBound]]'' and ''[[Mother 3]]'' have you enter your real name partway through the game, for reasons that become clear and brilliantly pulled-off near the end.

** Another instance in ''[[EarthBound]]'' involves gameplay tutorial. When characters take damage in combat, their HP gauge counts down to the appropriate number one point at a time, rather than subtracting it all at once. One result is that, if a character receives mortal damage he/she won't die until it counts down to 0, so if they're healed during that time, they'll be ok. When a character explains this to you, [[He Knows About Timed Hits|he calls it your HP meter at first]] and then back-pedals, saying "uh..I mean your life force."

** ''[[Disgaea]]'' takes a sledgehammer to the [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|Fourth Wall]] in general. In ''Disgaea 2'', Laharl declares that the reason he lost to the player characters is because he's not the main character, and then tries to beat them again, so he can take over the story.

** In ''[[Disgaea]] 2'', one of the motions you can vote on in the Dark Assembly has one of the guest characters wanting to be the main character. If it passes, it's a [[Nonstandard Game Over]].

{{quote|'''Banjo''': "Huh, looks like there's no one here."

'''Kazooie''': "Oh, yes there is, Banjo. The music's changed again. Every time that happens, some big enemy drops out of nowhere to fight us."

* In ''[[Flower, Sun, and Rain]]'', Sumio interrupts his mission in order to chase a kid who is engaging in massive [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|fourth wall breaking]]. At the end of the chapter, he gets fed up with the kid and ''orders'' the chapter to end.

* In ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'', one skit called "For Lazy People" has Lloyd complaining about having to walk through one of the dungeons again. Specifically, he asks "Couldn't they at least give us a Quick Jump option?" This, of course, confuses the other characters, who have no idea what he's talking about - he's referring to a few dungeons that ''can'' be skipped after you've beaten them once. It's done again by Tenebrae in another skit for the sequel.

** This happens in other [[Tales (series)|Tales Of games]] as well; these comments usually come from the main character, who often represents the player and asks questions about his world that should be common knowledge.

* In the point and click adventure ''[[The Secret of Monkey Island]]'', Guybrush has to find a ship and crew, but as soon as they set sail the crew decides to mutiny and just laze about sun-bathing instead of doing their duties on ship. If you use the parser to perform the action "USE PIRATES" on the crew, Guybrush responds that "they're not the only ones being used around here."

** In [[Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge|the sequel]], LeChuck captures Guybrush and chains him up into an [[Acid Pool]] [[Death Trap]]. Guybrush can ask LeChuck [[Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him|why he didn't just shoot him when he came in]]. His answer? [[Spoiled by the Format|"Because we had an extra disk."]]

* ''[[House of the Dead|The Typing of the Dead]]'''s [[Final Boss]], in its final phase, asks you a series of questions. One of these questions asks what you love to hate, and one of the possible answers is "[[That One Boss|The Emperor Boss]] in this game."

* Yukari from ''[[Shikigami no Shiro]]'' laments the fact that she has to be the first boss of the third game, when she was originally boss #4 of the second game. If you defeat her while playing in Dramatic Mode, she'll chastise you for "cheating" because you were using "two players".

'''Marisa:''' One coin? You can't buy a life with that.

'''Flandre:''' No, it means that you can't continue! }}

{{quote|'''Sanae''': Secret treasure ... ? Are you talking about those charms with "P" and "point" written on them?}}

* ''[[Simon the Sorcerer]]'' has an early scene where Simon has to get past a group of wizards' attempted denials of their being wizards. The correct dialogue option is to mention that the word 'Wizards' pops up when the mouse cursor is pointing at them.

* ALL of Artix Entertainment's games show notice that they're aware that they're in a video game. One particular example is the player character in ''[[Adventure Quest]]'' stating "I have the gift of [[Fourth Wall Observer|fourth wall sight]]...I can see what's just off-screen!"

* In ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'': Covenant, an [[NPC]] tasked with handing out items to the main character points out, in a fit of self-doubt, that "it's not like you can't finish the game without me!"

* The narrator and protagonist of ''[[The Company of Myself]]'' seems to be [[Genre Savvy|aware]] that he lives in a puzzle platformer, and talks about his experiences therein in a near-omniscient manner. Even the preloader and volume control have relatively [[Purple Prose]] eloquence compared to nearly all other games. {{spoiler|Of course, it's all in his head....}}

* ''[[Conker's Bad Fur Day]]'' did this at quite a few points, particularly at the end when the game freezes, saving Conker from certain death, and he begins interacting with the video game designers. The [[Xbox]] remake continues this tradition, wherein Conker and other characters make snide comments about the changes in the remake, with one early character mentioning that they changed the early levels significantly to fool players into thinking the rest of the game would also be different.

* At the start of a tutorial in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' a giant finger pops up to direct you around the screen: Cloud responds "Huh? Finger?! What the hell?!"

* In ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue]]'', the PC can go into a building in one of the cities with programmers inside, one of which tells you that he drew you. Interacting with computers results in the PC stopping you because he doesn't want to see the end of the script or saying that he doesn't want to bug out the game by messing with the code.

* In ''[[World of Goo]]'', the Sign Painter remarks that one of the goo balls said that life was a lot like a physics simulation, but it didn't matter as he fell off the cliff to his death.

* The fourth wall only appears when convenient in ''[[No More Heroes]]''. Travis is willing to do some pretty stupid stuff [[Cutscene Power to the Max|only during cutscenes,]] and the characters actively work to stop the game from getting an AO rating and becoming [[Duke Nukem Forever|No More Heroes Forever.]]

* ''[[Yo-Jin-Bo]]'' likes to go around [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]. The guys like to tease Mon-Mon about "not being one of the characters you can get at the end of the game", and his response is that he has an [[Image Song]] and has spent too much time reading his lines to ''not'' be a "captureable character".

** An April Fool's joke also included the player trying to explain to an NPC that the game crashed when trying to travel to the "secret area".

* A prisoner on ''[[The Secret Island of Dr. Quandary]]'' begs the player to help him escape the Num Lock imprisoning him. The player character asks in all seriousness if they should use the Num Lock key. Both characters then give an [[Aside Glance]], as the prisoner replies "Not in this program! You have to guess the number combination."

* In ''[[Duke Nukem Forever]]'', Duke seems to be aware that he's in a video game, and as such, lampshades and jokes about everything.

** In the dungeon Zul'Gurub, Bloodlord Mandokir is not only aware of the process of leveling, he [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|exploits it]] by leveling up mid-battle after finishing off a player.

{{quote|'''Bloodlord Mandokir''': Ding!

'''Jin'do the Godbreaker''': Hey! Grats, mon! }}

{{quote|'''Pit''': What are we talking here? [[Mini Boss]]? [[Final Boss]]? }}

 

== [[Web Animation]] ==

** And this is all on top of the fact that the majority of the site's content is a [[Fourth Wall Mail Slot]] segment, in which most of the characters are aware they're on some kind of show.

 

* While characters in ''[[A Moment of Peace]]'' mostly exist in their own universe, they occasionally acknowledge the 4th wall in a casual way, going so far as to use it as a slide at one point.

* ''[[Narbonic]]'' did this a few times.

* In [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070831 this] non-canon intermission page of ''[[Girl Genius]]'', Othar Tryggvassen, [[Gentleman Adventurer]]! reacts to the narrator's foreshadowing.

{{quote|'''Belkar''': Hey! If we don't stop the weepy melodrama I'm going to start dropping pop culture references, and I don't think ''anyone'' wants that!}}

{{quote|'''Roy Greenhilt''': What about the dozens of civilians you killed to lure them there?

'''Thog''': actually, thog hazy on that. did thog kill them off-panel? }}

* [http://galactanet.com/comic/view.php?strip=6 This strip] of ''[[Casey and Andy]]'' has the titular characters treat the borders of the comic panels as visible edges of the space-time continuum, with disastrous results.

* The narrator starts messing with T-Rex in [https://web.archive.org/web/20090429064352/http://qwantz.com/archive/001192.html this strip] of ''[[Dinosaur Comics]]''.

** In an [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/03/24/episode-531-time-for-a-new-space/ earlier strip], the Light Warriors were trapped in a place where causality and space-time were twisted in on themselves, and could actually see alternate-time versions of themselves above, below, and to either side in other comic panels, and were commenting on each other's comments.

* Fancomic ''Pokémon Yellow Comics'' has the main character pointing out whenever the color changes in different areas.

* It's a bit [[Epileptic Trees]], but there's a theory that Torg from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' has a mild Medium Awareness - he's always the one to realise it's a guest week or the art style has changed, possibly tying in with the fact that he's stated to be unusually psychically sensitive within the strip's setting.

** Riff also has some Medium Awareness going on in the early strips, like when he comments that "[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=970922 This strip needs women]" or [http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=971201 complains about the poor choice of sound effects].

* In the ''[[Insecticomics]]'', the panel lines seem to be akin to dimensional barriers. Sideways (by virtue of being a sentient chaos virus), can just walk out of the panel onto the rest of the webpage, Kickback fishes for Vok with a fishing line extending past the bottom panel, and Override's cannon is so powerful that it blasts Dreadmoon and Thrust out of the comic entirely.

* ''[[1/0]]'' [[No Fourth Wall|never really had a fourth wall to begin with]] (except when certain characters were given a fourth wall), but one moment that stands out as Medium Awareness is when they're messing with the camera angles due to the rule about not showing the jar and Marcus complains that nobody even knows he's there because of how short he is. Ghanny replies that they would if they've memorized the characters' text [[Useful Notes/Fonts|fonts]] by now.

* ''[[Dungeons and Denizens]]'' did this a fair number of times, but my favorite has got to be [https://web.archive.org/web/20100419132758/http://dungeonsanddenizens.com/d/20090115.html this strip], in which Zerelda complains that Seidistika has planned out her [[Training Montage]] in advance.

** And even if Parson understands that Erfworld has game-like rules, he still hasn't gotten the fact that {{spoiler|he's in a ''webcomic''}}.

* A one-shot guest strip for ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' had Riff discover that time was separated by "panels," and invent a device to travel between them. He accidentally hits Sasha with it and is very worried when she falls through the ground, but everything turns out fine when she falls from the sky thirty seconds later.

* ''[[Precocious (Webcomic)|Precocious]]'': Ms. Monster [http://www.precociouscomic.com/archive/comic/2009/06/24 apparently has a rule against students saying her name in Chiller font].

** Ivy Pingo [http://www.precociouscomic.com/archive/comic/2010/04/09 can also hear when her daughter uses an asterik in her speech.* ]

* In ''[[The Way of the Metagamer]]'', the characters can [http://wayofthemetagamer.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/18673 read each other's] [http://wayofthemetagamer.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/21467 speech bubbles.]

* The Fey in ''[[Keychain of Creation]]'' are explicitly aware that they live in a webcomic based around the rules of ''[[Exalted]]''. This befuddles most of the other characters, who 'know' that they live directly in ''[[Exalted]]''. In this case, it is because the Fey in the aforementioned game have an utterly alien mindset, and this was an easy way to represent that. The Sidereals seem to have a little bit of this too, with moves that rely upon breaking perspective and knocking people through the box boundaries - which is kind of what Sidereal Martial Arts normally do.

* [http://www.viruscomix.com/thugs.html This] ''[[Subnormality]]'' strip somehow manages to go even more [[Meta Fiction|meta]] with this concept than usual.

* In ''[[Problem Sleuth]]'', Sleuth ends up attacking and destroying DMK's [[Life Meter|health bars]] directly, after he starts regenerating any damage taken instantly.

** Also, his health-bars are shown as [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001744 crashing through the ground and eventually reaching hell.]

** [https://web.archive.org/web/20140209182106/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2372 When it went meta, Slick and Monique started asking about the borders, and speech bubbles, and Slick noticed he had no legs.]

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

** "There aren't any midiclorians in space."

** "Of course there are! How else do we hear sound in space?"

* Split panel fun at [http://www.cracked.com/video_17443_answering-phone-in-movie-can-be-tricky-at-first.html Cracked.com].

* Name an [[Abridged Series]]. Any Abridged Series.

* In Kickassia they can read Nostalgia Chick's subtitles. She instructs them to when they keep commenting on the fact they can't understand her.

* In the musical episode of ''[[The Legend of Neil]]'' the fairy, when asked to sing with him by another fairy comments "I don't like online musicals''

** Which is [[Actor Allusion|made even funnier]] by the fact that the fairy who refuses to sing is played by [[Felicia Day]] of [[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog]]!

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvy6MjiNgl0 "You see how they condescend to us with their subtitles!"]

 

* ''[[Cro]]'': An episode involving a weird-looking machine invented by some mammoth named "Bucky" is chock-full of [[No Fourth Wall]] flirting with lines like "What, another plot complication?", "I thought we were in a [[Flash Back]] already" (the show's main story-lines are told as flashbacks) and "This not a good place to end, how about nice rescue scene?" - at the end of the flashback portion of the ep, three of the show's characters are hanging from Bucky's machine, which has been shoved over a cliff in a literal [[Cliff Hanger]].

* ''[[Kim Possible]]'' plays with this a lot, including things like messing with the credits of the show. Most notably at the end of "Grande Size Me" when Ron gives a fourth wall breaking [[Space Whale Aesop]] [[And Knowing Is Half the Battle|speech]] about the dangers of mutating your DNA while the other characters gather behind him, confusedly wonder who he's talking to.

{{quote|'''Phineas:''' I can't believe how quickly we put this sub together!

'''Ferb:''' Yes, it usually takes us at least a montage. }}

{{quote|"Hmm, comes with its own theme music!"}}

{{quote|'''Doofenshmirtz:''' Ha ha, I grabbed you while you were flashing back to your escape!}}

{{quote|'''Disembodied Reggae Space Voice:''' We don't have rocky road. It's not like we don't like it, we left the marshmallows at home. I blame [[Butt Monkey|Baljeet.]]

'''Baljeet:''' What do you mean you blame Baljeet?

'''Phineas:''' Baljeet, would you please stop arguing with the soundtrack?

'''Baljeet:''' He started it! }}

* In one episode of ''[[Family Guy]]'', Peter remarks that everyone is in Hollywood, where "[[Quip to Black|Someone always says something funny just before the commercial break!]]" [[Subverted Trope|He then pauses before looking disappointed. Fade to commercial.]]

** There have been plenty of other indications that the ''[[Family Guy]]'' cast is completely aware they are on an animated TV show. For instance, Stewie tried to introduce a [[Cutaway Gag]] and found out there was no clip, acknowledged it and moved on. Other characters have waited for the fake laugh-track to end before continuing lines. Lois suspected that insulting the network would result in their budget being cut, and the animation becoming choppy. Hell, they even know [[FOX|which network they work for.]]

** And in ''[[Family Guy]]'' itself:

{{quote|'''Peter:''' Connie's unconscious! I'd better lie on top of her to see if she's breathing! (looks at the viewer) Oh, shut up! IT'S A CARTOON!}}

* ''[[Chowder]]'' has a paper-thin (technically glass) fourth wall, so it runs into this trope at times. One example ends with Gazpacho using window cleaner to fix a scribble on the screen. Chowder asks if he can also clean up "that other thing". He pokes the Cartoon Network logo and says "That? That doesn't come off. I've tried."

** There's also the time where they go on a shopping spree and spend all their money. Upon realizing this Mung exclaims that there's no more money for animation, at which point the scene switches to the four main voice actors trying to figure out how to fix this (long story short, they have a car wash).

* ''[[Dave the Barbarian]]'' was very fond of these.

'''Red Guy''': "Yes, that was Part 2 of our show! This is Part 3 of the show, which is Part 2 of The Ugliest Weenie!" }}

* Frequently in ''[[Animaniacs]]'' - The Warners and Slappy were the most frequent to indulge in this, though it was hardly exclusive to them.

{{quote|'''Mandy:''' Ugh, this isn't working.

'''Grim:''' He said, 'If you're talking about the new interns, you can find them in the cafeteria.'

* The British series ''[[Danger Mouse]]'' is built on this trope: characters get into arguments with the Narrator, the hero knows what 'C.H.M.F.F.G.' stands for because "I read the script", a villain plans to cripple the heroes by depriving them of their ubiquitous background music, and so on.

* ''Scary Godmother: The Revenge of Jimmy'' has the Scary Godmother commenting about dramatic music whenever it comes on.

* Naturally this happens all the time to [[Bugs Bunny]] and his fellow ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' characters. Example; in the cartoon ''Rabbit Punch'', a lengthy bout between Bugs and a dimwitted boxer ends with the boxer tying Bugs to a railroad track. We see the train barrelling down on Bugs, then the image flickers, then the film breaks, leaving a white screen. Bugs then walks onto the screen and announces, "Ladies and gentlemen, due to circumstances beyond our control we are unable to finish this picture." Leaning toward the camera and holding up a pair of scissors, he whispers, "And, uh, confidentially, the film didn't exactly break."

** Perhaps the ultimate ''Looney Toons'' example would be the famous short "[[Duck Amuck]]" in which Daffy has a continued conversation and interaction with his animator.

** Pretty well everyone in ''Freakazoid!'' knows about their cartoon status. One of the pitfalls of living in a '90s [[Warner Bros]]. show.

* Disney's direct-to-DVD film ''[[Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers]]'' does this when Captain Pete finishes his [[Villain Song]] - as he sings the final triumphant note, the orchestral accompaniment disappears. He looks around bewildered and asks, "Why'd the music stop?"

* In ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "Fear of a Bot Planet", Leela comments "What a difficult decision, if only I had two or three minutes to think about it!" and then cuts to commercials.

* In the stop-motion paper figure [[Adult Swim]] comedy ''[[Mary Shelley's Frankenhole]]'', Jesus calls Dr Victor Frankenstein "Paperface".

* Several characters in ''[[My Gym Partner's a Monkey]]'', most notably Principal Pixiefrog, seem to be aware that they are characters in a cartoon.

* Interesting example in the [[Christmas Episode]] of ''[[Charlie and Lola]]'', which is animated to match the books; the characters are [[Stylistic Suck|childish drawings]] and the backgrounds are collages. Christmas grinds to a halt because Santa's elves have run out of paper to wrap the presents. As Charlie and Lola head home depressed, Lola notices that the starry sky ''is made of wrapping paper'', and they tear it off and give it to the elves, thus [[Saving Christmas]].

* ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' episode "Simian Says" (as well as the comic book story "See You Later, Narrator") has Mojo kidnapping the narrator and replacing his script with one that has the Powerpuff Girls incapable of saving the day.

{{quote|'''Jimmy''': My arms! My legs! My depth!

'''Timmy''': Why is everything so bulgy? }}

* Team Rocket in ''[[Pokémon]]'' occasionaly broke it, usually while blasting off, and often by Meowth.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Abridged Series Tropes]]