# Best Fourth-Wall Breaking Moments **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2021, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840 "2021-03-13T18:49:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/81 "2021-03-18T01:10:38Z")
Looks like I need to read _Sensational She-Hulk._ I’ve only read the '04 run and I loooved it. She’s my favorite super-hero hands down. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/82 "2021-03-18T01:38:40Z")
Then there is this. > **[Sensational She-Hulk Vol 1 40](https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Sensational_She-Hulk_Vol_1_40)** > > Featured Characters: 🢐 She-Hulk (Jen Walters) 🢒 Supporting Characters: 🢐 Louise Mason 🢒 🢐 Wyatt Wingfoot 🢒 🢐 Al the alien 🢒 (Appears in Flashback) 🢐 U.S. Archer 🢒 (Appears in Flashback) Antagonists:... ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/83 "2021-03-18T11:27:53Z")
I don’t want to describe the scene in any detail because I think it would spoil an integral part of the movie. But in horror thriller **Funny Games** - the 1997 Austrian original or the 2007 ‘shot for shot’ English language remake by the same director - there is a MASSIVE Fourth Wall moment. The film is controversial and some feel it’s exploitive rubbish while some feel it is an important comment on societies purient interest in horror/violent porn. The Fourth-Wall moment being a key point in both views. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/84 "2021-03-18T11:44:41Z")
Just last night on TV I saw a rather subtle one (subtle to me who usually misses nuance.) Watching an old episode of **NCIS**. The main plot has Tony and Ziva flying to Paris, France collecting a witness and escorting her home on a commerical jet that has an unidentified contract killer aboard. There was a continuing sub-plot regarding Tony has taken various photos of Paris which he is proud of considering himself a great, artistic photographer. Plus a continuing sub-plot about the budding romance between ‘chalk and cheese’ Tony and Ziva. At the very end of the episode Tony reveals his one favourite photograph is the only one that has a person in it… It is of course a picture of Ziva 😍 Ziva herself looks at the photo before teasingly suggesting she thinks it would work better in black and white… Viewers are then shown the colour image which (as is standard for the final shot of NCIS) is faded to black and white. The other much more famous **NCIS** Fourth-Wall moment is when Gibbs is asked by Caitlin to describe what a young Dr Ducky looked like. Gibbs simply answers “Illya Kuryakin” For those amongst us who are younger, both Dr Ducky and Illya Kuryakin (from TV show **The Man From U.N.C.L.E** ) are characters portrayed by actor David MacCullum. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/85 "2021-03-18T11:55:08Z")
One more **NCIS** thing but I genuinely don’t know whether it is deliberate or not. The replacement for long serving forensic scientist Abby is Kasie. Since in the UK we are about two years behind the US, Kasie has just joined. I’ve noticed either character Kasie (at the deliberate request of the show runners) or actress Diona Reasonover constantly looks directly into the camera - I’m not involved in show business but I always understood actors and actresses should NEVER look directly into the camera in that random fashion. It’s either a mistake by the actress but it seems unlikely that would be allowed. Or it’s a Fourth-Wall moment but they are holding back on it. Or its a deliberate ploy by the show runners to try and force a “connection” between Kasie and the viewers to compensate for the loss of much loved Abby. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/86 "2021-03-18T12:02:52Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > The other much more famous **NCIS** Fourth-Wall moment is when Gibbs is asked by Caitlin to describe what a young Dr Ducky looked like. Gibbs simply answers “Illya Kuryakin” That’s not really 4th wall, it just makes reference to an actor’s previous role. We have an ongoing thread on that, too. 🙂 There’s no recognition of the audience in this case. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/87 "2021-03-18T12:27:27Z")
Acknowledging that a character is really an actor feels Fourth Wall to me. I’d suggest allusions to a previous role is a subset of Fourth Wall. But no worries if you disagree. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/88 "2021-03-18T13:34:27Z")
Fair enough, it’s not like there’s a clear-cut dictionary definition of breaking the 4th wall to work from. ---
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/89 "2021-03-19T04:35:10Z")
Matt Dillon and Doc Stone do a commercial for cigarettes. In character, they walk off the set of Gunsmoke to backstage, endorsing the smokes. Matt talks directly to the camera. That’s at multiple levels for me, walking off the set, speaking to the audience, while not going out of character. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/90 "2021-03-19T12:21:57Z")
I just saw the English version the other day. The scene you’re talking about kind of took me out of the movie for a minute. But there were a couple of times they broke the fourth wall as the one character looks right at us when he was asking a question. Still not sure how much I liked the movie, which is probably a sign of an interesting movie at least. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/91 "2021-03-19T12:40:47Z")
I don’t think this has been mentioned yet. **Top Secret!** (1984) – Val Kilmer and Lucy Gutteridge “It all seems like some bad movie!” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/KSZwlMDSOvY/maxresdefault.jpg "Top Secret! (3/9) Movie CLIP - Some Bad Movie (1984) HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSZwlMDSOvY) ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/92 "2021-03-19T12:42:11Z")
On The Big Bang Theory they showed the “fourth wall” and the picture that is on it. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikpeBfRb0mE) ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/93 "2021-03-19T14:14:10Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I don’t think this has been mentioned yet. Ahem. Post 12. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/94 "2021-03-19T14:33:33Z")
I still don’t want to describe the scene in any detail because that would be (in my opinion) such a spoiler. But if I understand the director’s intentions the whole film is designed to insult the viewer. The film, broadly, is constructed in the “Torture Porn” genre with the married couple - being rich YUPPIES - although clearly victims, not entirely likeable. So it appears the director believes the viewer is getting some kind of entertainment and enjoyment from their suffering. The Fourth Wall moment deliberately “ruins” the film… But then allows the suffering of the couple and, by inference the viewers’ pleasure of their suffering, to continue. TLDR: If you enjoyed a couple of hours of people being tortured pointlessly in a film that deliberately destroys its own narrative you are sick. Hence hard to like a movie that insults you for watching it. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/95 "2021-03-19T20:35:44Z")
In the webcomic Order of the Stick, [the cast page](https://www.giantitp.com/comics/ootscast.html) used to show Haley holding a big-ass diamond… until [strip 649](https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0649.html). (which, wow, is now nearly half the entire run of the comic ago…) ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2021, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/96 "2021-03-20T09:25:00Z")
On the Burns and Allen show, George wouldn’t only break the fourth wall, he would come to the other side and watch the show with you. ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2021, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/97 "2021-03-20T09:45:30Z")
Another fourth-wall moment comes in Grant Morrison’s _Animal Man_ run. AM does not have inherent powers involving comic panels like She-Hulk; he instead gradually comes to realize that he’s a fictional character, culminating in this: [![](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/b/b6/Buddy_Baker_001.jpg) ](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/b/b6/Buddy_Baker_001.jpg) Then Morrison talks to him a bit and reveals himself to be kind of an asshole, but also not totally. [![](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cd/e2/6b/cde26b9023a1d8ff50702641ebbaaaf0.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cd/e2/6b/cde26b9023a1d8ff50702641ebbaaaf0.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2021, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/98 "2021-03-20T20:20:53Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > Another fourth-wall moment comes in Grant Morrison’s _Animal Man_ run. The issue before that ends with Buddy (Animal Man) looking confused and wandering up to a house. The door opens and that black-coated auteur says “Hello, I’m Grant.” It was so hard to wait a month to get the next issue. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2021, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/99 "2021-03-20T20:48:41Z")
Two of my favorites: - The final scene of _Goodfellas_, with Ray Liotta in the courtroom ratting out his mob pals. He starts talking directly to the camera from the witness stand, then gets up and walks out of the frozen courtroom while continuing to address the audience. - The ending of _Vice_, with a defiant Dick Cheney leaning into the camera and saying “It’s been my honor to be _your servant_,” in a chilling Vader-like whisper. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2021, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840/100 "2021-03-20T20:51:13Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > Acknowledging that a character is really an actor feels Fourth Wall to me. I’d suggest allusions to a previous role is a subset of Fourth Wall. But no worries if you disagree. [TVTropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LeaningOnTheFourthWall) calls this sort of thing “leaning on the fourth wall,” which I think is an apt description. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fourth-wall-breaking-moments/937840.md?page=6)