# Breaking one fourth wall -- but not the other **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 5, 2013, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-one-fourth-wall-but-not-the-other/668088 "2013-09-05T16:36:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-one-fourth-wall-but-not-the-other/668088/21 "2013-09-06T19:00:56Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I get what the OP is asking. John Smith is a character in a novel who thinks he’s living in a TV show. I don’t think this is actually what the OP had in mind, but \*Redshirts \*by John Scalzi is a novel about characters in a TV show who realize they are TV characters and set out to change their fates. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-one-fourth-wall-but-not-the-other/668088/22 "2013-09-09T21:17:30Z")
> [@Cartoonacy](#): > > Some people aren’t quite getting it. Let me try to rephrase the OP: > > In Marvel Comics, Deadpool acknowledges that he’s a comic book character and constantly breaks the fourth wall. Now, suppose a Deadpool movie is made, and it’s a literal adaptation of the source material. In the movie, Deadpool is a man who believes that he’s a comic book character. But he’s not. He’s a movie character. Therefore, he comes across to the audience as being insane, rather than being “in the know.” > > Get it? Can you think of any actual examples of this being done? Hmmm… IIRC actually Deadpool and Cable kind of do this in the Facebook Avengers Alliance game. I seem to recall a team up fight with them and at the end there’s some dialogue where Deadpool makes references to them being in a video game and Cable says something like “I thought you said we were in a comic book.” ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-one-fourth-wall-but-not-the-other/668088/23 "2013-09-09T22:58:33Z")
In a series 3, possibly series 4, episode of [the BBC sitcom “Coupling”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coupling_%28UK_TV_series%29) one of the characters yells at another “Because this is not an American sitcom!” This is funny because very shortly before that, the [US version of the show, on NBC, had been canceled after only four aired episodes.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coupling_%28U.S._TV_series%29) So they were acknowledging the existence(and in fact the demise) of the US media property, while not acknowledging they were, in fact, part of the ongoing BBC media property. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-one-fourth-wall-but-not-the-other/668088/24 "2013-09-09T23:23:44Z")
Abed on Community does this. He did it quite a bit in the first season. When the plot revolved around an old trope, Abed would point it out and say something like “oh, we’re doing the \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ thing. Cool.” The others think he’s crazy for it. In later seasons Abed doesn’t do this near as much, but every once in a while he still acknowledged their fictional universe as a sly wink to the audience. ---
**Author:** ![Pine\_Fresh\_Scent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@Pine\_Fresh\_Scent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pine_Fresh_Scent)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-one-fourth-wall-but-not-the-other/668088/25 "2013-09-10T03:45:16Z")
In _Galaxy Quest_, Sam Rockwell breaks the TV fourth wall a lot, even though he’s really a movie character. > [@](#): > > [the crew is on a shuttle descending to an alien planet] > > Guy Fleegman: I changed my mind. I wanna go back. > > Sir Alexander Dane: After the fuss you made about getting left behind? > > Guy Fleegman: Yeah, but that’s when I thought I was the crewman that stays on the ship, and something is up there, and it kills me. But now I’m thinking I’m the guy who gets killed by some monster five minutes after we land on the planet. > > Jason Nesmith: You’re not gonna die on the planet, Guy. > > Guy Fleegman: I’m not? Then what’s my last name? > > Jason Nesmith: It’s, uh, uh – I don’t know. > > Guy Fleegman: Nobody knows. Do you know why? Because my character isn’t important enough for a last name, because I’m gonna die five minutes in. > > Gwen DeMarco: Guy, you have a last name. > > Guy Fleegman: DO I? DO I? For all you know, I’m “Crewman Number Six”! Mommy… mommy… > > Sir Alexander Dane: Are we there yet? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-one-fourth-wall-but-not-the-other/668088/26 "2013-09-10T11:48:41Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > George Burns did it occasionally on his very old TV sitcom: just stop the action, and then talk to the audience. He actually did it fairly frequently. In later seasons, he had a television in his den, and he would watch the action of the other characters. It was a great inversion, he was watching the show that he was in. He would then comment to the audience – for example, that he could put a stop to the plot mix-up, but then they would be ending the show too early. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-one-fourth-wall-but-not-the-other/668088.md?page=1)