# Breaking The Fourth Wall **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 10, 2001, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273 "2001-06-10T07:04:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/21 "2001-06-10T16:11:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > \*\*I seem to remember that the horrendous piece of phlegm named **The Opposite of Sex** (starring Arye Gross, Courtney Cox, Julie Brown, Kevin Pollak) did it frequently. And badly. \*\* Nope, you’re thinking of [, which I’ve never seen (and never will). [url=“[http://us.imdb.com/Title?0120777](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0120777)”]The Opposite of Sex]([http://us.imdb.com/Title?0105063](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0105063)"The Opposite Sex and How to Live with Them"[/url) is actually a decent movie. It also has a “Friends” star in it (Lisa Kudrow), adding to the confusion. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/22 "2001-06-10T16:13:34Z")
Damn - if I would have previewed I would have seen my URL botch _and_ seen that **lolagranola** was researching on IMDB at the same time I was. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/23 "2001-06-10T18:29:36Z")
I thought of two more: Doesn’t Yahoo Serious address the audience from time to time in _Young Einstein_? And there’s that scene in _Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me_, where Austin worries about the details of travelling back in time. Basil says, “I suggest you don’t worry about it, Austin, and just have a good time.” Then he and Austin both look at the camera and Basil says, “And I suggest _you_ don’t worry about it either.” ---
**Author:** ![MrVisible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@MrVisible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrVisible)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/24 "2001-06-10T19:01:03Z")
**The Emperor’s New Groove** goes so far as to have the title character stop the film, come on screen, and diagram some of the action. ---
**Author:** ![Gilligan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Gilligan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gilligan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/25 "2001-06-10T19:44:59Z")
The Skipper would often look right into the camera with an exasperated look, after hitting me on the head with his hat. Another friend of mine, Dobie Gillis, would sometimes talk directly to the audience. ---
**Author:** ![Grok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Grok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grok)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/26 "2001-06-10T20:20:58Z")
Woody Allen did this several times in **Annie Hall** and a few of his other films. Probably the most memorable of these scenes is the famous Marshal McLuhan scene from Annie Hall. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/27 "2001-06-10T21:40:27Z")
Just to contribute a little to this thread, but the otherwise-forgettable sitcom _I Married Dora_ ended the last episode of the (first and) last season by breaking the fourth wall and having the cast say “farewell” to the viewers. Gotta go see _The Emperor’s New Groove_ sometime… ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/28 "2001-06-10T21:48:44Z")
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Groucho Marx yet. He does this in a number of his films, including “Cocoanuts” and “Animal Crackers” IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/29 "2001-06-10T21:59:41Z")
Clarissa Explains it All, the show where Melissa Joan Hart first got her start on Nickelodeon. I don’t know if this counts, but MST3K. ---
**Author:** ![ThisYearsGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@ThisYearsGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisYearsGirl)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/30 "2001-06-10T22:33:06Z")
The Sum of Us, with Russell Crowe, is one of the best examples of breaking the fourth wall. And High Fidelity uses it pretty well also, but in general, I’m kinda getting sick of seeing it. ---
**Author:** ![Swede\_Hollow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Swede\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swede_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/31 "2001-06-10T22:37:30Z")
James Bond in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” - George Lazenby (when a woman runs away from him just before the opening credits) says “This never happened to the other fellow” to the camera as a reference to Sean Connery’s James Bond’s luck with women. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/32 "2001-06-10T23:36:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by porcupine \* > \*\*Nope, you’re thinking of [, which I’ve never seen (and never will). [url=“[http://us.imdb.com/Title?0120777](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0120777)”]The Opposite of Sex]([http://us.imdb.com/Title?0105063](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0105063)"The Opposite Sex and How to Live with Them"[/url) is actually a decent movie. It also has a “Friends” star in it (Lisa Kudrow), adding to the confusion. \*\* Yeah, that’s the one. Sorry about that, and thanks for looking it up. (Trust me, it’s terrible, because the “fourth wall” idea is intrusive. “Why,” asked Leonard Maltin, “do these people think we care about them?”) Thanks, **porcupine** and **lolagranola**. ---
**Author:** ![bafaa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@bafaa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bafaa)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/33 "2001-06-10T23:57:34Z")
I seem to remember in **Airplane** Robert Hayes turning to the camera and saying “What a pisser!” possibly after Julie Hagerty tells him she doesn’t love him. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2001, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/34 "2001-06-11T00:14:41Z")
This is also a common staple of animation (particularly shorts), the greatest example IMHO being Chuck Jones’s brilliant _ **Duck Amuck** _ ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2001, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/35 "2001-06-11T00:24:02Z")
Saved by the Bell- Zack did that all the time. The Adventures of Pete and Pete- Pete (older Pete) did it too, if I recall correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2001, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/36 "2001-06-11T00:38:34Z")
Is there any sort of distinction between “breaking the fourth wall” and “narration?” I think breaking the fourth wall is a deliberate acknowledgement that what’s happening is a movie/play/TV show etc. Richard III’s soliloquies are a device that allows the audience to understand the character’s motivations. On the other hand, the Chorus in Henry V (and this perhaps is a function of Choruses in general, not unique to Shakespeare. I’m not as up on my theatre terms as I’d like) repeatedly state that they are in a play: “Can this cock-pit hold the vasty fields of France? Or, may we cram within this wooden O the very casks that did afright the air at Agincourt?” It can be difficult, even impossible, to say which is which in some of the cases mentioned. Fight Club, I think, counts in at least one instance, when they’re talking about “cigarette marks” in films and Brad Pit points to one just as it appears on the screen. High Fidelity, IMO, does not count, as its simply first person narration. Although John Cusack is adressing the camera, and therefore the audience, there is no explicit confession that what we are seeing is fictious. (BTW: Blazing Saddles is actually the best example of this, when the climactic brawl literally breaks the fourth wall and spills into adjacent movie sets, the studio commisary, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2001, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/37 "2001-06-11T02:34:22Z")
**Miller** wrote: > [@](#): > > Is there any sort of distinction between “breaking the fourth wall” and “narration?” I think breaking the fourth wall is a deliberate acknowledgement that what’s happening is a movie/play/TV show etc. I don’t know exactly what constitutes `breaking the fourth wall'. The `fourth wall’ is a wall that presumably exists in the room the characters are in, but which has effectively been removed so that the audience can see into the room. In normal drama, the characters don’t acknowledge that this wall is missing. But does any play with a soliloquy break the fourth wall? Any play with a narrator? I myself prefer to reserve the term for those times when characters in a story exibit knowledge of being characters in a story. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2001, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/38 "2001-06-11T11:35:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Johnny Angel \* > I don’t know exactly what constitutes `breaking the fourth wall'. The `fourth wall’ is a wall that presumably exists in the room the characters are in, but which has effectively been removed so that the audience can see into the room. In normal drama, the characters don’t acknowledge that this wall is missing. But does any play with a soliloquy break the fourth wall? Any play with a narrator? > > I myself prefer to reserve the term for those times when characters in a story exibit knowledge of being characters in a story. \*\* I personally reserve the phrase for when the character directly addresses the audience, as opposed to simply speaking to himself (or thinking out loud). With this definition, soliloquies and simple narratives don’t count. But that could be just me. ---
**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:** [June 11, 2001, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/39 "2001-06-11T12:17:36Z")
The TV series **The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis** (later simply **Dobie** ) used this a _lot_ – The camera would cut away from the action to Dwayne Hickman as the titular Dobie, standing in “limbo” in front of a reproduction of Rodin’s atatue “The Thinker” (just to let you know that these were Dobie’s thoughts – a clever little device), where he would unashamedly talk directly out at the audience. The original plays of **A Man for All Seasons** by Robert Bolt and \*\* Amadeus\*\* by Peter Scaeffer featured the Point of View character (not the title character in either case, but The Common Man in the former and Antonio Salieri in the latter) constantly addressing the audience and commenting on the action. In both cases, the movie version, as rewritten by the original author, completely removed this feature, and the “fourth wall” remained intact. (Bolt simply removed it altogether, while Schaeffer turned it into Salieri addressing the priest in a sort of confession.)I think that the plays, _with_ this broken fourth wall, were much more lively and interesting. There are plenty of examples of this in movies, especially in the fifties and sixties. And it’s in a hell of a lot of cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2001, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273/40 "2001-06-11T13:17:01Z")
The end of the Spice Girls movie (blame my daughter for my knowing this, not me) - they all talk to the theater audience (“You over there! No, you! I like your dress!”). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-the-fourth-wall/68273.md?page=3)