I feel like such a doofus; how could I have missed Groucho. “Strange interlude” indeed…
And Zoggie… I love you. Gilmore Girls, the Adventures of Pete and Pete… you rock.
I have to bring up the Blair Witch Project in this context… Was that narration, was it breaking the fourth wall, or did the audience just stare in horrified fascination up that poor girl’s nostrils?
That was simply narration, since they were making a movie themselves.
The Blair Witch Project was done in the form of a documenery, so there was no “fourth wall” between the characters of the three idiots and the camera.
Of course, it was a drama (in the technical sense. There was no actual drama involved, but . . .) about a (fictional) documentery, so the “fourth wall” in this case involved staying in character. (such as they were)
Had someone, after the “I threw the map in the river” bit and apologized for insulting the viewers intellegence, THAT would have been breaking the fourth wall.
I think the key difference between breaking the fourth wall and narration is weither the characters are activly acknowledging the viewers presence. So normal narration (even if a character is doing it) or soliloquizing isn’t, The narration segments of Malcom in the Middle are, though. He’s not talking to the universe in general, he’s talking to the viewers specifically. On the other hand, I don’t think the narration segments of Titus would qualify, as he’s out of the shows continuity when he’s doing so.
There’s a different (but related) gag of having the characters admit knowlage of the plot or format of the show, but not directly to the viewers. This was a running gag on Slayers, where characters self conciously submitted to the rules of the genre (“This is the part where the heroine is all shrieky and insane with fright!”) expressed dissatisfaction with thier assigned roles (“I’m supposed to be the dark-hearted swordsman! Why am I the comic relief?”) and complained about the filler episodes. (“We’re just getting further and further from the main plot, arn’t we?”)
Yet another related gag is having the actors “unintetionally” break character, like that episode of Duckman where they don’t notice the camera is back on, and all the characters are smoking and talking about thier contracts, or the “while I am almost surely risking an oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor!” line from Blazing Saddles
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“I don’t care if it violates story continuty! All I have to do is kill you!”
Okay, then, I submit my favorite candidate for fourth-wall-breakage. The Muppet Movie. Specifically, the scene where Piggy, Kermit, Gonzo et. al., are stranded in the desert, and the Electric Mayhem bus pulls up.
“How’d you find us?”
“We read the script. Exterior, desert, night… and here you were!”
Good one, MrVisible!
In his book Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, animation historian Jerry Beck writes that Duck Amuck “not only breaks the fourth wall, but the fifth and sixth as well.” Quite humorous as Daffy complains to the unseen animator as everything goes wrong…
There’s a scene in the vastly underappreciated Gremlins 2 in which the Gremlins get into the projection booth and mess with the movie as it’s playing, until Hulk Hogan deals with them. (I’ve heard that on the home video version it’s changed from a projection booth to a VCR in some weird way, although I can’t confirm that…)
Dark Helmet: What the hell am I looking at? When does this happen in the movie?
Colonel Sandurz: You’re looking at now, sir. Everything that happens now is happening now.
Dark Helmet: What hapened to then?
Colonel Sandurz: We passed then.
Dark Helmet: When?
Colonel Sandurz: Just now. We’re at now now.
Dark Helmet: Go back to then.
Colonel Sandurz: When?
Dark Helmet: Now!
Colonel Sandurz: Now?
Dark Helmet: Now!
Colonel Sandurz: I can’t.
Dark Helmet: Why?
Colonel Sandurz: We missed it.
Dark Helmet: When?
Colonel Sandurz: Just now.
Dark Helmet: When will then be now?
Colonel Sandurz: Soon.
Do I win the most obscure multi-season (3!) television series/4th wall-breaker award with ‘Parker Lewis Can’t Lose’, which often had Corin Nemec address the camera directly to explain plot devices or to express his thoughts etc.
One of the most famous, of course, was in the stage play of “Peter Pan” and in most movie versions, when Peter gets all the kids to clap for Tinker Bell. Gotta clap hard, or that little fairy will croak. Good riddance.
Burt Reynolds specializes in the slow take and smile to the audience just before or after a particularly outrageous part of his movies. The great smile after he eludes the cops in “Smokey and the Bandit”, or before he punches out the director in “Hooper” are examples.
One picture — “The Lady in the Lake” perhaps? — was shot entirely from the detective’s point of view. It had an interesting fourth wall effect. You only saw Marlowe (played by Robert Montgomery) for a brief moment at the film.
One wonders if the “fourth wall” can be shattered the other way. Participatory movies such as “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” are examples. Just about any of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 would count.
[hijack, I think]
The Gremlins 2 scene is definitely changed on the video version. If memory serves me right, it appears as if the tape breaks. The Gremlins make shadow puppets, then switch through the channels on the TV. When they get to a John Wayne movie, Wayne sets things straight.
[/hijack, I think]
Sticking to the topic, I imagine Daffy Duck’s comments to the audience during the credits of Gremlins 2 would be a wall-breaking example (“Still lurking about? Don’t you people have homes?”). That Joe Dante sure does like his Looney Tunes…