List of fiction that breaks the fourth wall

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The following is a list of examples of fiction that breaks the fourth wall for dramatic or comedic effect. It does not include situations in which the fourth wall is broken inadvertently, such as when a mirror or other reflective surface catches a film crew and the editors fail to notice it.

Contents

[edit] Examples in theatre

[edit] Radio and audio recordings

  • Goon Show - Plots constantly alternate between honoring the fourth wall and breaking it. For example, the episode entitled "Six Charlies in Search of an Author" was a parody of Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author. In the episode, the characters repeatedly seize a typewriter from one another to write in miraculous escapes, suddenly acquired weapons, descriptions of their own bravery, and the like.
  • History of the United States of America (by Stan Freberg) - A comment weighted with drama is accompanied by a couple of horn fanfare notes. A second actor asks, "What is that?" in response to the first comment, and instead the first actor responds, "French horns!" On the same recording, King Ferdinand complains to Christopher Columbus, "This whole thing is madness, I tell you! I don't like the way the men are acting!" Columbus (Freberg) responds, "Well, you're overplaying it a little bit yourself, there!"
  • Family Guy: Live in Vegas Album - The characters from the TV show are talking in front of a live audience and talking about their show Family Guy, including how they filmed episodes and who the met during the filming. One example is Lois saying 'We filmed an episode where Brian had a flashback of when he met his father, but we had to make a dog suit and put an actor in there to do the scene."

[edit] Examples in film

[edit] Example in television

[edit] Examples in animation

[edit] Literature

  • Amadis of Gaul--in one chapter, the narrator ceases talking, fearing that his speech will bore the reader.
  • Anansi Boys (by Neil Gaiman) - The narrator frequently references the fictional nature of the story.
  • The Catcher in the Rye (by J.D. Salinger) - The narrator frequently "speaks" with the reader, e.g. explains why he didn't tell anything about his childhood.
  • A Series of Unfortunate Events (by Lemony Snicket) - The author frequently addresses the readers, suggesting they skip over particularly gloomy parts or stop reading the book altogether.
  • Automated Alice (by Jeff Noon) - Noon himself appears in the book and explain to Alice the nature of her existence.
  • Bend Sinister (by Vladimir Nabokov) - In the introduction, the author writes about his nonhuman appearances in the book, as a deity early in the story and then at the end as "a beam of pale light causing instantaneous madness" for the protagonist. Nabokov also jokes about a character's dream existing in a place where "the dream management" are simply changing the sets and aren't very good at it.
  • Breakfast of Champions (by Kurt Vonnegut - Vonnegut himself appears in the book and interacts with the character Kilgore Trout.
  • The Dark Tower series (by Stephen King) - Characters and settings from previous King novels (such as The Stand and Insomnia) play a major part in the plotline, particularly in the series' later novels. At one point, the main characters learn they are characters in a book. Further on, the characters travel to Maine to prevent King's death so he can finish writing their story.
  • Don Juan (by Lord Byron) - Throughout several places in the poem, especially during Canto 1, the narrator remarks on Lord Byron's colleagues Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey. Additionally, Byron also points out how some of the similes and rhymes used are stupid or ridiculous.
  • The Fourth Bear (by Jasper Fforde) - at one point, after an extremely corny and long set up joke, the characters remark "How does he get away with it?". They are of course referring to the author himself.
  • The Razor's Edge (by W. Somerset Maugham) At several instances in the book, Maugham, who is a character in the book, tells us what parts are relevant to the story and which parts not central to the story (but central to the book) we may skip over if we choose. He also explains the timing of events, as several pieces of the story are told out of order.
  • If on a Winter's Night a Traveller (by Italo Calvino) The book opens with you, the reader, walking into a book store to pick up Italo Calvino's latest book, If on a Winter's Night, a Traveller.
  • Illuminatus! (by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson) Throughout the trilogy (and in most of Wilson's other fiction), references to the fictional nature of the story are mentioned repeatedly, including a scene in which one of the characters, Epicene Wildeblood, gives a scathing review to a book which is clearly the one he is appearing in. This is also highlighted by the absurdist names given to several of the characters (e.g., August Personage, Indole Ringh, Rhoda Chief, and the aforementioned Wildeblood). The final chapter of the third book ends with Joseph Malik declaring that their encounter with Leviathan was clearly allegorical rather than real. When Hagbard Celine attempts to dissuade him of this, arguing that it was just because the narrator, whom he identifies with the supercomputer FUCKUP, was a poor literary stylist, Joe answers that this is still more misdirection, and that the Authors (Shea and Wilson) were showing their hand by such a bald excuse.
  • Lanark (by Alasdair Gray) Near the end of the novel, the main character visits Gray himself. They have a discussion about the ending of the novel.
  • Au Pair (by Willem Frederik Hermans) The main character meets someone who is likely meant to represent the writer himself.
  • Jeeves series (by P. G. Wodehouse) - The narrator, Bertie Wooster, occasionally interrupts the story to describe how difficult it is to know where to begin, for example, or to ponder whether the reader would want a full description of a particular scene, or just for a brief statement ("I don't know how you feel about London in August") or summary of the action. He generally refers to the readers as "customers", thus further reinforcing "broken" fourth wall.
  • The Neverending Story (by Michael Ende) - In the story, the Childlike Empress orders the book to be read 'from the beginning'. A jumbled sentence is read - "skooB dlO rednaeroC darnoC lraC", which makes no sense to Bastian at all. However, if the reader looks at the first page and notices what is being read, they will see that the characters are reading the mirrored text on the first page of the reader's book, but forgetting to reverse it.
  • Pixel Juice (by Jeff Noon) - Several short stories and poems refer to each other as fictional, including one poem that sums up the entire book while poking fun at the author.
  • The Princess Bride (by William Goldman)- Many references throughout the novel are made (often within parenthesis) to the author's cutting of certain parts of the original (and fictional) story due numerous reasons, including that the passages omitted were boring or superfluous in nature.
  • Voice of the Fire (by Alan Moore) - The final chapter, 'Phipp's Fire Escape', begins with Moore typing the last words of the previous chapter into his computer. He then goes for a walk around his home town of Northampton, relating meetings with his family, deconstructing the previous stories in the book and musing that "this is fiction, not a lie".

[edit] Webcomics

  • 1/0 - Breaks the fourth wall in almost every strip, with the exception of a few strips presented during a "Fourth Wall Week" (ironically requested by one of the characters of the comic). 1/0 examines the concept of the fourth wall extensively and in a variety of ways, ranging from the nature of the influence of the author over the comic world to the use of the presence or absence of the fourth wall (and thus the acknowledgement of an omnipotent "author") as a metaphor for religion.
  • Adventurers (by Mark Shallow)- In this RPG-themed webcomic, the main character Karn (the fighter in the story) always refers directly to RPG concepts in his speech and takes them at face value, knowing he's in a game. Ardam, the mage, treats their RPG world as if it should function like the real one, and dismisses Karn's blatherings as idiocy (which many of them still tend to be.) Some of the NPCs do this too.
  • Bob and George - The author appears frequently and, in one instance, his in-comic character gets killed, and the strip "fades away". This occurred very early in the comic's history, and was a segue to some failed hand-drawn comics. A running gag involves the cast's constant disappointment with "the sound guy" and the sound effects he apparently supplies. Another is the fact that whenever one storyline arcs into another, the background changes. One scene depicts George running in panic when the background changes from blue to red, highly aware that the storyline was changing. Also, near the middle of the series, Protoman remarks that he reads ahead in the comic so he knows what's going on. Also, there are brief interludes in the main story on holidays, during which time it would seem that no fourth wall exists.
  • Concerned - The main character of the comic, Gordon Frohman, acknowledges the mechanics of the game he is in, and in some strips makes frequent humorous remarks regarding them, or the actions of the game's protagonist that players take role of, Gordon Freeman.
  • Ctrl+Alt+Del - Occasionally has author Tim Buckley appearing in the strip. The first time this happened, Buckley was shot with a longbow by the strip's main character, Ethan. Ethan did this in revenge for the times he had been hit with arrows himself, which he blamed on the author.
  • Ctrl C-V-Z Breaking of the fourth wall was a regular occurrence. Eggman would occasionally talk to the viewers about his evil plans, the characters may comment if the animation or writing style were to change, the characters occasionally make references to plot holes and other things in earlier episodes, the animator's roleplaying character (An orange echidna named MaxX) jumps into the story on occasion, Tails and Knuckles had a short adventure when they literally broke the wall and ended up on the animator's computer desk, among other things.
  • cyanide and happiness The characters often look at the audience. For instance, in one comic, the first two panels are blank, then two characters run in. One says "Are we late?" The other says "Quick, say something funny!". The next panel has them thinking.
  • El Goonish Shive - Early in the strip, characters from the author's previous work arrive to confront Tedd and Sarah about having starring roles in the comic, which they believe should rightfully be theirs, and bemoan their fate of being "cheesy minor characters". Tedd and Sarah, however, have no idea what they're talking about. At one point in the strip, a role reversal occurs as Sarah tells the other characters that she draws comic strips in her spare time, and shows them some sketches of her characters - one of which is the in-comic avatar of the author.
  • General Protection Fault - During April Fools week the strips are frequently loaded with fourth-wall violations. One features a character named Dexter taking over the strip for a week to denounce the other characters. Another has the characters' boss, Dwayne giving them pupils for their eyes in acknowledgement of the fact that most characters are drawn without them. Another time, photos of the cartoonist's cats were inserted into the strip to explain discuss the strip from a real-world perspective. On one other occasion, as Trent holds Nick and Fooker at gunpoint, threatening to shoot them, Nick asks if he can do that in a comic strip.
  • Kevin and Kell has characters often referring to themselves as being in a comic strip, such as discussing how word balloons form. On March 4, 2007's strip, Kell, one of the two titular characters and a Herd Thininers staff predator, pursues a deer through the city. When he appears to be cornered, he declares to the viewer "Of course, this being a family strip, I'm sure the actual act of predation wouldn't take place onscreen!" and escapes through a door-like opening in the wall as Kell remarked that he escaped through the fourth wall. Other acts of predation in the strip often involve the prey being swallowed whole between panels (a bone, a piece of clothing or an item that they are carrying is often spat out), or going somewhere they will be devoured, such as Herd Thinners' headquarters.
  • Melonpool - Frequently breaks the fourth wall. This is parodied in the webcomic Zortic when Splink asks the artist to act as a deus ex machina, and is told, "If you want that kind of thing, go read Melonpool!"
  • Neglected Mario Characters (by Jay Resop) - The author is a frequent character, but in a variety of guises. He is usually played by Bob Dole, but he also has been played by Kirby and General Leo Christophe. He is often portrayed as an employer to the characters and pays their salaries. Other shorts focus on him trying to update the NC website but he is busy working and playing games such as Xenogears, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Smash Bros., or Final Fantasy VI. A running gag involves the character Fred the Spanyard saying his catchphrase, "Didn't we already kill Jay Resup?" (which he said in Bill and Fred's Quasi-Mediocre Adventure) whenever his colleague Bill the Extra Guy mentions Jay's lack of creativity or talent. There are also numerous times when the characters realize that they are just characters in a comic rather than in their own little world. In recent comics, there has also been a narrator character, "The Narrative Guy," a gray Shy Guy.
  • PvP Online - Characters in PvP frequently break the fourth wall as part of a running gag in which the Brent character generally gets decapitated. They also complain to the artist on occasion - one arc has them complaining about the lack of background art attributing it the artist's laziness.
  • Real Life (by Greg Dean) - It has interacted with readers from the beginning. The cartoonist has made a couple of appearances in the strip, and it also includes a character with god-like powers who is based on the cartoonist. The characters are very much aware that they are in a comic strip, but still try to follow their own lives. There is even a story arc in September-October 2006, where the character Tony, by jumping through several plot holes, arrives in the author's home.
  • Sabrina Online (by Eric W. Schwartz) - The author sometimes draws himself in the comic as a bespectacled squirrel. In an early strip, Amy talks to Sabrina about the difference between fantasy and reality, after which Sabrina proceeds to grab the edge of the panel and rattle it. The characters often address the audience directly. At one point, when a pregnant Amy asked if she could borrow a pair of Sabrina's pants, the pants she wears are the same color scheme as Sabrina's legs, to which Sabrina asks the audience if they thought she wore nothing below the waist.
  • Shortpacked! (by David Willis) - One story arc involved the main character Ethan engaging in a series of back-and-forth edits and reversions of a Transformers wiki that actually exists. The story ends with the other person--David Willis himself--showing up at Ethan's workplace and attacking him.
  • Sluggy Freelance (by Pete Abrams) - On September 22 and 23, 2006, Torg, the main character spoke directly to the audience as part of "hiatus week." Torg specifically made reference to the fourth wall in the latter, however the subsequent panel had Gwynn respond as if she were the listener and not the audience. The comic concludes with both characters looking out at the audience again.
  • Something Positive (by R.K. Milholland) - Occasionally has the pet cat of the main character, the normally silent Choo-Choo Bear, appearing in front of a fireplace, wearing a robe and sipping cognac while he addresses the readers directly.
  • The Wotch - The authors would occasionally show up in fillers to speak to the readers. At one point, the comic even "decided" to "read" the reader.
  • User Friendly - The author often appears in the comic to explain things. He interacts with characters in nag strips, threatening to cut their salaries (the characters protest vehemently.)
  • The Adventures of B.A.G. - There is an episode where the characters interact with a campaighn editor, and another where they shout for most of the episode because the "Caps lock" key was accidentally pressed. There is also another episode where 4 marines are scared by the narrator

[edit] Graphic novels, manga, comic books, and comic strips

  • The Adventures of Tintin - Hergé occasionally allows Tintin (and sometimes Snowy) to wink at the reader near the end of the book. Examples include Prisoners of the Sun, King Ottokar's Sceptre, the cover of The Castafiore Emerald (Tintin holds up a finger for silence). At the end of Flight 714, where all characters had part of their memories erased, Snowy looks to the reader and "says" "I would tell them what happened, but they wouldn't believe me!". At the end of The Secret of the Unicorn, Tintin tells the reader that they can read the rest of the story in Red Rackham's Treasure. In Cigars of the Pharaoh, Bab El Ehr says he has heard of Tintin's exploits and has a servant show him a copy of Destination Moon, a Tintin book that is set some time after Cigars of the Pharaoh, although earlier editions had Tintin in the Congo.
  • Amazing Spider-Man - In one issue Spider-Man's wife, Mary Jane Watson had her arm broken by the villain Morlun, yet shows up moments later without any visible injury. In a later issue, when Peter asks Tony Stark how this is possible, Tony gives him a long, apparently scientific explanation about her "healed" arm, yet the reader is obviously intended to interpret this as nonsense. Then both Peter and Tony give an angry look toward the "camera" in the panel, the reason being a mistake on the editor's part.
  • Ambush Bug - A running gag in one of the Ambush Bug miniseries was Darkseid appearing at the end of each issue in ridiculous situations. It was revealed in issue #4 that there never was any Darkseid in any issue but it was all a prop used by Ambush Bug in the hopes to help sales of the comic book he was in. There would be many moments found throughout all four issues that acknowledge that Ambush Bug realized he was nothing more then a comic book character and even references to all the different DC universes being created at that time and how confusing it was to everyone in the stories.
  • Animal Man - Grant Morrison's celebrated run on Animal Man has the main character, Buddy Baker, slowly uncovering his fictional nature; this includes a scene where Buddy, having taken peyote to learn about the "true nature of reality", looks directly at the reader and screams "I CAN SEE YOU!". The story arc climaxes with Buddy meeting Morrison himself, and confronting him about the events in the story.
  • Amelia Rules! - The first and last page of every chapter shows Amelia addressing the viewer and giving the prologue/epilogue to the chapter. (In Chapter 2 of the first book, it was broken even further when Reggie stuck his head in the panel and said "Who are you talking to?")
  • Beano -The characters often get annoyed by the writers (one episode Gnasher tries to harm the editor) and some speech bubbles are labelled "reader's voice."
  • Blake and Mortimer- At the end of the story, Morimer addresses the readers about the moral of the story, which essentially is "there is no time like the present".
  • Cable and Deadpool - Deadpool is aware that he is a comic book character (partly due to having been told the secret of the universe by Loki). On the first page of every issue, he directly speaks to the reader, usually to briefly explain what has happened in the story up to that point. Often, other characters will assist him in this explanation, but they do not seem to retain the knowledge of their fictional existence within the actual story. Deadpool also regularly answers the reader mail.
  • Captain Underpants- In every book, in the introduction, George Beard and Harold Hutchins talk to the reader about Captain Underpants. They also tell the reader how to do the Flip-O-Rama chapters (and in the 5th book, two police men took their place and said the reader should give themselves 11 spankings and take a time-out because they do the Flip-O-Rama chapter). Also, a weird disclaimer page always shows up before a Flip-O-Rama chapter. In the 6th book, George yells at the narrator to stop making descriptions about the monster Melvin, because it was making his class sick.
  • Cerebus - Dave Sim, talks to his "gray, obnoxious creation" at the end of Minds (chapter 10 of his six thousand pages graphic novel) and makes a personal visit at the end of Guys to tell cerebus that, basically, he is making him crazy by staying too long at the same place.
  • Deadpool, a Marvel Comics antihero, frequently shows awareness that he is a comic book character, although other characters dismiss this as merely a symptom of his psychosis. For instance, at one point Deadpool wonders whether he still "thinks in those little yellow boxes". On another occasion he dons a pair of wings and asks the reader "If I keep these on and stick an X in the title, do you think it will get the sales up on this book?", a reference to the character Angel and the X-men franchise. Another time he is asked by a character when they last met and responds "Issue sixteen". He also answered the letter column of his series himself, and in Cable and Deadpool narrates and occasionally mentions that the editor told him the reader is the only one who bought the book.
  • The Demon - At the end of Garth Ennis' run on the comic, Etrigan turns to the reader and delivers a farewell speech.
  • Dilbert (by Scott Adams) - Adams wrote himself "by accident" into the cubicle world of his creation after drawing an "unfunny" strip by demand. He called this "breaking the third wall".
  • Dr. Slump (by Akira Toriyama) -This manga series is known for constantly breaking the fourth wall. One example is when Arale cut the strip of the manga page. Some even read the manga within the manga.
  • Dragon Knights - This manga series makes a reference to the readers in the first volume, as the main characters are eating a meal.
  • Doonesbury - The first breaking of the fourth wall was perhaps in the 1970s when Mark Slackmeyer instructed readers to cut out part of the given strip and mail it in protest to U.S. Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill. Gradually the number of fourth-wall-breaking episodes increased over the years. Recently the strip has featured yearly 'mailbag' week-long feature in which typically two characters address reader mail in a humorous way.
  • Full Moon o Sagashite-In one of the 4 manga page, Mitsuki complains that she misses Takuto. Meroko breaks the 4th Wall saying, "I know not to say this until the after the series is over, but you don't take us seriously, right?"
  • Garfield - Characters often break the fourth wall to tell the readers what's happening or to complete a joke.
  • The Goon - There are several examples of the comic referring to its own fictionality, including scenes in which the characters address the reader and one issue which had a bookending photo story in which a young boy decides to become a violent thug like The Goon. The Hellboy crossover had Hellboy being sucked into a copy of The Goon comic.
  • Infinite Crisis - Alexander Luthor, Jr. in his search for Earth-Prime looks directly at the reader and grasps at the real world.
  • The Invisibles (by Grant Morrison) - Has a story arc in which Ragged Robin writes herself into an Invisibles story from the future through the use of sensory deprivation and dissociative drugs. At another point, one character directly addresses the reader.
  • Hellblazer - Throughout the series, John Constantine frequently enters into long soliloquies, in which he reviews his most recent plight, concluding with John gazing through the final panel posing a poignant question, implicitly directed at the reader. One story by Jamie Delano, titled 'Larger Than Life', strongly implies that the comic book is based around the tales recounted by the 'real' John Constantine. This idea was taken to yet another level in the comic's 10-year-anniversary issue, 'Desperately Seeking Something' by Paul Jenkins, in which John takes the reader on a pub crawl (the issue is seen from the reader's POV in which they meet several artists and writers who have worked on Hellblazer, including Delano, Jenkins, Garth Ennis, and Alan Moore. Also, Ennis's storyline 'Son of Man' has Constantine talking directly to the reader, in reference to the classic movie Alfie. In one scene, for example, John is seated interviewing the madame of a brothel, then suddenly turns to the reader, brings them up to speed on what's happening, and calmly returns to his inquiry.
  • Maus (by Art Spiegelman) - In Maus, one of the three levels of narrative is a brief narrative thread shown for a couple of pages in which the "real" author of the book, and not just his character, is shown to be frantically writing the book and questioning his decisions about the book. Also, instead of being an anthropomorphic animal as other characters are in the book, he is shown for this part as a human wearing an animal mask.
  • NANA - Characters constantly refer to the reader base in arguments. (e.g. Junko Saotome scolds Shoji Endo for trying to hide in one page, and references the reader base hatred of his character not as a valid excuse for him to hide.)
  • Negima Volume 9 - When the class is suggesting ideas for Mahorafest, Chizuru Naba suggests that the class do a Bottomless No Panties Café. Mana Tatsumiya tries to defuse the situation by asking younger readers to promise to not ask their parents what a "bottomless no panties café" is.
  • Overboard - The author of the comic is often shown having a small office on the pirate ship with a sign "Overboard, Inc." On occasion, the characters will interrupt him to point out plot issues, complain, etc.
  • Promethea - The comic has multiple instances of the main character directly address the reader. As well, there are panels where creators Alan Moore and J.H. Williams III are seen to look back and say something to the reader. The Promethea comic also appears as an actual comic magazine in the story.
  • Jack Staff - The character 'Morelan the Mystic' sometimes addresses the reader, commanding him not to turn over the pages of the comic.
  • Shade the Changing Man - In one storyline from the second series, the comic's author, Peter Milligan, turns up in the story and directly addresses the reader.
  • She-Hulk - In the Sensational She-Hulk series by John Byrne, the green skinned beauty also known as Jennifer Walters is aware that she is a comic book, often addresses the reader, talks and complains to the writer, and once ran across an advert to catch a villain. In her further appearances in the Avengers and her new series, she does not have 4th wall appearance; however, the law firm for which she works regularly consults an archive of Marvel comics for legal precedent.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie) - The "Off-Panel" comic strip at the end of the comic book usually involves characters talking to the editor and/or the writer. In fact, one involved Knuckles the Echidna trying to memorize the script and another one involved Sonic the Hedgehog and Sabrina the Teenage Witch eavesdropping on the editors of the comic. One of the running gags in the first few issues involved the characters in the corner box. In fact, in one of them, Princess Sally banged against the "glass" and yelled, "Help! I'm stuck in a corner box!" Also, in Issue #2, Sonic searches for the Freedom Emeralds, but lands in the Underground Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Sonic then asks, "Since when did this become an underground comic?" And in the cover of Issue #20, there is a statue of Sonic (the Freedom Fighters were convinced that Sonic was dead), and Sally says "Poor Sonic! He only lasted 20 issues!"
  • Ultra Maniac- In the fourth book, while being attacked, Nina exclaims "that it is way to violent for Ultra Maniac!". Hiroki then states that even though they're in a Shojo manga, they aren't safe. Later, Ayu points out that Nina hasn't said "Spamola" (her magic word) since chapter 12, and that they do it all the time in the anime.
  • Viivi & Wagner - Viivi and Wagner are usually aware that they live in a comic strip. Sometimes they complain about creator Juba being too lazy to draw properly, or selling out to market powers. Once Wagner got tired of Viivi's too short hair and gave her more hair by drawing directly on the comic strip page.
  • Young Justice--Many works by Peter David break the fourth wall, and it happens often in this series, mainly because it's one of his most humorous. The start of issue 4, for example, takes place in summer while the previous issue took place in summer; the narrator mentions this, and also explains that while Tora (the villain) means nothing Spanish, "it was either that or 'Lotta Bull'".

Archie's gang has acknowledged numerous times that they are simply comic book characters (such as: "Hey, what do you expect from a comic book?")

[edit] Music videos

[edit] Video games


[edit] See also

[edit] External links

In other languages