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Movies that break down the 4th wall.

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Terry
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Not a movie, but a good series; Gentleman Jack. At key points the main character gives a knowing look at the camera and might speak a few words. It’s well done andbads to the story. It also gives me a bit of a start when it happens. It actually pulls you into the story.

And of course, Wile E. Coyote, the Road Runner, Bugs Bunny, Tweety, and Daffy.
 

geepers

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Any Monty Python, maybe but what's with these other movies listed? When I saw Annie Hall, listed in the first post, I thought I must misremember the thing, after all it was decades ago that I saw it. And I admit to not seeing many of the movies above. But I don't remember anything smacking of audience interaction for many of them.

Annie Hall

Really OHMSS? Maybe in some of the trippy very sixties period vibe but not something that stands out?

Had 2 things going for it.
1. Young Lady Olenna Tyrell
2. This one line at 6 minutes...
 

dbostedo

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^^^^
Now that I think about it, based on that Annie Hall clip, anytime there's narration by one of the characters that's a fourth wall break. So lots and lots of movies.
 
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Where does The Purple Rose of Cairo fit in?
 

scott43

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^^^^
Now that I think about it, based on that Annie Hall clip, anytime there's narration by one of the characters that's a fourth wall break. So lots and lots of movies.
I think breaking the 4th wall is more of a wink to the audience, like Hot Tub.. I suppose Alfie is more of a narrative for the audience and I'd not include it in the same vein.
 

dbostedo

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I think breaking the 4th wall is more of a wink to the audience, like Hot Tub.. I suppose Alfie is more of a narrative for the audience and I'd not include it in the same vein.

I agree they're different... but a character speaking to the audience is still a fourth wall break, even if it's not cheeky, or funny, or anything. I mean, if it's just a voice over, that seems normal. If it's the character on-screen actually speaking to you, that's a lot more obvious. But they're both the same thing.
 

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Theater teacher hat on: The difference in narration determines whether or not the 4th wall is broken. Picture it as someone's living room. The 4th wall is glass so you (the audience) are permitted to peek into their most intimate lives. The fictional characters are unaware that you can see in. The 4th wall is broken - not by a thinking aloud type of narration but it is by an explaining or amplifying type of narration. House of Cards -the tv series- is typical of this type of narration as are a number of the old style hard boiled detective movies. Also, looking towards the audience or the camera is not a breaking of the 4th wall unless the look is somehow "knowingly" communicating with the audience as in the "wink and nod" type of behavior. Theater teacher hat off.
 

David Chaus

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Where does The Purple Rose of Cairo fit in?

That’s more of a Pirandello’s “Six Characters in Search of an Author” kind of movie.

Very clever concept and one of my favorite movies.
 

Pat AKA mustski

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A Christmas Story seems like a good example... "he had yellow eyes"
Hmmm. I have to think about that one. I'm not sure that voice over narration counts as breaking the 4th wall. In theater, a narrator is often a go-between who moves back and forth between the worlds of the characters and the world of the audience. In that case the 4th wall is permeable but only by the narrator. It's an unusual theatrical convention and is usually found in an adaptation from literature where the story was told by an omniscient 3rd person narrator. That would certainly be true of the Ralphie Parker stories which are based on the book In God we Trust. All Others Pay Cash.
 

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Hmmm. I have to think about that one. I'm not sure that voice over narration counts as breaking the 4th wall. In theater, a narrator is often a go-between who moves back and forth between the worlds of the characters and the world of the audience. In that case the 4th wall is permeable but only by the narrator. It's an unusual theatrical convention and is usually found in an adaptation from literature where the story was told by an omniscient 3rd person narrator. That would certainly be true of the Ralphie Parker stories which are based on the book In God we Trust. All Others Pay Cash.
I would think an omniscient "other" narrator would not be breaking the fourth wall. But a character in the movie narrating would be - just like if they turned to the camera and spoke.

Now a character in the movie narrating from a different point in time, as though they are reminiscing, might not be breaking it. I guess that's actually the conceit in A Christmas Story. Hmm...
 

James

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Goodfellas. Pretty sure he talks directly to the audience at some point.

Warning- language.

We saying this narration commenting on the charactar is breaking fourth wall?
 

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