Has it ever annoyed you? Or do you think it's even remotely funny? I find that it is most effective if it is used subtely like if they tell a witty pun not intended for the target audience (usually if that audience is younger) and they just sly look at the camera as they say it. Things like that, and other scenario's are generally effective given proper timing. Yet, I've seen a lot of piss poor 4th wall breaking where they speak in terms knowing that they are characters and address themselves as such. It's just annoying, because they actually take away from they aren't using the 4th wall as a tool to tell jokes, they are using the 4th wall itself as the joke.
A time where this occurs is like when I saw an episode of Chowder from forever ago and they just tore down the 4th wall like it wasn't even there and it just seemed so intensily awkward for whatever reason. Just had no effect at all for me.
So what do you say about it?
Even as I walk through the shadow of the Valley of Death, I shall fear no Evil. Semper Fidelis
It depends on the context, how it's used, and how often.
Like for instance I always get a kick out of the scene in Superballs when they pull out the VHS of Superballs to see where Lonestar is.
Ferris Bueler's day off, anybody? That was pretty great.
It usually just annoys me because it breaks my immersion into the story... and I've never found it funny, or watched a funny movie/whatever that broke the 4th wall.
Personally I love seeing the 4th wall break but you're right that subtely is the key to doing it right.
Saying that though one of my favourites is Waynes World, though there is never really a 4th wall in that film because both Wayne and Garth talk to the camera/audience all the way through, it was just that scene where they advertise a load of produces in the space of a minute for a great comical effect. Its over the top but brilliant.
I guess the problem lays in some tv shoes trying to relive moments like that.
[I've been wandering round but I still come back to you]
At 1/15/12 01:56 AM, WeHaveFreshCookies wrote: Ferris Bueler's day off, anybody? That was pretty great.
That was my first thought when I saw "Breaking down the 4th wall"
Such a good movie... I need to watch it more.
Shoes, shows.
Also Leaning on the 4th wall is usually funny too.
I especially liked Arrested Development doing that towards the end when Michael was having a board meeting to discuss where their company could go for financial support and it was just a clever play on how the show might (at the time) have switched channel.
"George: HBO?
Michael: No, I don't think the Home Buyers' Association is going to want us.
George: Well then, it's Showtime."
[I've been wandering round but I still come back to you]
i think both Freakazoid and Arrested Devolpment did a decent job of playing with the fourth wall. Freakazoid did it alot but it time they did, it was different. Honestly it was a pretty funny cartoon and i miss it.
I feel like most of the time a work is better off either being very subtle about it or pretty much demolishing the fourth wall entirely. Making it work somewhere in between those extremes is much more difficult, and I can only think of a few things off the top of my head that consistently did it well (Arrested Development is the first thing that comes to mind, or on a smaller and simpler scale, the play episode of A:TLA).
Also, if the work is going to be breaking the fourth wall on a regular basis, it usually works better when the rules and boundaries are established early on. That's one of the (many, many) reasons why I love that scene in the first episode of FLCL when the characters complain about having to stand still to do the slow motion sequence. It establishes right off the bat (heh) that the show can and will go anywhere at any time, logic and coherence be damned, and I think that's a big part of how the rest of the show's insanity becomes palatable.
I usually never have a problem with it.
I loved it in Edd Ed n Eddy.
The guy below me is gay
Boils down to how the comedy is running, and I am currently writing a script with my friends which actually does break the fourth wall. The downside is that the humour is very near the mark.
Oh yeah, and it almost goes without saying that it's much easier to successfully break the fourth wall in a cartoon than it is in live-action. "Duck Amuck" might be my all-time favorite example of the technique.
I think somebody's been watching too many Saturday morning cartoons.
Breaking the 4th wall can be hilarious, but it's a risky business. Most of the time it just seems like they're trying too hard.
At 1/15/12 05:40 AM, BobaDobo wrote: I think somebody's been watching too many Saturday morning cartoons.
Holy balls, that was one of the worst moments in the history of breaking down the 4th wall.
I dare you, I doubledare you to click this image.
At 1/15/12 05:59 AM, TheSandyman wrote:At 1/15/12 05:40 AM, BobaDobo wrote: I think somebody's been watching too many Saturday morning cartoons.Holy balls, that was one of the worst moments in the history of breaking down the 4th wall.
Haha, yeah seeing that photo literally made me cringe. That film was even one of the worst moments in the history of television to big screen adaptations.
[I've been wandering round but I still come back to you]
At 1/15/12 04:44 AM, AtomicD00M wrote: Deadpool
Was thinking the same thing.
I like the tearing down of the fourth wall, where the joke isn't the tearing down of the fourth wall itself. That usually gets awkward. But, for example, a comic character that's fully aware of just how much of a comic character they are?
I can dig that.
At 1/15/12 06:30 AM, Gagsy wrote:At 1/15/12 05:59 AM, TheSandyman wrote:Haha, yeah seeing that photo literally made me cringe. That film was even one of the worst moments in the history of television to big screen adaptations.At 1/15/12 05:40 AM, BobaDobo wrote: I think somebody's been watching too many Saturday morning cartoons.Holy balls, that was one of the worst moments in the history of breaking down the 4th wall.
True that. I don't understand how'd they make such an awesome tv-show into such a shitty movie. Maybe it was because of Matthew Broderick. I can't stand that guy.
I dare you, I doubledare you to click this image.
At 1/15/12 06:40 AM, TheSandyman wrote:
True that. I don't understand how'd they make such an awesome tv-show into such a shitty movie. Maybe it was because of Matthew Broderick. I can't stand that guy.
Yeah, had the one good role when he was in his 20s and I cannot recall anything else decent he's done since then. Besides voicing Simba, but then that would have been a hit without his voice anyway.
[I've been wandering round but I still come back to you]
At 1/15/12 01:56 AM, WeHaveFreshCookies wrote: Ferris Bueler's day off, anybody? That was pretty great.
Yeah. I got that movie on Blu-Ray for Christmas.
At 1/15/12 01:50 AM, HollowedPumkinz wrote: [...] they aren't using the 4th wall as a tool to tell jokes, they are using the 4th wall itself as the joke.
That's called a metajoke. That is where the punchline of the joke is it's own structure. I often enjoy metahumor.
I for one would like to see a character literally BREAK the fourth wall. I'd probably get a laugh from it.
Zeppelyn: Since when does the bladder control the "poo poo"?
convict357: Um, you mean you f*ck chickens, turkeys are male chickens.
Ive seen comedies have no fourth wall at all, and it actually works quite well.
At 1/15/12 02:06 AM, Gagsy wrote: Also Leaning on the 4th wall is usually funny too.
I knew I would come in here and see Gagsy post a tvtropes link, so heres my own.
At 1/15/12 06:43 AM, Gagsy wrote: Yeah, had the one good role when he was in his 20s and I cannot recall anything else decent he's done since then. Besides voicing Simba, but then that would have been a hit without his voice anyway.
Exactly. I don't even understand how this guy got so famous.
I dare you, I doubledare you to click this image.
Breaking the 4th wall can be funny, like Malcom in the Middle. The whole series is based on Malcom constantly breaking the 4th wall withouth the other characters knowing he does it (even if he does it right in front of them).
Surf Nazis must die! || Wi/Ht? #38 || Review Request Club || NG Logs || METAL-ABC (Last update: 04. March 2012)
At 1/15/12 07:24 AM, BumFodder wrote: Ive seen comedies have no fourth wall at all, and it actually works quite well.
I knew I would come in here and see Gagsy post a tvtropes link, so heres my own.
Touche. I cannot recall if I've browsed that link but noted for later. Thank you.
At 1/15/12 07:26 AM, TheSandyman wrote:
Exactly. I don't even understand how this guy got so famous.
Ferris Bueller is only good when you're a kid anyway. When you watch it again as an adult you realise he's a little evil shit :(
[I've been wandering round but I still come back to you]
proof positive that the 4th wall is there to be broken.
It's only funny when done in a subtle way you might not notice at first.
At 1/15/12 08:36 AM, Freaki-boy92 wrote: proof positive that the 4th wall is there to be broken.
Why didnt I think of Deadpool when I saw this thread? I must be going mad.
Yeah, it's probably one of the most common comedic routines because it represents jokes that we would make ourselves. We know that it's a movie or show or whatever, so the character is talking to us trying to make it so that it can be viewed as a review of itself, so it's something that is hard to criticize because it's mocking itself so much. I'm surprised Chester A. Bum made fourth wall jokes about the fourth wall in his review of "The Muppets".
You know the world's gone crazy when the best rapper's a white guy and the best golfer's a black guy - Chris Rock
Select between 5 monster racers, upgrade your monster skill and win the competition!
4.23 / 5.00 3,881 Views
Build most powerful forces, unleash hordes of monster and control your soldiers!
3.93 / 5.00 4,634 Views
© Copyright 1995-2014 Newgrounds, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use
newgrounds.com — Your #1 online entertainment & artist community! All your base are belong to us.
