The Fourth Wall
Films have the power to transport us from our day to day lives and pull us into the world of an on-screen story, we may even be so absorbed that we forget we are watching a film. However, one cinematic technique that directors use that does the opposite, is when a character “breaks the fourth wall”; facing the camera and speaking directly us, effectively acknowledging our presence as spectators.
In an earlier post I touched on the final freeze frame of Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (1959), where the uncertainty of the future is summed up in Antoine’s final stare into the camera. It may be assumed that for films relying on narrative, this direct address to the audience could interrupt the fantasy of the story world by confessing its existence as a piece of make-believe and essentially distancing us from the fictional world. It could also be argued that this technique rather intensifies the audience’s relationship with the story and in particular its characters. When done effectively, there really is no better way to show a character’s feelings or motives than to have them look us directly in the eye and blurt it out.
In House of Cards, Frank Underwood (played by Kevin Spacey) frequently breaks the fourth wall, oftentimes saying one thing to one character, before looking into the camera and making it clear what he’s really thinking. This builds intimacy with Underwood because it makes us feel as though we are in on something that the other characters are not.
Ferris Bueller is another fictional character that movie-goers fell in love with, in no small part because Ferris regularly addresses the audience as though we are his best friend. The relationship begins from the very opening of the film as Ferris lets us in on his “sick day how-to guide”.
The last film that I want to talk about is Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing (1989). In one memorable sequence, the characters scream every racial epithet under the sun directly into the camera, forcing us to confront the ugliness of racism head on. The scene is uncomfortable to watch, but offers an uncensored spotlight on the reality that most racial minorities face, asking the viewer to put themselves in the characters’ shoes. In many ways by confronting the issue in such a raw manner it becomes comical and further highlights the ignorance and absurdity of racism.
