Breaking the fourth wall

Buffy

The fourth wall is the imaginary invisible wall at the front of a stage or camera, through which the audience sees the action playing out. The fourth wall is “broken” in Buffy and Angel - in the musical Once More. With Feeling, Buffy, Xander and Anya sing whilst looking at the camera. Anya also says to Giles in that episode, after her duet with Xander that, “It was weird. It was like there was a wall missing from our apartment. Like there was only three walls and not a fourth one…”
In Angel’s Spin the Bottle, in which Lorne acts as a host, explaining the story to the audience. There is also a great moment in Spin the Bottle, in which Lorne says after a commercial break: “Well, those were some exciting products. Am I right? Mmm. Let’s all think about buying some of those.”
Andrew also breaks the fourth wall in Storyteller - whilst talking to his camera about what’s going on in the Summer’s house.

   
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  • Suggested by: Jess
    Added: › 6th May 2006
    Updated: › 12th May, 2006
    Hits: › 191  


    4 Comments about “Breaking the fourth wall”

    1. NotFadeAway says:

      I love that line from Lorne about the commercials, but it does sound kind of wierd when watching it on DVD.

    2. MagicBone says:

      Haha, it does.

      I love Anya when they’re speaking with Giles in OMWF after ‘I’ll Never Tell’ when she says “It was weird. It was like there was a wall missing from our apartment. Like there was only three walls and not a fourth one …”

    3. Wynter says:

      I’m not sure I totally get that, but could you say that Andrew also breaks the fourth wall in Storyteller? Like the scene at the beginning when he’s sitting in the study-type room and talks to the “gentle viewer” and…well, pretty much everytime he films himself.

    4. Jess says:

      He does indeed, Wynter, I’ll add that in.

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