MovieChat Forums > Ash vs Evil Dead (2015) Discussion > Breaking the 4th wall

Breaking the 4th wall

posted 8 years ago by Boni-The-Sock
5 replies | jump to latest

Wait... is that a thing now? I don't remember this element from the movies or season 1 for that matter.

I once told a man to go screw himself! Can you even imagine?! - Kilgrave

[–] Wartle 8 years ago

What are you specifically referring to? Something in the latest episode? I ask because I can't remember anything from the episode that really broke the fourth wall.

[–] rhoover62 8 years ago

The only thing I can think of is when Ash put the cologne on and gave a wink to the camera.

[–] Dr-Penguin 8 years ago

That could easily be excused as Ash winking at himself in the mirror.

However, one could argue that the fourth wall was broken in ED2 when Ash laughed at the camera, and again in AoD when Sheila looked at the camera and said, "I may be bad, but I feel good." There may be others that I don't recall off hand.

"I'm playing a role, sir. What are you doing?"

[–] Ajones47 8 years ago

I don't think Ash winking at the camera, or even a character addressing the camera, constitutes a true break of the fourth wall. Breaking the fourth wall is a character acknowledging their own fictionality - winking at the 'camera' is no more breaking the fourth wall than a soliloquy in a play. For example, contrast these two scenes:

Frank Urquhart in House of Cards
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDi7cRFcnnY

Hugh Laurie in A Bit Of Fry And Laurie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl461mVrMFo

A lot of people consider House of Cards to routinely break the fourth wall, but Frank is not acknowledging himself as a fictional character or his world as a fictional world, he is merely addressing information to an imagined audience (who, in our case, happen to be real). The fourth wall remains in-tact. See now Hugh Laurie in A Bit Of Fry And Laurie, the first thing Laurie does is mention that they're in a sketch: he has acknowledged the fiction of the world he is in, and as such, has broken the fourth wall.

It's an interesting little quirk in the direction of the episode, but hardly a shift in narrative tone.

[–] LucusNon 8 years ago

Did the obligatory Six Million Dollar Man reference qualify as a 4th-wallbreaker?