Who breaks the fourth wall the most?

[chuft]

For someone familiar with most of the episodes - what percentage of the time do you think each character breaks "the fourth wall" and looks right into the camera, so it seems they are looking at/talking to/singing to you, the viewer.

This does not refer to just monologues or songs where no one else is present - often it is obvious the character is "talking to themselves" and not talking to the viewer. In such cases they are usually looking somewhere beside the camera. I mean real, honest to goodness looking into the camera, acknowledging the viewer.

I want to say Stephanie easily does it the most, while singing. I am trying to recall if the other characters do it at all, even while singing.

[possessor]

Robbie does it a lot but not while singing. Every character is technically breaking that wall during the songs, but during dialogue/action/etc. scenes, Robbie probably the most.

[chuft]

I just watched him singing Master of Disguise and you're right, he does look in the camera a lot. I didn't remember that. I guess I am thinking of when he is picking a disguise, it seems more like he is talking to himself. In this scene (starting around 4:12:55)

He mostly is talking to himself, although once or twice when picking a disguise he does look at the camera.

[possessor]

yes because kids will watch an eight hour compilation of LazyTown right after school lol

[Buzz]

I want to say Stephanie easily does it the most, while singing.

absolutely...and don't forget about Shelby (0:27)

reminds me of "Malcom in the Middle"

[LazyPooky]

I thought it was called the third wall or something with third.. as I remember from a conversation about it this years ago.

[chuft]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_wall

[BRBFBI]

What you’re referring to isn’t breaking the fourth wall. According to the wiki article you linked:

[Breaking the fourth wall] can be done by either directly referring to the audience, to the play as a play, or the characters' fictionality.

If you take theater for example, the actors face the audience, project their voices towards the audience and dance facing the audience. This is unnatural, but the audience suspends their disbelief to immerse themselves in the story. Everyone knows it’s fake but is trying to pretend it’s not. Simply looking at the audience (or the camera in the context of a musical number) is not a fourth wall break.

A fourth wall break might be a character acknowledging that they’re in a movie. Often it’s a cheap joke, but sometimes it’s core to the media. A lot of children’s shows talk to the audience directly (think Dora the Explorer). I don’t believe Lazytown does this, at least in the first two seasons, although possessor of mine was closest with Robbie showing off his golden toothed smile to the camera.


As far as which characters spend the most time looking directly into the camera, I think that’s just a function of how many songs they have. Stephanie first, then Robbie. Even Sportacus lookes directly into the camera during his songs.

[possessor]

Realistically if anyone ever did that golden tooth thing irl the people around them would think they were insane

[chuft]

I see the distinction you are trying to make, but I don't agree with it (and neither do all the "breaking 4th wall example" videos on YouTube).

A live production is different, the audience is hundreds of people, the actor can't look at all of them even if he wanted to. Effectively he is looking into space, or maybe at one person, but not the others, who will not feel like they are being looked at. If I am in the upper right balcony and he looks at the ground audience on the other side, it's not even close to a wall break for me.

In a show like LazyTown there is one point of view, the camera, and the actor is either looking directly at it, or not. If they are, the audience (all of them, even if a million are watching) will feel looked at - and addressed by lines such as "This is what I say to you!" You won't see this in, say, Saving Private Ryan.

Simply looking at the audience (or the camera in the context of a musical number) is not a fourth wall break.

This seems like circular reasoning. People often break the fourth wall while singing, therefore doing it while singing is not a fourth wall break? Why not? Can't we just say singing numbers sometimes break the fourth wall?

Because often, they don't.


Some more Olivia, don't mind if I do

While I'm at it another great West Side Story number

[BRBFBI]

I see the distinction you are trying to make, but I don't agree with it (and neither do all the "breaking 4th wall example" videos on YouTube).

I’m not going to go to YouTube and sift through a bunch of random videos. I’ve seen you call BJ out for doing this. I can’t take a video I haven’t seen as evidence.



Looking into the camera does not necessarily mean breaking the fourth wall. When Hannibal Lecter does so it’s to let the audience feel the ferocity of his gaze. The camera could be placed anywhere, and here it is most effectively placed directly in the path of his gaze. It does not mean Hannibal Lecter is acknowledging the audience or acknowledging that he is a fictional character in a fiction setting. He is not effectively winking at the viewer. It is simply the optimal camera angle to create the desired effect on the audience.


When Stephanie sings Have You Ever, in universe she is singing to the other child characters: “have you ever skipped rope, have you never played ball?” The camera could be at her back as she sings towards the puppets, but instead it’s placed in her line of sight to give the audience the most intimate, privileged view. At a theater production somebody will necessarily be sitting in the box seats 80 degrees to the stage and won’t get that experience, but of course the camera can be placed anywhere.

I personally hate fourth wall breaks when they’re used as a quip or a joke. When I watch a show or a movie I want to be immersed, and anything that breaks that immersion cheapens the experience. I don’t watch a lot of musicals, but when I do it’s jarring at first because characters spontaneously breaking into song is unnatural and breaks my immersion, but eventually I settle into it and by the middle of the production I’m completely immersed. I feel the same way about the songs in LazyTown, but ultimately I think it’s a matter of taste. If you feel that Stephanie is speaking directly to you through the screen then she is breaking the fourth wall, but I still believe that she, as a character, is oblivious to the fact that I’m watching her.

[chuft]

I’m not going to go to YouTube and sift through a bunch of random videos. I’ve seen you call BJ out for doing this. I can’t take a video I haven’t seen as evidence.

I didn't post them because (a) you would likely just say they are wrong in the same way I am (b) they are just youtubes, the creators have no particular authority. I just noted my perception is a common one. That doesn't mean it's right, but I do think it's mainstream, which counts for something when we're talking about a definition.

But this one includes a discussion and not just clips so you may find it interesting.

When Stephanie sings Have You Ever, in universe she is singing to the other child characters:

But whom is she singing to starting at 1:10 here?

No, I think she is breaking the fourth wall, as is common in musical numbers.

I think there are gradations of breaking the fourth wall. Some famous examples are characters talking about the script, or the movie studio, or the like, breaking character and talking as actors. But that is not the definition widely accepted, which is the actor addressing the audience whether in character or not. And it's not always done for comedic effect.

This could easily have been shot as a monologue from various angles, but it wasn't.

If you feel that Stephanie is speaking directly to you through the screen then she is breaking the fourth wall, but I still believe that she, as a character, is oblivious to the fact that I’m watching her.

[boredjedi]

Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a master class in fourth wall breaking (first video).

[possessor]

I don’t believe Lazytown does this, at least in the first two seasons

LazyTown does break the fourth wall in the spinoffs (LazyTown Extra, Motivational Challenges), but in the main show, not at all.

https://sportacus10.lazytown.eu/wp-c...h03m03s747.png
https://sportacus10.lazytown.eu/wp-c...h05m09s208.png

I wonder who took these screenshots..

[LazyPooky]

In the very first episode Welcome To LazyTown,, actually the very first scene of Robbie on TV, he was looking at the camera and it seems he was talking to the audience.

[BRBFBI]

Good one! I forgot about that.

[possessor]

How did I forget? I love this scene

[boredjedi]

I’m not going to go to YouTube and sift through a bunch of random videos. I’ve seen you call BJ out for doing this. I can’t take a video I haven’t seen as evidence.

Hey getting dragged through the mud again I see. I watch every youtube I post. I have my laptop on the side here playing tubes as background.
While I use my desktop for more mischievous adventures. I may not pay too close attention at times to some videos unless the old gray matter is triggered
by something interesting it hears.

[BRBFBI]

Hey getting dragged through the mud again I see.

Aw, haha. It wasn’t aimed at you. I was calling out what appeared to be hypocrisy from your friend.

[boredjedi]

Aw, haha. It wasn’t aimed at you. I was calling out what appeared to be hypocrisy from your friend.

I know I just couldn't resist to joke around