Breaking the fourth wall

Breaking the fourth wall

Breaking the fourth wall refers to any point in a narrative, particularly in drama, when characters violate the convention of the fourth wall, for instance when performers in a play speak directly to or even interact with the audience, when movie protagonists acknowledge the artificiality of the film they are in, or whenever fictional characters refer to themselves openly as such. Such moments, which draw attention to the lack of separation between character and audience or that remind the audience that the fourth wall does not really exist, are a form of metatheatre or metafiction.