Breaking the Fourth Wall

In the past few weeks, I have been watching Phoebe Waller-Bridge's series Fleabag. The programme follows a single woman with heavy focus on her love life but also the relationship with her sister and the death of her bestfriend. Very few of the male characters encountered in the programme are given names but all appear to have a key feature or quirk that defines them. The decision to do so highlights their almost insignificance to the character of Fleabag in comparison to her family or bestfriend. As a comedy, use of these humorous nicknames is one of many ways the programme explores humour. The exploration of breaking the fourth wall, speaking to audience directly at the most unexpected, consequently comedic moments made me feel so much more involved in the story as an audience member. Unlike the programme Miranda which similarly explores the breaking of the fourth wall, Fleabag does not include a live or recorded reaction (clapping and laughing) which I think was a clever decision as it allows the viewer at home to find humour in what they please rather than being encouraged. As well as this, I found it much more personal, witnessing the relationship with her sister and the heavy contrast between the members of her family was something I found I could relate to.



The reference to Fleabag in the lesson today began to make me consider the various explorations of breaking the fourth wall in both film and television. A number of examples in film are Fight Club, Goodfellas and a more recent example is The Big Short. The use of breaking the fourth wall is so heavily different to the intention in Fleabag. The Big Short follows the complicated world of finance so to allow the audience to understand the facts behind the plot, director Adam McKay breaks the fourth wall. One example from the film is Margot Robbie explaining key finance terms.