The Fourth Wall and why it never existed in the first place
The Three-Patch Podcast is doing an episode today on the Fourth Wall. I wrote something about the Fourth Wall on Tumblr a few months ago, but didn't have time/ability in the last week to record it for the podcast, so I figured I'd repost it again.
(Small background, for those who don't know me: I was a theatre major in college, and worked in theatre for a number of years until we moved overseas. Not that it gives me any authority over anyone else talking about walls or actors or things, though it probably explains why I feel as though I can speak about them.)
*
Every theatre student knows about the concept of the fourth wall. It’s that dividing line between the actors and the audience - it’s the thing that keeps the story neatly within the lines. You can break the fourth wall (and many comedians do: look at Mel Brooks or the US version of The Office), but it’s always there on some level.
But I think that calling that dividing line a wall at all is erroneous, particularly in the age of the internet. Walls are opaque - you can’t see through them from either side. And as real as that imaginary wall may be to the actors - it’s never been opaque to the audience, but entirely transparent.
Kind of like a one-way mirror.
The way a one-way mirror works (as anyone who watched a police drama knows) is that from one side, where the lights are bright, it appears to be a regular mirror. It’s only from the other side, where the lights are low, that it’s transparent, allowing those in the darker room to see clearly into the lighter room.
(Just like a stage during a show - the lights go down on the audience, and up on the actors.)
But here’s the trick with a one-way mirror - if both rooms on either side of the glass are bright - the mirror isn’t a mirror at all. It’s just a regular piece of glass, transparent from both sides. Everyone can see everyone else. And even if the lights are still low on one side, the people on the brighter side of the glass can press their noses to it, and shade their eyes - and still see perfectly well.
For years, actors have been able to ignore the mirror. Sure, they knew we were on the other side - but as long as they couldn’t see us, we were easy to ignore. In fact, if they looked out, they really only saw what they wanted to see.
While the internet has made it a lot easier for us to find each other and share our love of various shows and movies and books and such - it’s also turning on the lights. When the glass becomes transparent, it becomes a lot harder for the actors to ignore the fact that we’re watching them. I suspect there are plenty of actors who have little to no interest in what we do on our side of the glass. After all, they’re focused on their own thing, not the mirror or lack thereof.
And even though we’re creating things in a public space where anyone can find them - most of us want to stay very firmly on our own side of the glass, with absolutely no intention of dragging the actors or writers over to our side to show them what we’re doing. Actually, we’re not even the ones pulling us into the public eye at all - it’s the people who aren’t part of the fandom (or at least aren’t part of it in any real way) who are dragging the actors to the glass, shielding their eyes and telling them to look. To say their negative focus is more indicative of their own issues than ours is accurate - though not exactly comforting when you’re the one being exploited.
(It’s both sides being exploited by the way - the fan, just as much as the actor, as it’s their reaction that is often the point of the exploitation, more so than the exposure of the fanartist.)
The fourth wall never existed. The entire nature of the entire entertainment industry depends on there not being a fourth wall. After all - you can’t see through a wall, and if we can’t see the action, what’s the point of the show?
It’s just that it’s much, much easier to see everything happening on the other side of that glass now. Used to be an actor had to look really hard to find it - you know, step right up and shield their eyes. Now they’ve got people dragging them to the glass and pressing their noses in, saying, “Look at that! Here’s a link! Here’s a print-out! Isn’t that *insert adjective here*!”
I’m not surprised that we, the fandom, can be seen - the actors have had that ability all along, though most chose not to take it. I am surprised - and dismayed - at what they’re being shown, and how they’re being shown it. No one should be forced to read/view something, regardless of the subject, without their express permission first. No one deserves to have their creativity mocked and derided in a public forum, permission be damned.
Nature abhors a vacuum - and so does creativity. Just as we don’t get any input to what Moffat and Gatiss do with the show, they don’t get to have input to what we do about it. It’s not a wall. It’s never been a wall. But it’s a division nonetheless, and until and unless it can be breached with respect to all involved, I wish it would stay that way.
(Small background, for those who don't know me: I was a theatre major in college, and worked in theatre for a number of years until we moved overseas. Not that it gives me any authority over anyone else talking about walls or actors or things, though it probably explains why I feel as though I can speak about them.)
*
Every theatre student knows about the concept of the fourth wall. It’s that dividing line between the actors and the audience - it’s the thing that keeps the story neatly within the lines. You can break the fourth wall (and many comedians do: look at Mel Brooks or the US version of The Office), but it’s always there on some level.
But I think that calling that dividing line a wall at all is erroneous, particularly in the age of the internet. Walls are opaque - you can’t see through them from either side. And as real as that imaginary wall may be to the actors - it’s never been opaque to the audience, but entirely transparent.
Kind of like a one-way mirror.
The way a one-way mirror works (as anyone who watched a police drama knows) is that from one side, where the lights are bright, it appears to be a regular mirror. It’s only from the other side, where the lights are low, that it’s transparent, allowing those in the darker room to see clearly into the lighter room.
(Just like a stage during a show - the lights go down on the audience, and up on the actors.)
But here’s the trick with a one-way mirror - if both rooms on either side of the glass are bright - the mirror isn’t a mirror at all. It’s just a regular piece of glass, transparent from both sides. Everyone can see everyone else. And even if the lights are still low on one side, the people on the brighter side of the glass can press their noses to it, and shade their eyes - and still see perfectly well.
For years, actors have been able to ignore the mirror. Sure, they knew we were on the other side - but as long as they couldn’t see us, we were easy to ignore. In fact, if they looked out, they really only saw what they wanted to see.
While the internet has made it a lot easier for us to find each other and share our love of various shows and movies and books and such - it’s also turning on the lights. When the glass becomes transparent, it becomes a lot harder for the actors to ignore the fact that we’re watching them. I suspect there are plenty of actors who have little to no interest in what we do on our side of the glass. After all, they’re focused on their own thing, not the mirror or lack thereof.
And even though we’re creating things in a public space where anyone can find them - most of us want to stay very firmly on our own side of the glass, with absolutely no intention of dragging the actors or writers over to our side to show them what we’re doing. Actually, we’re not even the ones pulling us into the public eye at all - it’s the people who aren’t part of the fandom (or at least aren’t part of it in any real way) who are dragging the actors to the glass, shielding their eyes and telling them to look. To say their negative focus is more indicative of their own issues than ours is accurate - though not exactly comforting when you’re the one being exploited.
(It’s both sides being exploited by the way - the fan, just as much as the actor, as it’s their reaction that is often the point of the exploitation, more so than the exposure of the fanartist.)
The fourth wall never existed. The entire nature of the entire entertainment industry depends on there not being a fourth wall. After all - you can’t see through a wall, and if we can’t see the action, what’s the point of the show?
It’s just that it’s much, much easier to see everything happening on the other side of that glass now. Used to be an actor had to look really hard to find it - you know, step right up and shield their eyes. Now they’ve got people dragging them to the glass and pressing their noses in, saying, “Look at that! Here’s a link! Here’s a print-out! Isn’t that *insert adjective here*!”
I’m not surprised that we, the fandom, can be seen - the actors have had that ability all along, though most chose not to take it. I am surprised - and dismayed - at what they’re being shown, and how they’re being shown it. No one should be forced to read/view something, regardless of the subject, without their express permission first. No one deserves to have their creativity mocked and derided in a public forum, permission be damned.
Nature abhors a vacuum - and so does creativity. Just as we don’t get any input to what Moffat and Gatiss do with the show, they don’t get to have input to what we do about it. It’s not a wall. It’s never been a wall. But it’s a division nonetheless, and until and unless it can be breached with respect to all involved, I wish it would stay that way.