Breaking the Fourth Wall: From Molière to Video Games

The first intentional breaking of the metaphorical fourth wall separating fiction from reality originated in theatre with the influential 17th century French comedic playwright Molière. However, the technique has since become common across all visual entertainment media, including pioneering appearances in video games like the groundbreaking Doki Doki Literature Club.

What is the Fourth Wall in Entertainment?

The "fourth wall" is a term that originates from classical theatre production. The first three walls consist of the actual physical set and background enclosing the stage. The fourth wall is an invisible and impenetrable barrier separating the fictional world from the audience watching in the seats.

When actors or creative works "break the fourth wall", they essentially shatter this barrier by directly acknowledging the audience and their existence as manufactured entertainment. The technique exposes the creative work‘s inherent artificiality and its status as illusionary fiction.

History & Origins in Western Theatre

Molière (born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, 1622-1673) stands as one of the most pioneering playwrights in Western theatre. Among his manifold innovations was the creation and perfection of the comedy of manners satirical genre, as well as the increasing usage of "meta" elements like directly addressing the audience.

Key plays that cemented fourth wall breaking as a dramatic technique:

• La Critique de l‘École des femmes (1663): Comedy depicting a debate on Molière‘s earlier The School for Wives. Characters reference their own status as actors in a play.
• Le Misanthrope (1666): Breaks to jokingly apologize for boring the audience.
• Amphitryon (1668): Characters explicitly perform as both dramatis personæ and the actor playing them.

Molière received criticism at the time from neoclassical theorists like La Mesnardière who disapproved of these meta elements and argued for upholding dramatic illusions. However, Molière successfully defended his innovative techniques, writing:

Molière‘s unique dramatic style went on to directly inspire later playwrights like Wolfgang von Goethe, Oscar Wilde, Luigi Pirandello, and Brecht who all advanced the form with their own flavor of fourth wall experimentation. By the 19th century, "breaking the fourth wall" was an established term thanks to Molière cementing it as a dramatic convention.

Early Cinema & Film

The earliest example of breaking the cinematic fourth wall is generally recognized to be in iconoclastic writer Mary MacLane‘s experimental 1918 silent film Men Who Have Made Love to Me. In this blend of artistic memoir and dramatization, MacLane inserts herself into re-enactments of her supposed interactions with past lovers, directly addressing the audience through frequent intertitle cards.

COME AND SIT BESIDE ME DO…FOR I AM LONELY AND I WOULD TALK

Beyond avant-garde fare, fourth wall breaks became common in the screwball comedies of the 1930s/40s thanks to iconic stars like the Marx Brothers and Bob Hope. Hope especially was known to end many comic vignettes by turning to give the audience a smirking glance or witty remark.

This trend was accelerated with the rise of celebrity culture and Hollywood‘s PR machinery that sold movie stars as larger-than-life pseudo-mythological figures in the popular consciousness. megastars acknowledging the viewer directly played perfectly into this conceit, further closing the intimacy gap with their audience.

In the above statistics we can observe the significant rise of fourth wall breaking appearances over the past century of cinema, from a mere 8% of top films in 1930 to over three-fourths by the 2000s. As audiences became more media literate, these meta-fictional techniques clearly resonated more and more.

Comic Books & Graphic Novels

Comic books provided fertile ground for shattering the fourth wall, with their pulpy and youth-oriented sensibilities. Having characters directly address the readers allowed for bringing an extra layer of humor and gleeful meta-awareness around the comic format itself.

She-Hulk stands as one of most important Marvel heroines, acting as their first character to consistently "break the fourth wall" starting with her first appearance in Savage She-Hulk #1 (1980), directly commenting on her own comics to the reader. This trend was later cemented by writer John Byrne who delivered her most iconic meta storylines after taking over the series with Sensational She-Hulk #1 (1989).

However, the current undisputed king of fourth wall demolition is undoubtedly Marvel‘s Deadpool. After debuting as a standard villain character in 1991‘s New Mutants #98, Deadpool was redefined forever thanks to Joe Kelly‘s run on the 1997 solo series which introduced the Signature aspects of Deadpool‘s unhinged personality – including frequent mocking asides and comments towards the reader themselves. As comics scholar ImageTexT wrote:

Soon Deadpool‘s manic energy and multiplied fourth wall assaults spawned endless imitators and cemented the trend as a cornerstone of late 20th century comic relief characters.

While American comics most famously played with fourth wall destruction, international works also adopted this style for metatextual commentary. Acclaimed manga like Yotsuba&! feature characters who are aware of living inside drawn panels, while British graphic novels like Bananaman joyfully shred any separation between reality levels.

Video Games

While certain classic arcade titles like Rampage (1986) allowed players to smash the screen, video games rarely challenged to break the fourth wall due to technical constraints. This changed in the age of CD-ROM gaming thanks to titles like point-and-click adventure Sam & Max Hit the Road (1993) which let the protagonist characters remark on typical video game puzzles to the player directly.

However, the indie game Doki Doki Literature Club (2017) represents the artform‘s biggest step to date by far in systematically annihilating the fourth wall through meta means. DDLC initially presents itself as a clichéd visual novel dating simulator – only to abruptly shift tones into a psychological horror deconstruction of the entire genre.

I messed with the game‘s files! Don‘t worry, I know what I‘m doing!

The game frequently tampers with interface elements, graphics, files access and error messages to further drag the player into confronting their expectations versus the fictional game reality itself.

Renowned video essayist Jacob Geller summarized DDLC‘s groundbreaking approach stating:

Plenty of other fantastic games like Undertale, Eternal Darkness, Metal Gear Solid and Pony Island have all used fourth wall manipulation to enhance player immersion in creative ways. Going forward, this fusion of metafiction and ludonarrative resonance seems likely to persist as a leading game design trend of the 2020s and beyond.