Meta-reference
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Meta-reference, a meta-fiction technique, is a situation in a work of fiction whereby fictional characters display an awareness that they are in such a work, such as a film, television show or book. Sometimes it may even just be a form of editing or film-making technique that comments on the programme/film/book itself. It is also sometimes known as "Breaking the Fourth Wall", in reference to the theatrical tradition of playing as if there was no audience, as if a wall existed between them and the actors.[citation needed] Also, an intentionally blank page makes a meta-reference to itself when it states, "This page is intentionally left blank," which would also be a pseudo-reference.
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[edit] Types of meta-reference
[edit] Theater
Meta-reference can be traced back to traditional asides to the audience in theatrical productions, a feature of dramatic presentation which dates back at least to the time of Aristophanes, who in his comedy "The Frogs", has a place where, in the underworld, the following dialogue takes place;
Dionysus - But tell me, did you see the parricides / And perjured folk he mentioned?
Xanthias - Didn't you?
Dionsyus - Poseidon, yes. Why look! (points to the audience) I see them now.
These asides are an early form of the technique of "breaking the fourth wall", of which meta-reference is a major form. Several of Shakespeare's plays begin or end with references to the actors and the play itself, most famously A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which Puck concludes with a speech which includes the lines:
- If we shadows have offended, think but this and all is mended
- That you have but slumber'd here while these visions did appear.
[edit] Film
The oldest use of meta-reference in cinema is possibly[citation needed] in the Marx Brothers' movie Animal Crackers, in which at one point Groucho speaks directly to the camera, saying, "Pardon me while I have a strange interlude." A more recent example comes from Fight Club. A scene near the end of the movie returns to its opening scene, but instead of saying "I can't think of anything", the narrator now says, "I still can't think of anything", demonstrating that he is aware of having been subjected to a cinematic time-shift. The Mel Brooks comedy Spaceballs features some extremely overt meta-reference: one scene consists of several characters figuring out what to do next by renting, and watching, the very movie in which they appear. Brooks also makes use of Meta-Reference in Robin Hood: Men in Tights during a scene in which the actors, unsure of the rules of an archery contest, check the movie's script.
[edit] Radio
The long-running 1950s and 1960s radio comedy series The Goons frequently made use of meta-reference. In one episode, for example, Eccles reported that he never appeared in a scene with Moriarty because both characters were played by the same actor. The series' announcer, Wallace Greenslade and musicians Max Geldray and Ray Ellington were occasionally called upon to act as minor characters, and their efforts were often derided on air by the other characters.
[edit] Television
Many jokes in the Warner Bros. animated series Freakazoid, Tiny Toon Adventures, and Animaniacs, were meta-references.[citation needed]
George Burns started talking to his audience early on in his TV show. In his radio show, Burns would occasionally beg the audience for laughs "Please laugh folks that's the only line I got." Later on toward the end of the "Burns & Allen" TV show, George Burns brought in a television set and literally "watched" the characters on his TV show as if he were at home, and not in the studio audience
The comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus prominently featured meta-references. Meta-references in Flying Circus include:
- a group of people lost in a jungle, who are rescued when they realize someone is filming them
- characters who think the sketch they are playing is silly and decide to stop
- a TV host, who experiences repeatedly shown film clips as déjà vu
- members of the Spanish Inquisition who are in a hurry, because the credits are rolling and the show is about to end
- A female character who frets because something they said was upsetting but "It's my only line!"
- References to "it's the end of the series, they couldn't make up something funnier"
- A resident of Castle Anthrax questions whether her scene was really worth including in the film.
