Breaking the 4th Wall

[quasigeostrophy]

Watching the end of Pretty in Pink and just got to the part where Duckie, amazed that the blonde at the prom is looking at him, looks right at the camera. I'm now wondering/trying to remember, is there a John Hughes movie that doesn't have at least one break in the fourth wall? Ferris Bueller's Day Off is the champion of that, of course, since Ferris talks to the camera throughout the film.

Comments

[gremlin44.livejournal.com]

I want to say that _The Breakfast Club_ doesn't have a fourth wall break, but I wouldn't swear to it.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

That's the same one I'm thinking doesn't have one, but I can't remember either. :-)

[sophy.livejournal.com]

Got here through krasota. The question got me interested, so I did a google and came up with this essay. Here is the paragraph that specifically deals with your question:
Having Ferris talk to the camera is one of Hughes' many Brechtian techniques; trying to distance the audience to make them actually aware that what they are watching is a film. This idea could be seen as risky as most teenagers go to a film to escape reality not have emphasised that what they are watching is a work of fiction. At the beginning of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Ferris talks to the audience, which could be quite off putting, but then what he is saying begins to be written on screen next to him. This is a list of rules of what to do when you want to feign illness. The Geek looks at the camera and smiles when he looks like he is about to get lucky in Sixteen Candles while Ferris continues to do so throughout the whole film. So the audience can see that Ferris is supposed to be special, as he knows he is in a movie. This is also a devise to be used to get the audience to see things from Ferris's perspective from the outset of the film. The fourth wall is also broken down by Duckie at the end of Pretty in pink when an attractive girl beckons him over he looks at the audience establishing communication. A quote appears on screen at the beginning of The Breakfast Club of David Bowie's song "Changes"(15) and, as we finish reading this, it smashes into thousands of pieces suggesting the theme of rebellion and anarchy once again. As the children of the sixties rebelled in their own way, it is time for a new wave to rebel in their way. In Weird Science the boys both glance at the camera almost asking for confirmation of what they are about to do while in Planes Trains and Automobiles there are the most distancing techniques of all when Neil Page imagines Del Griffith sitting in the airport lounge with a taxi door in front of him and Del looks surprised as Neil tries to remember where he has seen him from before. This film also contains a moment when Neil looks at Del in the middle of a car accident and he turns into the devil laughing and jeering at him, followed by the both of them turning into frightened skeletons. These techniques point to a desire to be different from the traditional escapist film, possibly treating the audience to a certain level of respect, assuming that they will understand the meaning behind the obscure imagery.

(http://www.riverblue.com/hughes/fanfiction/hughesessay2.html)

[sophy.livejournal.com]

errr, and sorry about the bad editing of that post and the really long link.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

No prob. :-) I need to watch the DVD of Ferris again and listen to Hughes' commentary. I can't remember what he says about the subject, if anything.