Sometimes, although not often, a person will leave the set and walk out into the audience. Alternately he can remain on stage and address the audience as if he is aware of their existence. Another thing that may happen is that the character in the play suddenly becomes aware that he is a character in a story. He may not see the audience, but he seems to know that they are there. This surreal phenomenon is often referred to as "breaking the fourth wall." It is often done tongue in cheek and is not to be taken seriously.
But what if it was serious?
Imagine if one day you woke up, went to work, and happened to tell your coworker a joke. A moment after making the joke, you hear laughter. You turn around and, just for a moment, you see a crowd of people sitting in chairs all laughing at you. It goes away and, once again, you see only a wall. Your coworker does not seem to see what you saw. She even asks if you are okay. But you are not okay. You have just broken the fourth wall and the reality of it is now stuck in your mind.
A lot of questions come from this. Who are you? Are you real? Is anything real? Are you only experiencing life from the perspective of someone else' imagination? More questions arise.
Is this reality only a figment of someone's imagination? Is reality a story? If so, who is the author? Do we have any control over the author? If not, is the author a good person? Will he ultimately write us into a bad situation? Will we die because of the author? If so, is the author a murderer? Does it even matter? Does anything in a story really matter?
Right now, you are reading this blog. Was that a line written in a story or are you doing it? I wrote it just a moment ago. "Right now, you are reading this blog." And you were. You were reading it right as that narrative was struck. You came on here looking for a blog and you found one. I'm not sure why you are here right now. Do you? Are you dreaming? Who is the dreamer? Am I the author of your story?
As you continue to read this blog, you may consider the possibility that you may not be entirely in control. You could put it aside and do something else, but you won't. Human curiosity is what it is. You want to know the truth. But how do you find the truth? Does even the author know?
Breaking the fourth wall usually leads to more questions than answers. It breaks our perception of what reality is. It is often tongue in cheek because to take it seriously might lead to madness. Madness is real. If you go too deep into the fabric of reality, you may find it reflecting things back that are too confusing to interpret. Perhaps, in that light, it would be best not to take the Fourth Wall seriously. Joke about it. Laugh when it happens and then slip back into happy ignorance while countless people look at you and await what you'll do next.
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Interesting. The idea of "God" is that we are indeed characters within a story. We may be characters given free will but the story is entirely of his making. We can only play the parts he provides. If "God" the author is evil, then we are trapped in a sadistic imagination. If "God" the author is good then his story shall be an inspiring triumph of good against evil. All the troubles are simply the drama leading up to a thrilling climax.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes wonder if the characters I am writing for are alive. They are, after all, subject to my whimsy. And then... they sometimes look up to me, or perhaps a direction they think I exist. They cry out for me to leave them alone.
DeleteAt first, I consider doing it, but then I cannot tell if it was them or if it was me causing them to cry out. So I have no choice but to continue.
Those poor little people. Do they sometimes think of me and say, "It must be so much work being God." It is more likely that they will simply chose to dislike me.
Quite a fascinating delve into our existential perceptions of reality. The fourth wall provides us with the comfort of a closed box, but take it down and we have all sorts of questions we rather not answer. If we are within a story are we playing our parts well or are we lacking? Where is the narrative taking us and how much control do we actually have over it? Can we handle the truth if it proves we just aren't that important to the grand design?
ReplyDeleteLook at life around you. Some things seem as if they could not possibly be a coincident. But then, it also seems to have a narrative. Are our actions our own? I think they are, but they could also be allowed by the pleasure of an omnipotent. The author of a story can still allow the characters to make their own decision, but he is still writing their actions based on those decisions.
DeleteIf an author or god was to write a story without letting the characters chose for themselves, that would mean he is entirely controlling every aspect of them. They are essentially God themselves. More like God-programmed robots though.
Something to think about, Mister cb634.