What Does This Mean?
When a performer or character acknowledges the audience or the fictional nature of the work, for example by speaking directly to viewers or noting that they are in a story, breaking the convention that separates stage from audience.
REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
""The narrator turned to the camera and winked, breaking the fourth wall for the third time that episode.""
LORE & ORIGIN
Wikipedia traces the "fourth wall" idea to Denis Diderot in 1758, to Leigh Hunt's 1807 use of the phrase, and to an 1879 article by Henry Irving on a Hamlet staging, followed by the first known use of "fourth wall theory" in the periodical Truth. Stanislavski's 1904 Moscow Art Theatre production of The Cherry Orchard is cited as an example of the convention.
MENTIONS OVER TIME
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