Isn’t it creepy when you’re watching a show and the actor randomly interacts with you? Kate Chopin’s 1894 published, “The Story of an Hour,” focuses on Louise Mallard, a 19th century woman who dreams to break the chains of misogyny. "The Story of an Hour" was later turned into a 1984 film starring Frances Conroy. The Joy That Kills, a film adaptation of Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour,” uses the fourth-wall breaking dramatic convention to explain Louise’s life. The ‘fourth-wall’ in film, is the imaginary barrier which separates characters from the audience. Anytime the wall is broken is considered as “breaking the fourth-wall.” Fourth-wall breaking in film has been used on multiple occasions as a means of connecting characters with the audience. Any …show more content…
“Breaking the fourth wall is when a character acknowledges their fictionality, by either indirectly or directly addressing the audience” (“Breaking”). Voiceovers, narration, and soliloquies are all common fourth-wall breaking methods. Through fourth-wall breaking, the audience is given insight into the film and its characters: “Films of this form can be said to intensify our relationship with the fiction” (Brown). Famous films such as Deadpool, American Beauty, and American Psycho, have all used the fourth wall breaking dramatic convention. Breaking the fourth wall is basically anything that disrupts the illusion of fictionality in a work. The Joy That Kills, a film adaptation of Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour,” both uses and avoids the fourth-wall breaking method. The 1984 Tina Rathborne produced film stars Frances Conroy as Louise Mallard, and Jeffery DeMunn as Brently Mallard. The film revolves around Louise