Modern storytelling is obsessed with 4th wall breaking and parallel universes. This seems to be a symptom of the disconnect between modern stories and transcendent myth. Myth is the lifeblood of narrative. In its absence, stories are not anchored to patterns of cosmic symbolic coherence. They become self-referential totalities like the Tower of Babel: the-tower-of-babel-is-a-self-referential-totality. As the death knell tolls, contemporary stories are seeking a way to escape their dying universes.1 4th wall breaking and parallel universes are like the distant shore of the undying lands, seducing mortals with the promise of immortality.
This fine artist’s frame-breaking style is a palpable expression of this sentiment: https://stowe-gallery.com/collections/andrew-scott↩︎