Godardfan

Fun fact: Within Our Gates is the oldest known surviving film made by an African-American director and has been named as one of the greatest films of all time by a Black director. After being presumed lost for decades, the film was found when a single print, titled La Negra (The Black Woman), was discovered in Spain in the 1970s. A brief sequence in the middle of the film was lost. Only four of the original English intertitles survived, the rest having been replaced with Spanish intertitles when the film was distributed in Spain in the 1920s.

Yeah, so I actually have noticed this before because actors looking at the camera happens to be a Thing of mine; that is, once I see it I can’t unsee it and while I sort of lowkey love these moments  - as though I’ve found some shared moment with a character or some little chance glance that others either haven’t noticed or don’t care about - they kinda also tend to drive me crazy. IN THIS SHOW, however, it totally works because the actors are MEANT to be looking at the camera for the most part. So yes, I believe the one you are talking about is where Anne looks from Ann to yes-thank-you-James right after Ann has said (you guessed it!!) “Yes, thank you James!” Here it is in real speed:

And slowed down for good measure:

I agree this one was deliberate, although I sort of love that because the shtick of fourth wall breaks is baked right in to Anne’s character on the show, even if it wasn’t deliberate we wouldn’t find it distracting!

That brings me to glances at the camera that are not deliberate. As in every film/tv show, they do happen, and my experience tells me that they happen most often when the actor in the shot has to scan past the camera with his or her eyes in a sort of sweeping motion. So for instance, if at the beginning of the shot the actor is looking offscreen camera right, and by the end of the shot she needs to be looking offscreen camera left, that actor’s eyes have to travel directly past the camera. And these cameras are BIG. It could be a big setup with black French flags (the shades attached to the front of the camera to shield against unwanted light/lens flares); it could be a camera operator using a steadicam rig where the camera is sort of suspended on the end of a jib arm protruding off of a harness on the camop’s body (see 2nd photo below).

See what I mean?  My point is that they are generally not something you could easily pretend not to notice, and actors have a helluva time trying to nonchalantly gloss right past them without a little eye hiccup for a frame or two.

OK so why does this matter? Well we know 4th wall breaks are utilized in this show, and we also know that it’s not just Anne Lister who gets to have all the fun; Marian’s character also has awesome looks to the audience. So one of the questions going into season 2 will be whether anyone else - AND BY ANYONE ELSE I MEAN ANN MF WALKER - gets to break the 4th wall (please for the love of Anne Lister’s Thermometer). But the other question I have is that in the context of this show - a show where it is not only appropriate for characters to stop and look at the camera, but is in fact one of its most beloved idiosyncrasies - what do we make of those probably-accidental glances at the camera by characters we haven’t seen break the 4th wall before?

For instance, in the same scene from before, Ann has to shift her focus across the screen and I caught Sophie pause ever so slightly at the lens for like 2/3 frames. Here’s real time speed:

And once more slowed down:

OK, there’s probably nothing to make of that one, other than as super persuasive evidence that any ACTUAL 4th wall break by one Miss Ann Walker would make all my bones shatter and my corpse turn to dust.

But what about this one by Hemingway in the kitchen with Eugénie and Cordingley in 1 x 01???

Let’s slow it down:

This is right after she delivers the line, “She’s French” about Eugénie. And so I’m thinking that one we can take as a 4th wall break even though it probably wasn’t scripted. Are the actors just going for it and seeing whether they make it past the cutting room? Or is Sally giving them confirmation that they’re allowed to? Either way, I’m loving that this is a device we’re given in this show because all their glances toward us are SO RELATABLE.