Last night I was watching last week's The Office, and they did something that kind of chaps my lips. There was a running bit about how the gang was watching the movie Limitless, and talking about the film's star, Bradley Cooper.
The problem with this is that Ed Helms, one of the actors on The Office, famously starred in the movie The Hangover with Bradley Cooper. So for Helms, as his character, Andy Bernard, to be discussing Bradley Cooper on The Office, it calls attention to this whole paradox. Namely: does The Hangover exist in the world of The Office? Certainly it must, because without the success of The Hangover, Bradley Cooper would never have been catapulted to the stardom that made it possible for him to be in Limitless. But if The Hangover does exist in this fictional world, then who played the part of Ed Helms's character, Stu?
I've often wondered about this subtle phenomenon in the past. For instance, in a Tom Cruise movie, you can create a perfectly realistic fictional world, except for the fact that the actor Tom Cruise doesn't exist. There can be no Tom Cruise in that world, because then your protagonist would look exactly like Tom Cruise. And we buy into that, because we know we're watching a Tom Cruise movie. That's all well and good, but then you can't exactly have people in that movie start talking about how great Top Gun is.
I've always thought that would actually be a funny thing to do in a movie - reference other movies that the star has been in, to intentionally draw attention to this paradox. But on The Office, they didn't really do that. They just kind of annoyingly skirted that line, making me think about this glitch in their matrix for the rest of the episode. Which, by the way, wasn't that good. The whole show has predictably gone downhill since Steve Carrell left.
The problem with this is that Ed Helms, one of the actors on The Office, famously starred in the movie The Hangover with Bradley Cooper. So for Helms, as his character, Andy Bernard, to be discussing Bradley Cooper on The Office, it calls attention to this whole paradox. Namely: does The Hangover exist in the world of The Office? Certainly it must, because without the success of The Hangover, Bradley Cooper would never have been catapulted to the stardom that made it possible for him to be in Limitless. But if The Hangover does exist in this fictional world, then who played the part of Ed Helms's character, Stu?
I've often wondered about this subtle phenomenon in the past. For instance, in a Tom Cruise movie, you can create a perfectly realistic fictional world, except for the fact that the actor Tom Cruise doesn't exist. There can be no Tom Cruise in that world, because then your protagonist would look exactly like Tom Cruise. And we buy into that, because we know we're watching a Tom Cruise movie. That's all well and good, but then you can't exactly have people in that movie start talking about how great Top Gun is.
I've always thought that would actually be a funny thing to do in a movie - reference other movies that the star has been in, to intentionally draw attention to this paradox. But on The Office, they didn't really do that. They just kind of annoyingly skirted that line, making me think about this glitch in their matrix for the rest of the episode. Which, by the way, wasn't that good. The whole show has predictably gone downhill since Steve Carrell left.
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