The Fourth Wall

Abstract

Toni Adeyemi, a senior in media studies at the University of San Francisco, and Karina Hodoyán, an associate professor in the Spanish Studies program and director of the Master's in Migration Studies at the University of San Francisco, interview filmmaker Cheryl Dunye. The conversation took place across different media platforms and moments in time, and focuses on both Dunye's past work and her recent directorial transition into new platforms of filmmaking and storytelling, including directing episodic television. Dunye mentions the politicization of the breaking of the “fourth wall,” and the advent of social-media storytelling about identity, race, gender, and queer desire. She also discusses her current project Black Is Blue, a work in progress set in the future about a love affair between a trans couple in Oakland. The figures show a related Instagram project touching on Dunye's many influences as well as instances of fourth-wall breaking in contemporary television.