An event in the script or an uneven portrayal that wrecks the intended emotional tenor of a scene or an entire piece.
In portrayals, when actors take it too big (start chewing the sets, rending the wardrobe, inserting pratfalls, etc.), they are level-breaking by going "
over the top." If they play it
too flat, they are breaking by way of "phoning it in."
It is much easier to level-break by going over the level than it is by going under the level.
You can, given the proper medications and directorial blandishments, eventually get an actor to either calm down or wake up. (Well, most of 'em, anyway.) In scripts, the problem is a little harder to pin down.
The most common level-breaker in a script is a
jump from way-sad to way-ridiculous. The breaker is in the "way-" part, in the degree of emotion. Having a détente scene, something to break the tension a little after a sad bit is not a bad play, but it has to be done with some care.
The inverse of the usual
Level Breaker is
We Havent Learned Anything Yet, which drops an inappropriately
serious moment into a comedy with all the subtlety of a
falling anvil.
See also:
Wall Banger,
Narm,
Sophisticated As Hell,
Melodrama. Not to be confused with
Game Breaker.
Examples:
Anime
Theatre
- In the otherwise fantastic comedic thriller Deathtrap, the character of Helga ten Dorp goes from elderly, wacky foreign psychic to a "strong and unafraid" dagger-wielding potential murderer in the space of two lines. Very difficult for an actor to pull off convincingly, and without careful attention can easily be a Level Breaker.
Film
- Han Solo's famous "I know" in The Empire Strikes Back was a level breaker for the test audience, but they loved it too much to change it.
- Depending on who you talk to, the "Anakin vs. Obi-Wan" fight in the prequels wound up being so ham-handedly over-the-top that it broke any sense of dramatic tension the rest of the scene had worked up.
- Not that there was ever really a moment when audiences were taking the movie seriously, but at the dramatic climax of Van Helsing — after the title character has inadvertantly killed his love interest during his time as a werewolf — he HOWLS LIKE A WOLF, which drew unintended, raucous laughter from audiences.
- Peter Parker's crying spell at the end of Spider Man 3, after Harry dies, probably drew more laughs than sympathy.
Fan Fiction
- Picard's Illumination, an entertainingly dreadful Star Trek fanfic, produces a particularly Narmful example by having an anguished declaration of love for someone who has just committed suicide interrupted by hiccups.
Real Life
- President Obama's inauguration was aiming for, and mostly pulling off, a somber and portentous tone. Then somebody started rhyming
.
- Don't forget about "Sasha."
