Fictional fictional character

A fictional fictional character is a kind of metafiction. It is a character whose fictional existence is introduced within a larger work of fiction, such as the Itchy & Scratchy cartoon that exists only within the fictional world of The Simpsons.

Fictional fictional characters

When a fictional character's primary existence is in a media outlet that, itself, is fictional, that character is a fictional fictional character. This is usually, but not necessarily, done for comedic effect. For example, when John Ritter played the role of Garry Lejeune in the motion picture Noises Off, and Garry played the role of Roger Tramplemain in the stage production of Nothing On, Roger became a fictional fictional character, since Nothing On exists only within the realm of Noises Off.

The extent to which this can be comically confusing is summed up in the following quote, taken from a behind-the-scenes sequence at the end of the Stargate SG-1 episode "Wormhole X-Treme!": "I'm Christian Bocher, portraying the character of Raymond Gunne, who portrays the character of Dr. Levant, which is based on the character Daniel Jackson, portrayed by the actor Michael Shanks, originally portrayed by the actor James Spader in the feature film. Are you okay?"

There are virtually no examples of fictional fictional fictional characters, perhaps because most people simply can't comprehend that many "layers" of fiction.

Perhaps the most notorious fictional fictional character is Suicide Squid, whose eponymous comic book doesn't even exist in other media — it all started as an "in-joke" among the regular posters on a Usenet newsgroup.

Even when the character within the "story within a story" is based on a real person or a person from legend, the character takes on the sense of being a "fictional fictional character" by virtue of the setting, even though in fact the character remains a "real fictional character" or even a real person in truth.

"Frame" stories

A related but separate phenomenon from the "story within a story" is the "frame story", where a supplemental story is used to help tell the main story. In the supplemental story, or "frame," one or more characters tell the main story to one or more other characters. A well-known example of this is The Princess Bride, both the book and the movie. In the movie, a grandfather is reading the story of "The Princess Bride" to his grandson. In the book, a more detailed frame story has a father editing a (nonexistent) much longer work for his son, creating his own "Good Parts Version" (as the book called it) by leaving out all the parts that would bore a young boy. Both the book and the movie assert that the central story is from a book called "The Princess Bride" by a nonexistent author named S. Morgenstern.

Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales is also a frame story. Both The Golden Ass by Apuleius and Metamorphoses by Ovid extend the depths of framing to several degrees.

Arabian Nights is another famous example, and also contains numerous cases of stories within stories.

Fictional artists

Like S. Morgenstern, Peter Schikele's P.D.Q. Bach can be considered a "fictional artist", who supposedly created the works actually created by the artist's own creator. P.D.Q.'s life thus becomes something of a "frame story" (albeit indirectly) for such works as his opera The Abduction of Figaro.

Mystery author Ellery Queen can also be considered a "fictional artist" of sorts, though the proverbial line between his "true-life" and "fictional" exploits are generally very blurred.

In this case the "frame story"—that is, the fictional creator's life—can be considered metafictional, since each story (or other work) supposedly created by that character adds a little to his or her own (fictional) story.

Deeply nested fiction

In Douglas Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach, there is a narrative between Achilles and the Tortoise (characters borrowed from Lewis Carroll, who in turn borrowed them from Zeno), and within this fiction they find a book entitled "Provocative Adventures of Achilles and the Tortoise Taking Place in Sundry Spots of the Globe", which they begin to read, the Tortoise taking the part of the Tortoise, and Achilles taking the part of Achilles. Within this narrative, which itself is somewhat self-referential, the two characters find a book entitled "Provocative Adventures of Achilles and the Tortoise Taking Place in Sundry Spots of the Globe", which they begin to read, the Tortoise taking the part of Achilles, and Achilles taking the part of the Tortoise.

In Worlds' End#"Cerements" by Neil Gaiman, there is a story within a story within a story, as the necropolis apprentice Pentrefax tells a story that includes a storytelling session.

In Sue Townsend's The Wilderness Years, Adrian writes a book entitled Lo! The Flat Hills Of My Homeland, in which the main character, Jake Westmorland, writes a book called Sparg of Kronk, whose eponymous character, Sparg, writes a book with no language. Sparg is therefore a fictional fictional fictional character, and any characters in his book would have been fictional fictional fictional fictional characters.

From fiction to reality

Occasionally a character's metafictional setting becomes such a popular element of the primary fiction that the producer(s) of the primary fiction decide to produce the secondary fiction in earnest.

A prime example of this is Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story movies; the character in the movies was an action figure based on a fictional Buzz Lightyear cartoon series, which was later actually produced.

Another notable example is the relationship between Genshiken, a manga an anime series about fans of things like manga an anime, and Kujibiki Unbalance, a series they follow, which has spawned merchandise of its own, and is being remade into a series on its own. ^*

Recursion

Occasionally, though primarily on television, the characters in a story become the subjects of dramatizations based on their own lives or events that they have experienced. The most notorious case of this took place on the Seinfeld television series; it has also happened on other shows including The X-Files and the short-lived Ellery Queen series.

There is also the "recursive story", for example:

"'Twas a dark and stormy night, and the captain said to his crew, "Gather round, and I'll tell ye a tale."

So the crew gathered round, and the captain said:

"'Twas a dark and stormy night, and the captain said to his crew, "Gather round, and I'll tell ye a tale."

So the crew gathered round, and the captain said:

"'Twas a dark and stormy night, and the captain said to his crew, "Gather round, and I'll tell ye a tale."

So the crew gathered round, and the captain said:

"'Twas a dark and stormy night, and the captain said to his crew..." etc,

and sometimes listeners who are unaware of the trick will listen through several recursions before realizing that the substance of the story is never going to start.