Metacinema, also meta-cinema, analogous to metafiction in literature, is a mode of filmmaking in which the film informs the audience that they are watching a work of fiction. Metacinema often references its own production, working against narrative conventions that aim to maintain the audience's suspension of disbelief. Elements of metacinema includes scenes where characters discuss the making of the film or where production equipment and facilities are shown.
Examples of metacinema date back to the early days of narrative filmmaking, in films such as A Film Johnnie (George Nichols, 1914) starring Charles Chaplin. In the 1940s, backstage musicals and comedies like Road to Singapore (Victor Schertzinger, 1940) and Hellzapoppin' (H. C. Potter, 1941) exhibited a vogue for exploration of the medium of film at the same time as the monopolistic grip of Hollywood studios was loosening allowed more space for creative self-examination. Metacinema can be identified in art cinema of the 1960s like 8½ (Federico Fellini, 1963) or The Passion of Anna (Ingmar Bergman, 1969), and it can often be found in the self-reflexive filmmaking of the Nouvelle Vague in films like Le Mépris (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963) and Day for Night (François Truffaut, 1973).
Metacinema continues to flourish in art films and comedies where experimentation with narrative conventions is encouraged.
Notable examples of films of this type include (in chronological order):
A Film Johnnie (George Nichols, 1914)
Road to Singapore (Victor Schertzinger, 1940)
Hellzapoppin' (H. C. Potter, 1941)
La Ronde (Max Ophüls, 1950)
Son of Paleface (Frank Tashlin, 1952)
"Duck Amuck" (Chuck Jones, 1953)
Pardners (Norman Taurog, 1956)
Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, 1960)
La Ricotta (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1962)
8½ (Federico Fellini, 1963)
Le Mépris (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963)
I Am Curious (Yellow) (Vilgot Sjöman, 1967)
I Am Curious (Blue) (Vilgot Sjöman, 1968)
The Passion of Anna (Ingmar Bergman, 1969)
A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, 1971)
Jesus Christ Superstar (Norman Jewison, 1973)
Day for Night (François Truffaut, 1973)
The Holy Mountain (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1973)
Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks, 1974)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, 1975)
F for Fake (Orson Welles, 1975)
The Muppet Movie (James Frawley, 1979)
The French Lieutenant's Woman (Karel Reisz, 1981)
Pink Floyd - The Wall (Alan Parker, Gerald Scarfe, 1982)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (John Hughes, 1986)
Spaceballs (Mel Brooks, 1987)
Epidemic (Lars von Trier, 1987)
Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami, 1990)
Wayne's World (Penelope Spheeris, 1992)
Last Action Hero (John McTiernan, 1993)
Wes Craven's New Nightmare (Wes Craven, 1994)
Get Shorty (Barry Sonnenfeld, 1995)
Living in Oblivion (Tom DiCillo, 1995)
Irma Vep (Olivier Assayas, 1996)
Funny Games (Michael Haneke, 1997)
Bowfinger (Frank Oz, 1999)
Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonze, 1999)
Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999)
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (Des McAnuff, 2000)
Scream 3 (Wes Craven, 2000)
Shadow of the Vampire (E. Elias Merhige, 2000)
Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)
Adaptation (Spike Jonze, 2002)
Seed of Chucky (Don Mancini, 2004)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Shane Black, 2005)
A Cock and Bull Story (Michael Winterbottom, 2006)
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (Scott Glosserman, 2006)
Stranger Than Fiction (Marc Forster, 2006)
On The Road With Judas (J.J. Lask, 2007)
Funny Games (Michael Haneke, 2007)
The Simpsons Movie (David Silverman, 2007)
Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008)
Tropic Thunder (Ben Stiller, 2008)
Be Kind Rewind (Michel Gondry, 2008)
Nine (Rob Marshall, 2009)
Rubber (Quentin Dupieux, 2010)
The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius, 2011)
The Strawberry Tree (Simone Rapisarda Casanova, 2011)
My Week With Marilyn (Simon Curtis, 2011)
Detention (Joseph Kahn, 2011)
The Cabin in the Woods (Drew Goddard, 2012)
Seven Psychopaths (Martin McDonagh, 2012)
Holy Motors (Leos Carax, 2012)
Escape from Tomorrow (Randy Moore, 2013)
John Dies at the End (Don Coscarelli, 2013)
Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2014)
Jersey Boys (Clint Eastwood, 2014)
The Creation of Meaning (Simone Rapisarda Casanova, 2014)
Kathai Thiraikathai Vasanam Iyakkam (R. Parthiepan, 2014)
Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser (Fred Wolf, 2015)
The Big Short (Adam McKay, 2015)
Taxi (Jafar Panahi, 2015)
Drifts (Ricardo Costa, 2016)
Deadpool (Tim Miller, 2016)
