All the world's a soundstage : investigating metacinema

This thesis begins work towards a complete understanding of narrative metacinema by categorizing films that qualify as metacinema and analyzing some sample films. The categories are parody, films about stories or storytelling, and films with heavy performative and dreaming elements. The discussion revolves around how each of these categories produces films that are self-aware, as well as how the tension between fiction and truth is central to all of metacinema in different ways.