Editing Mise en abyme (section)

==In mass media==
[[File:Screenshot Recursion via vlc.png|thumb|[[Recursion|Recursive]] computer screenshots]]
''Mise en abyme'' occurs in a text when there is a reduplication of images or concepts referring to the textual whole. ''Mise en abyme'' is a play of signifiers within a text, of sub-texts mirroring each other.<ref>Hayward, Susan. "Mise-en-abime" in ''Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts'' (Third Edition). Routledge, 2006. pp. 252–253</ref> This mirroring can attain a level where meaning may become unstable and, in this respect, may be seen as part of the process of [[deconstruction]]. The film-within-a-film, where a film contains a plot about the making of a film, is an example of ''mise en abyme''. The film being made within the film refers, through its ''[[mise en scène]]'', to the real film being made. The spectator sees film equipment, stars getting ready for the take, and crew sorting out the various directorial needs. The narrative of the film within the film may directly reflect the one in the real film.<ref>[http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/3265.ctl|Hayward, Susan. ''Cinema Studies Key Concepts''. New York: Routledge, 2006.] Accessed 2009-05-27</ref> An example is [[Björk]]'s video [[Bachelorette (song)|Bachelorette]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Buckland |first=Warren |date=2018-04-26 |title=The Unnatural and Impossible Storyworlds of Michel Gondry’s Music Videos: The Mise en Abyme of ‘Bachelorette’ |url=https://journals.openedition.org/volume/5689?lang=en |journal=Volume! La revue des musiques populaires |language=en |issue=14 : 2 |doi=10.4000/volume.5689 |issn=1634-5495|doi-access=free |url-access=subscription }}</ref> directed by [[Michel Gondry]]. An example is ''[[La Nuit américaine]]'' (1973) by [[François Truffaut]].

In [[film]], the meaning of ''mise en abyme'' is similar to the artistic definition, but also includes the idea of a "dream within a dream". For example, a character awakens from a dream and later discovers that they are [[false awakening|still dreaming]]. Activities similar to dreaming, such as unconsciousness and virtual reality, also are described as ''mise en abyme''. This is seen in the film ''[[eXistenZ]]'' where the two protagonists never truly know whether or not they are out of the game. It also becomes a prominent element of [[Charlie Kaufman]]'s ''[[Synecdoche, New York]]'' (2008). More recent instances can be found in the films ''[[Inland Empire (film)|Inland Empire]]'' (2007) and ''[[Inception]]'' (2010).  Classic film examples include the snow globe in ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' (1941) which provides a clue to the film's core mystery, and the discussion of [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s written works (particularly "[[The Purloined Letter]]") in the [[Jean-Luc Godard]] film ''[[Band of Outsiders]]'' (1964).

In [[literary criticism]], ''mise en abyme'' is a type of [[frame story]], in which the core narrative may be used to illuminate some aspect of the framing story. The term is used in deconstruction and deconstructive literary criticism as a paradigm of the [[Intertextuality|intertextual]] nature of language, that is, of the way, language never quite reaches the foundation of reality because it refers in a frame-within-a-frame way, to another language, which refers to another language, and so forth.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ross Chambers |title=Story and Situation: Narrative Seduction and the Power of Fiction |year=1984 |url=https://www.upress.umn.edu/9780816612987/story-and-situation/|page=33}}</ref>

In [[video games]], the first chapter of the game ''[[There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension]]'' (2020) is titled "Mise en abyme".

In [[comedy]], the final act of ''[[The Inside Outtakes]]'' (2022) by [[Bo Burnham]] contains a chapter titled "Mise en abyme". It shows footage being projected into a monitor that is captured by the camera, slightly delayed at each step. This effect highlights the  disconnection between Burnham and the project during the artistic process.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}