Separated by the Wall: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:TheBorgiasCesareandUrsula 3535.jpg|frame| [[Star-Crossed Lovers]] separated by duty, vows, and a very thin wall]]

 

A stock visual metaphor, if you will. Some people (usually a man and woman pair) are separated by a wall, window, or other barrier. The wall is obviously an obstacle, but not the whole of the obstacle; the couple are prevented from uniting by some other means which the wall represents, either a physical cage or cell of some sort, or some form of emotional separation, like a relationship problem.

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* In ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'', {{spoiler|clone!}}Sakura and Syaoran are trapped in the same container but have a glass wall separating them. {{spoiler|It was the price they paid to save their son, to be imprisoned and unable to touch each other.}}

* ''[[Bound]]'', with Corky and Violet in adjacent apartments.

* ''[[Being John Malkovich]]'' features this trope in a puppet show about Peter Abelard and Heloise.

* In the Turkish movie ''İncir Reçeli'', the lead romantic couple has only one kiss, and that is from the opposite sides of a glass barrier either of them could easily circumvent. {{spoiler|The reason for this is because the girl has been HIV-positive since birth, and does not want to infect the boy. She explains that while there has only been one documented case of HIV infection through a kiss, and only because the transmitter had a heavy case of bleeding gums, she does not want to risk it.}}

 

== Literature ==

** Pyramus and Thisbe themselves, who can only communicate through the literal wall separating their parent's properties. It comes from Roman writer Ovid, making this trope [[Older Than Feudalism]].

* In ''[[The Count of Monte Cristo]]'', Maximilien and Valentine, another pair of star-crossed lovers also have to communicate through a hole in the wall; the chapter is titled "Pyramus and Thisbe".

* In the ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' season 4 episode "Upgrades", Carter and O'Neill are stuck on opposite sides of a force field when the bracelets giving them superpowers fail and the place is about to explode. This sets up everything in "Divide and Conquer".

* In ''[[Fresh Meat]]'' Howard's and Josie's rooms are separated by a thin plaster board. A little bonus, there's a glory hole through which they sometimes talk through. Howard even does a piece of interpretive drama about this predicament entitled "Wall Man".

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. One of the more romantic scenes in the otherwise [[Destructive Romance]] between Buffy and Spike in Season 6 is when Buffy, patrolling the cemetery, is drawn to Spike's crypt. Spike's vampire [[Spider Sense]] tips him to her presence and he touches the stone door, anticipating her entry, as Buffy does the same thing from the opposite side. But when Spike pulls open the door Buffy has already fled.

 

== Music ==

** In detail: his actual inspiration (as it turns out) was his (American) producer Tony Visconti embracing his (West German) mistress Antonia Maaß in front of the Wall (both safely living on the Western side, thank you very much). This (it seems) they regarded as quasi-heroic: love next to a symbol of oppression, how romantic! Bowie wasn't impressed (the lyrics are actually quite ironic when you think about it, particularly when you consider the scare quotes around the title), not least because the studio in question was the famous Hansa-by-the-Wall, which was exactly what it said it was: right next to the Wall. In other words: (1) Dude, you're cheating on your wife and (2) you pretend it's all heroic and crap because you're doing it next to the Berlin Wall...but you ''work'' next to the Berlin Wall. Stop fooling yourself.

* The video for the Marillion song "Kayleigh," on the other hand, definitely plays this straight, again with the Berlin Wall.

== Theatre ==

* Parodied with Pyramus and Thisbe from ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'', star-crossed lovers who have only a hole in the wall to talk (and indirectly kiss) through. It should be noted that the wall is a speaking part.

 

== Video Games ==

 

== Web Animation ==

 

== Web Original ==