For one thing, you have committed an ironic error in logic. You appear to equate a mistake in one’s “very first point” with mistakes in the other points that follow. In fact each point in an argument can be true or false independently of the others. The ironic part is that your points are all independently erroneous.

You find fault with my citing of large numbers to prove greatness. But I find fault with your finding of any such citation. None exists in this article.

You misread my complaint about the first line of dialogue, saying “luke calling han by his name doesn’t even remotely qualify” (as “breaking the fourth wall”). A closer reading would have revealed that it’s not Luke’s use of Han’s name but his addition of “old buddy” that I found telling.

As to your main point, the meaning of “breaking the fourth wall,” the very reference you supply makes clear that a fictional character addressing the audience directly is merely one example of breaking the fourth wall:

The term also applies to the boundary between any fictional setting and its audience. When this boundary is “broken” (for example by an actor speaking to the audience directly through the camera in a television program or film), it is called “breaking the fourth wall.”

(Emphasis added.) By implication, there are other ways. This is made more explicit by the definition of breaking the fourth wall that I linked to (indirectly, via an intermediate blog post), from Word Spy:

When a fictional character shows awareness of both the medium in which they “exist” and the audience watching (or reading) that medium.

“Shows awareness.” I wrote that Luke speaks a particular line in a particular way that a normal person in a normal setting never would. The only explanation I can concoct for Empire’s odd first line of dialogue — and I’m open to other suggestions that aren’t ad hominem attacks or other logical fallacies — is that Luke is aware of Han’s long absence from the audience, which does indeed qualify as breaking the fourth wall.

If it’s all the same to you I’ll continue my blogging career, such as it is. It may not pay much, but as opportunities to school the likes of you show, there are other rewards besides money.

uranidiot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_fourth_wall

I always hated this, too, for pretty much the same reasons you outline (I like the idea that anyone can “tune in” to the Force with a little concentration and effort). One of the most hateable things about The Phantom Menace (and there’s some stiff competition there) is the even-more-explicit linking of the Force to genetics (this terrible business about “midichlorians”). Sigh.