Mise an abyme

There is a literary device out there called "mise an abyme" which is French loosely translated for 'story within a story'. It's a very clever way to have your tale involve a story that your characters follow much the way you are following their story. Follow me? Example: The Simpson's watch Itchy and Scratchy. And it's a satire about the way WE view The Simpsons. Very clever stuff.

In college I took a class called Shakespeare on Film. The professor taught us the term as we learned that many Shakespeare plays included a story or play within the framework of the actual tale. Remember Hamlet's play (see above picture) that let everyone know who really killed his father? I love stories and generally, if I can get an extra one squeezed into the narrative I'm currently following, the more the merrier. I read the Moore and Gibbon's The Watchmen last year and loved the comic book "Tales of the Black Freighter" within the comic book of The Watchmen. Very clever satire of the characters within the greater framework.

But lately I've been completely pissed at the lame use of mise an abyme. There is "paying homage", there is "mise an abyme" and then there is just a rediculous use of someone else's media. I recently caught The Happening (caught it like a virus) and was appalled by a scene in a diner where Mark Whalberg shallow character watched a YouTube video on a horrible close-up still frame shot of and hand holding an iPhone. Luckily I didn't see this in theatres, for a number of reasons, but I would have witnessed a 20 foot tall still frame of a hand holding an iPhone playing a YouTube video within the world of the greater story. Although the video may have been relevent, and technically not a story to be characterised as mise en abyme, I don't watch movies to watch Youtube. I still can't believe I watched someone's iPhone in a film. I already hate watching people's crappy taste in videos as it is, let alone in a film!

I watched 5 minutes of Shrek within I Am Legend. That's just poor filmmaking. First I listened to Shrek while Will Smith sleeps, then it plays in the background for a few minutes. Then Will Smith recites a long speach to prove he isn't crazy (or is he?!). Watching an unrelated movie for no specific purpose within another film is silly. You, the filmmaker, have waited your whole life to make a big film with lots of money and tell a new story... and you make us watch a kids film we've all seen 10 times? Shame on you.

Any other annoying attempts at Mise en abyme?