Meta

A medium is meta if it references itself (see, e.g., meta.) This is often done by trampling over what appeared to be a closed system's barrier - e.g. a book referencing its author, a play referencing its audience (see, e.g., breaking the fourth wall.) The feeling behind 'meta' is that of pulling back the camera. We start with a family having dinner, then pull back to reveal the camera crew, then pull back to the writers room for describing the crew's motion, then pull way back to the scientists marionetting the miniature writers, then pull back to reveal all this on a TV screen in the background of the kitchen where the family is having dinner.