Pulp Fiction (Dir. Quentin Tarantino 1994)
Fabula and sujet are terms originating in Russian Formalism and employed in narratology that describe narrative construction. Sujet is an employment of narrative and fabula is the chronological order of the retold events. The fabula is "the raw material of a story, and sujet, the way a story is organized." Since Aristotle (350 BCE, 1450b25) narrative plots are supposed to have a beginning, middle, and end. For example: films like Pulp Fiction and Momento. Citizen Kane starts with the death of the main character, and then tells his life through flashbacks interspersed with a journalist's present-time investigation of Kane's life. This is often achieved in film and novels via flashbacks or flash-forwards. Therefore, the fabula of the film is the actual story of Kane's life the way it happened in chronological order; while the sujet is the way the story is told throughout the movie, including flashbacks. (source: Wikipedia). We will watch the film Momento (Dir. Christopher Nolan 2000) This film is often used to show the distinction between plot and story. The film's events unfold in two separate, alternating narratives — one in color, and the other in black-and-white. The black-and-white sections are told in chronological order, showing Leonard conversing with an anonymous phone caller in a motel room. Leonard's investigation is depicted in colour sequences that are in reverse chronological order. As each sequence begins, the audience is unaware of the preceding events, just like Leonard, thereby giving the viewer a sense of his confusion. By the film's end when the two narratives converge we understand the investigation and the events that lead up to Teddy's death. (source: Wikipedia)
HOMEWORK: You should complete the worksheet you started in class based on narrative chronology, fabula and sujet and the questions related to Pulp Fiction and Psycho. The last question which I did not include on the sheet is: How would you change the sujet (the director's ordering of events) of Cinderella or any other well-known fairy tale so that we don't simply follow the fabula (the linear chronology of events) but we can still follow the story's logic?
