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Diegesis
Diegesis (/ˌdaɪəˈdʒiːsɪs/; from Ancient Greek διήγησις (diḗgēsis) 'narration, narrative', from διηγεῖσθαι (diēgeîsthai) 'to narrate') is a style of fiction storytelling in which a participating narrator offers an on-site, often interior, view of the scene to the reader, viewer, or listener by subjectively describing the actions and, in some cases, thoughts, of one or more characters. Diegetic events are those experienced by both the characters within a piece and the audience, while non-diegetic elements of a story make up the "fourth wall" separating the characters from the audience. Diegesis in music describes a character's ability to hear the music presented for the audience, in the context of musical theatre or film scoring.
Diegesis (Greek διήγησις "narration") and mimesis (Greek μίμησις "imitation") have been contrasted since Aristotle. For Aristotle, mimesis shows rather than tells, by means of action that is enacted. Diegesis is the telling of a story by a narrator. The narrator may speak as a particular character, or may be the invisible narrator, or even the all-knowing narrator who speaks from "outside" in the form of commenting on the action or the characters.
For narratologists all parts of narratives—characters, narrators, existents, actors—are characterized in terms of diegesis. In literature, discussions of diegesis tend to concern discourse/sjužet (in Russian Formalism) (vs. story/fabula). In diegesis, the narrator tells the story.
Diegesis is multi-levelled in narrative fiction. Gérard Genette distinguishes between three "diegetic levels":
In dramatic texts, the poet never speaks directly; in narrative texts, poets speak as themselves.
In filmmaking the term is used to refer to the story as it is directly depicted onscreen, as opposed to the (typically much longer) real time events which said story purports to tell. (It is the difference between seeing an intertitle reading "a week later," and simply waiting a week.) Diegesis may concern elements, such as characters, events, and things within the main or primary narrative. However, the author may include elements that are not intended for the primary narrative, such as stories within stories. Characters and events may be referred to elsewhere or in historical contexts and are therefore outside the main story; thus, they are presented in an extradiegetic situation.[citation needed][dubious – discuss]
The classical distinction between the diegetic mode and the mimetic mode relates[clarification needed] to the difference between the epos (or epic poetry) and drama. The "epos" relates stories by telling them through narration, while drama enacts stories through direct embodiment (showing). In terms of classical poetics, the cinema is an epic form[citation needed] that utilizes dramatic elements; this is determined by the technologies of the camera and editing. Even in a spatially and temporally continuous scene (mimicking the theatrical situation, as it were), the camera chooses for us where to look - and where not to look. In a similar way, editing causes us to jump from one place (and/or time) to another, whether it be elsewhere in the room, or across town. This jump is a form of narration; it is as if a narrator whispers to us: "meanwhile, on the other side of the forest". It is for this reason[dubious – discuss] that the "story-world" in cinema is referred to as "diegetic"; elements that belong to the film's narrative world are diegetic elements. This is why, in the cinema, we may refer to the film's diegetic world.[citation needed]
"Diegetic", in the cinema, typically refers to the internal world created by the story that the characters themselves experience and encounter: the narrative "space" that includes all the parts of the story, both those that are and those that are not actually shown on the screen, such as events that have led up to the present action; people who are being talked about; or events that are presumed to have happened elsewhere or at a different time; such as the intro to "Star Wars", with its now classic "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."
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Diegesis
Diegesis (/ˌdaɪəˈdʒiːsɪs/; from Ancient Greek διήγησις (diḗgēsis) 'narration, narrative', from διηγεῖσθαι (diēgeîsthai) 'to narrate') is a style of fiction storytelling in which a participating narrator offers an on-site, often interior, view of the scene to the reader, viewer, or listener by subjectively describing the actions and, in some cases, thoughts, of one or more characters. Diegetic events are those experienced by both the characters within a piece and the audience, while non-diegetic elements of a story make up the "fourth wall" separating the characters from the audience. Diegesis in music describes a character's ability to hear the music presented for the audience, in the context of musical theatre or film scoring.
Diegesis (Greek διήγησις "narration") and mimesis (Greek μίμησις "imitation") have been contrasted since Aristotle. For Aristotle, mimesis shows rather than tells, by means of action that is enacted. Diegesis is the telling of a story by a narrator. The narrator may speak as a particular character, or may be the invisible narrator, or even the all-knowing narrator who speaks from "outside" in the form of commenting on the action or the characters.
For narratologists all parts of narratives—characters, narrators, existents, actors—are characterized in terms of diegesis. In literature, discussions of diegesis tend to concern discourse/sjužet (in Russian Formalism) (vs. story/fabula). In diegesis, the narrator tells the story.
Diegesis is multi-levelled in narrative fiction. Gérard Genette distinguishes between three "diegetic levels":
In dramatic texts, the poet never speaks directly; in narrative texts, poets speak as themselves.
In filmmaking the term is used to refer to the story as it is directly depicted onscreen, as opposed to the (typically much longer) real time events which said story purports to tell. (It is the difference between seeing an intertitle reading "a week later," and simply waiting a week.) Diegesis may concern elements, such as characters, events, and things within the main or primary narrative. However, the author may include elements that are not intended for the primary narrative, such as stories within stories. Characters and events may be referred to elsewhere or in historical contexts and are therefore outside the main story; thus, they are presented in an extradiegetic situation.[citation needed][dubious – discuss]
The classical distinction between the diegetic mode and the mimetic mode relates[clarification needed] to the difference between the epos (or epic poetry) and drama. The "epos" relates stories by telling them through narration, while drama enacts stories through direct embodiment (showing). In terms of classical poetics, the cinema is an epic form[citation needed] that utilizes dramatic elements; this is determined by the technologies of the camera and editing. Even in a spatially and temporally continuous scene (mimicking the theatrical situation, as it were), the camera chooses for us where to look - and where not to look. In a similar way, editing causes us to jump from one place (and/or time) to another, whether it be elsewhere in the room, or across town. This jump is a form of narration; it is as if a narrator whispers to us: "meanwhile, on the other side of the forest". It is for this reason[dubious – discuss] that the "story-world" in cinema is referred to as "diegetic"; elements that belong to the film's narrative world are diegetic elements. This is why, in the cinema, we may refer to the film's diegetic world.[citation needed]
"Diegetic", in the cinema, typically refers to the internal world created by the story that the characters themselves experience and encounter: the narrative "space" that includes all the parts of the story, both those that are and those that are not actually shown on the screen, such as events that have led up to the present action; people who are being talked about; or events that are presumed to have happened elsewhere or at a different time; such as the intro to "Star Wars", with its now classic "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."