Fabula and sujet are terms from literary theory used to explain the difference between a story and its Plot. Fabula is the chronological order of events, while sujet is the order events are told in. In most stories, these match up pretty closely, but this does not necessarily have to be the case. They're from Russian Formalism, not French: it's pronounced "Sue Jet" (Rus: Фабула и Сюжет). Take, for example, the film Memento, where half the story is told Back to Front interspersed with segments told front to back. Or look at this graph of fabula vs. sujet in ''Memento.''
◊ Complicated, huh? Postmodernists love this, but the idea itself dates back to Aristotle.
If the fabula is very different from the sujet, the story is probably more about figuring out how the plot fits together than the plot itself, which can leave the plot, once figured out, kind of weak. This is part of why some people hate Time Travel stories.
Fabula and Sujet Tropes:
- Anachronic Order
- Back to Front
- Flashback
- In Medias Res
- Interquel
- Post-Adventure Adventure, for stories that have a plot that precedes them.
- Real Time, for when there is absolutely no difference between the two.
- Sequencing Deception, when differences between sujet and fabula are hidden from the audience for a surprise.
- Simultaneous Arcs
