3. Seymour Chatman: Satellites & Kernels

• Kernels: key moments in the plot / narrative structure
• Satellites: embellishments, developments, aesthetics

This theory allows students to break down a narrative into 2 distinct elements. Those elements which are absolutely essential to the story / plot / narrative development, which are known as KERNELS and those moments that could be removed and the overall logic would not be disturbed, known as SATELLITES. Think about the way satellites orbit something bigger like a planet. Satellites can therefore be thought as useful to develop character, emotion, location, time and so on, but NOT ESSENTIAL. In this way they are really useful creative elements but not essential to the story. As such, some elements may emerge and play out but actually turn out to be of little value, meaning or consequence to the overall / main parts of the narrative – these can be called non-sequitars. Nevertheless, the use of light & shade is very important in terms of constructing an effective and enjoyable narrative.

TASK: Think of a book, a film, a music video, a magazine article, a picture, a painting, a radio show, a play etc etc (essentially any creative media text you like) and draw out the shape of the narrative as a sequence of Kernels (the important events) and satellites (the less important Todorov).

Fabula and Syuzhet

taken from wikipedia (link above in subhead). . . . Vladimir Propp and Viktor Shklovsky originated the terminology as part of the Russian Formalism movement in the early 20th century.^[2] Narratologists have described fabula as “the raw material of a story”, and syuzhet as “the way a story is organized”.^[3]