narration through iconic signs. In ""shown"" stories, such as narrative films, both characters and actions tend to be represented in an iconic or ""motivated"" fashion. By contrast diegesis, or ""telling"" is narration through symbolic signs, i.e. in ""told"" narratives, such as epics and most novels, the narrating function is assigned to a set of signifiers that are ""arbitrary,"" unanalogous to the actions, characters, or settings they signify. (Chatman, 1990, p. 111-112) Also see diegesis, [my-mees-is], the Greek word for imitation, a central term in aesthetic and literary theory since Aristotle. A literary work that is understood to be reproducing an external reality or any aspect of it is described as mimetic. (Baldick, 2001, p. 157)