Deus ex machina: Difference between revisions

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The phrase deus ex machina (Latin IPA: [ˈdeːus eks ˈmaːkʰina] (literally "god out of a machine") describes an artificial, or improbable, character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot (such as an angel suddenly appearing to solve problems).

Linguistic considerations

The Latin phrase "deus ex machina" has its origins in the conventions of Greek tragedy. It refers to situations in which a mechane (crane) was used to lower actors playing a god or gods onto the stage. Though the phrase is accurately translated as "God from a machine," in literary criticism, it is often translated to "God on a machine."^{[citation needed]} The machine referred to in the phrase is the crane employed in the task. It is a calque from the Greek 'απὸ μηχανῆς θεός' ápo mēchanēs theós, (pronounced in Ancient Greek IPA: [aˈpomɛːkʰaˈnɛːstʰeˈos]).

The Greek tragedian Euripides is notorious for using this plot device as a means to resolve a hopeless situation. For example, in Euripides' play Alcestis, the eponymous heroine agrees to give up her own life to Death in exchange for sparing the life of her husband, Admetus. In doing so, however, she imposes upon him a series of extreme promises. Admetus is torn between choosing death or choosing to obey these unreasonable restrictions. In the end, though, Heracles shows up and seizes Alcestis from Death, restoring her to life and freeing Admetus from the promises. The first person known to have criticized the device was Aristotle in his Poetics, where he argued that the resolution of a plot must arise internally, following from previous action of the play.^[1]

Modern uses

The phrase has been extended to refer to any resolution to a story that does not pay due regard to the story's internal logic and is so unlikely that it challenges suspension of disbelief, allowing the author to conclude the story with an unlikely, though more palatable, ending.

In modern terms the deus ex machina has also come to describe a being, object or event that suddenly appears and solves a seemingly insoluble difficulty, where the author has "painted the characters into a corner" that they can't easily be extricated from (e.g. the cavalry unexpectedly coming to the rescue, or James Bond using a gadget that just so happens to be perfectly suited to the needs of the situation).

Other examples are seen in H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds where the Martians suddenly succumb to common viruses; and in Robert Jordan's 'A Crown of Swords' (Book 7 of The Wheel Of Time), when the mysterious stranger arrives just in time to pull Rand Al'Thor from the brink of the precipice in Shadar Logoth. In the Christmas movie, Olive, the Other Reindeer, a package appears in the mailtruck Olive is trapped in. The packing is addressed to her, and it is from "Deus Ex Machina". It was a nail-file that let her escape. The device is a type of twist ending. In the end of the film Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story a chest of money says "Deus Ex Machina" on the front; the protagonist Peter LaFleur then tells everyone that he had placed a $100,000 bet on his team winning the game and this money will allow him to save his gym. In The Matrix Revolutions, the protagonist Neo finds an entity known as the "Deus Ex Machina" which allows him to restore peace between the warring factions in the film under incredible odds.

Sometimes the unlikeliness of the deus ex machina plot device is employed deliberately. In Brecht's "The Threepenny Opera", a "riding messenger of the king" appears in the last moment, stops the execution of the story's criminal anti-hero Mack the Knife, and bestows an inheritable title of nobility on him. The very absurdity of this serves to underwrite the great lack of generosity and unselfishness in the capitalist reality that the story is mostly about. It can also be used in farce, as in Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance, where at the climax of the opera the female lead Mabel reveals that the pirates "are all noblemen who have gone wrong."

The deus ex machina plot device is parodied in Mel Brooks' History of the World: Part 1. Near the end, the king's body double is about to be executed when a horse named Miracle (who originally came to the protagonists' aid in the Roman section) arrives and rescues the double and his friends. The horse is complete with the same Roman driver as before. When the double comments that the time gap is too big for one man to live through, the driver uses a meta-reference, commenting that the movie is only fiction so it does not matter.

One of the last episodes of season one of Lost (TV Series) is titled "Deus Ex Machina" in which two of the characters find a "beachcraft" (small plane) randomly in the jungle after the one character had a dream about it. This plane also has a radio in it which would appear to be a metaphor for the "god" or "way out" in this episode, and the reason for the episode's name, but in the end the true benefits of the find are not found out until later in the series.

The notion of deus ex machina can also be applied to a revelation within a story that causes seemingly unrelated sequences of events to be joined together. Thus the unexpected and timely intervention is aimed at the meaning of the story rather than a physical event in the plot. This may more accurately be described as a plot twist.

See also

• Reset button technique
• List of Latin phrases
• Character shield
• Suspension of disbelief
• Plot hole

References