A deus ex machina ( /ˈdeɪ.əs ɛks ˈmɑːkiːnə/ or /ˈdiːəs ɛks ˈmækɨnə/ day-əs eks mah-kee-nə;[1] Latin: "god out of the machine"; plural: dei ex machina) is a plot device whereby a seemingly inextricable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object.
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The Latin phrase deus ex machina comes to English usage from Horace's Ars Poetica, where he instructs poets that they must never resort to a god from the machine to solve their plots. He refers to the conventions of Greek tragedy, where a crane (mekhane) was used to lower actors playing gods onto the stage. The machine referred to in the phrase could be either the crane employed in the task, a calque from the Greek "god from the machine" ("ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός," apò mēkhanḗs theós), or the riser that brought a god up from a trap door. The idea is that the device of said god is entirely artificial or conceived by man.
The Greek tragedian Euripides is often criticized for his frequent use of the deus ex machina. More than half of Euripides's extant tragedies employ a deus ex machina in their resolution and some critics go so far as to claim that Euripides invented the deus ex machina, although Æschylus employed a similar device in his 'Eumenides'.[2] In Euripides' play "Alcestis", the eponymous heroine agrees to give up her own life in order to spare the life of her husband, Admetus. At the end Heracles shows up and seizes Alcestis from Death, restoring her to life and to Admetus. A more frequently cited example is Euripides' "Medea" in which the deus ex machina is used to convey Medea, who has just committed murder and infanticide, away from her husband Jason to the safety and civilization of Athens. In Aristophanes' play "Thesmophoriazusae" the playwright parodies Euripides' frequent use of the crane by making Euripides himself a character in the play and bringing him on stage by way of the mekhane.
Aristotle criticized the device in his "Poetics", where he argued that the resolution of a plot must arise internally, following from previous action of the play:[3]
In the characters too, exactly as in the structure of the incidents, [the poet] ought always to seek what is either necessary or probable, so that it is either necessary or probable that a person of such-and-such a sort say or do things of the same sort, and it is either necessary or probable that this [incident] happen after that one. It is obvious that the solutions of plots too should come about as a result of the plot itself, and not from a contrivance, as in the "Medea" and in the passage about sailing home in the "Iliad". A contrivance must be used for matters outside the drama—either previous events which are beyond human knowledge, or later ones that need to be foretold or announced. For we grant that the gods can see everything. There should be nothing improbable in the incidents; otherwise, it should be outside the tragedy, e.g., that in Sophocles' "Oedipus".—Aristotle, Poetics (1454a33-1454b9)
Aristotle praised Euripides, however, for generally ending his plays with bad fortune, which he viewed as correct in tragedy, and somewhat excused the intervention of a deity by suggesting that "astonishment" should be sought in tragic drama:[4]
Irrationalities should be referred to what people say: that is one solution, and also sometimes that it is not irrational, since it is probable that improbable things will happen.
Joe Orton's stage play, regarded as a farce or "black comedy", "What the Butler Saw" (1969) employs a deus ex machina ending when a policeman shows up to save the day.[5]
During the politically turbulent 17th and 18th Centuries, the deus ex machina was sometimes used to make a controversial thesis more palatable to the powers of the day. For example, in the final scene of Molière's play Tartuffe, the heros are saved from a terrible fate by an agent of the compassionate, all-seeing king -- the same king that held Molière's career and livelihood in his hands.[6]
The novelist Andrew Foster Altschul satirized reality television in a 2011 novel titled Deus Ex Machina.
The classic novel Lord of the Flies uses a deus ex machina in its conclusion when the savage children are rescued by a passing navy man. The author William Golding uses this technique to convey to the audience the terrible fate which would have afflicted the children (in particular Ralph) if the navy man had not arrived at that moment.[7]
The plot of the book and 2005 film adaptation War of the Worlds is succinctly resolved with terrestrial microorganisms that kill the otherwise unconquerable invaders.[8]
Comic book writer Matt Fraction was criticized for employing Franklin Richards' massive but ill defined powers as a deus ex machina device in the 2011 book Fear Itself #5.[9]
Christopher Paolini employed a Deus ex machina in his Inheritance Cycle. Most notably, the internet following the series gathered before its conclusion, which involved heavy fan based speculation, displayed how a Deus ex machina leaves readers completely unable to accurately speculate, and detracts from the content of the series.
Sometimes, the unlikeliness of the deus ex machina plot device is employed deliberately. For example, a scene in The Life of Brian involves Brian, who lives in Judea in 33AD, being "rescued" from a high fall by a passing space ship.[10]
Likewise, a deus ex machina was used as a pivotal plot device in the film Adaptation. When the main character seeks screen writing advice from a veteran of the film industry, he advises, "Find an ending, but don't cheat, and don't you dare bring in a deus ex machina." A deus ex machina is later employed in the film in the form of an alligator attack that saves the main character's life.[11]
Director Richard Kelly put the phrase in the film Donnie Darko to show that there was some kind of advanced machine someplace in the future at work, manipulating people and sending signals to Donnie in Middlesex. When Donnie mentions this in the film he comes to realize that there really is a Deus Ex Machina. Donnie mutters, "Deus Ex Machina, our savior" as a car driven by Frank stops nearby, which startles his attackers and causes them to flee. The car acts as the deus ex machina; that is, the unexpected or improbable device that is introduced to resolve a problem, thus it is Donnie's "savior."
Deus Ex Machina is the name of the collective mask of androids at the end of Matrix Revolutions that makes a pact with Neo. If he defeats Agent Smith, then there will be peace in Zion. It is unclear whether or not the Wachowski Brothers intended the name to be ironic or if they merely thought that would be a fitting name for the "god" of the machines.
In the Japanese manga and anime "Mirai Nikki", Deus ex machina is the name of the god of time that has absolute control over humans. He bestows 12 "mirai nikki"'s, or future diaries in the form of a storage medium not limited only to a written diary, including mediums such as mobile phones, audio recorders, and even picture books depending on the age, personality and/or disabilities which may limit them from using an ordinary diary. In each of the "diaries" of the twelve people, he chooses so that they contain diary entries describing future events. Each of the diaries have a unique name and ability, limiting or expanding the user's knowledge of the future. The twelve holders use these diaries to fight each other to the death in order to succeed Deus ex machina as supreme god of the universe and in Hellsing Ultimate (an OVA based on the manga Hellsing) one of the German machines have "Deus ex machina" written on the side.
In the CGI animated Christmas television special, Olive, the Other Reindeer, written by Steve Young, when Olive is locked in the back of the mail carrier's truck, she finds a package addressed to her from "Deus Ex Machina." The package is a metal file she uses to escape.
In the Simpsons episode Thank God, It's Doomsday, after Homer ascends to Heaven and realizes the rest of his family is still enduring the apocalypse, he pleads with God to undo it. Eventually, after Homer trashes much of Heaven, God agrees to put off the apocalypse and cries, "Deus ex machina!", returning everything to normal.
The Deus Ex series video games' titles refer to the main character who, controlled by the player, is the miraculous solution.[12] It is also a reference to the futuristic setting of the game, where human beings (mainly military agents) undergo physical "Augmentation" through nanotechnology, becoming god-like while slightly machine (or near-complete machines).
A deus ex machina is generally undesirable in writing and often implies a lack of creativity on the part of the author. The reasons for this are that it does not pay due regard to the story's internal logic and is often so unlikely that it challenges suspension of disbelief, allowing the author to conclude the story with an unlikely, though perhaps more palatable, ending.[13]
The deus ex machina is often considered to be a poor storytelling technique by critics because it undermines the story's internal logic, although it is sometimes employed deliberately for this reason. Following Aristotle, Renaissance critics continued to view the deus ex machina as an inept plot device, although it continued to be employed by Renaissance dramatists; Shakespeare used the device in As You Like It, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, and The Winter's Tale.[14]
Towards the end of the 19th century, Friedrich Nietzsche criticized Euripides for making tragedy an optimistic genre via use of the device and was highly skeptical of the "Greek cheerfulness", prompting what he viewed as the plays' "blissful delight in life."[15] The deus ex machina, as Nietzsche saw it, was symptomatic of Socratic culture that valued knowledge over Dionysiac music and ultimately caused the death of tragedy:[16]
But the new non-Dionysiac spirit is most clearly apparent in the endings of the new dramas. At the end of the old tragedies there was a sense of metaphysical conciliation without which it is impossible to imagine our taking delight in tragedy; perhaps the conciliatory tones from another world echo most purely in Oedipus at Colonus. Now, once tragedy had lost the genius of music, tragedy in the strictest sense was dead: for where was that metaphysical consolation now to be found? Hence an earthly resolution for tragic dissonance was sought; the hero, having been adequately tormented by fate, won his well-earned reward in a stately marriage and tokens of divine honour. The hero had become a gladiator, granted freedom once he had been satisfactorily flayed and scarred. Metaphysical consolation had been ousted by the deus ex machina.—Friedrich Nietzsche
Nietzsche argues that the deus ex machina creates a false sense of consolation that ought not to be sought in phenomena and this denigration of the plot device has prevailed in critical opinion.[17] Some 20th-century revisionist criticism suggests that the deus ex machina cannot be viewed in these simplified terms and argues rather that the device allows mortals to "probe" their relationship with the divine.[18] Rush Rehm in particular cites examples of Greek tragedy in which the deus ex machina serves to complicate the lives and attitudes of characters confronted by the deity whilst simultaneously bringing the drama home to its audience.[18]