Term of the Day: Deus Ex Machina

Posted by Shay on February 5th, 2010 (0 comments)

I’ve been asked to create a Word-A-Day for film and television. Since a lot film and TV terms are comprised of multiple words, I’m going to call it Term of the Day. Each day (Who am I kidding? It’ll probably be more like once a week if you’re lucky) I’ll post a new term or phrase that pertains to the film and/or television industry. Some months or weeks will focus on certain aspects of the process–like January Genres.

This week’s theme is Plot Techniques.

Here’s the first:

Deus Ex Machina
courtesy of wikipedia.com

Literally, in Latin, “god from the machine,” it’s a plot device where a previously intractable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved, usually with the contrived introduction of either characters, abilities, or objects not mentioned before within the storyline. It is generally considered to be a poor storytelling technique because it undermines the story’s internal logic.

My Explanation

It’s like the hand of God reaching down into the on-screen world and righting all the wrongs. A guy needs $2million for an operation? Boom, he finds a lottery ticket worth $2million on the street.

For instance, in Weird Science the guys have this fantastical party that trashes the house and the kitchen is blue. Lisa, with her god-like abilities cleans the house, pacifies the grandparents, avenges Wyatt w/ Chet, and gets rid of the cars–all in time for the parents to walk through the door. Deus Ex Machina.

Examples:

• Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, in the final scene, the main protagonist buys the company he competes against by secretly investing into the company prior to the competition. The chest of money is brought to him bearing the label “Deux Ex Machina.”
• Donnie Darko, in the scene where Gretchen has been run over by the car Frank drove, Donnie says to himself “Deus ex machina.”
• Beerfest, the deceased character of Phil “Landfill” Krundle is implausibly replaced by his brother Gil, who possesses many of the same qualities as his brother and is given the same “Landfill” nickname. He is also played by the same actor.
• Prince Caspian, the driads of the woods come alive to save the day at Aslan’s roar.

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Topic Tags › deus ex machina, grammar, term of the day, terminology