Can someone break this down for me? I’ve read explanations and I’m not grasping it. An example would be great. Cheers y’all
In: 1945
Deus Ex Machina is a device used in story telling where a problem gets solved by something unexpected that hasn’t been mentioned before.
For example in War of the Worlds, although the story is about mankind fighting against the aliens (and losing). in the end it is disease, caused by earth bacteria, that kills them
Or, imagine a story about people fighting forest fires. A child is trapped at the top of a burning building and it looks like they cannot be saved. Then there is a sudden rainstorm which solves the problem and everything else becomes irrelevant.
In the above examples it is a natural force that is deus ex machina. But it needn’t be. For example a poor person needs an operation and the whole story is about how her friends rally round trying to raise the money. At the end it seems they haven’t raised enough and it looks like all is lost. Then someone notices the signature on the painting hanging in her room and it turns out to be a Picasso worth millions. Here, the painting is deus ex machina.
Deus ex machina is often seen as a “cheat”. As though the author couldn’t find a way of resolving the problems he has created and so brings in something unexpected at the end. To be deus ex machina it is important that the solution is unexpected and there is no hint that it might happen earlier in the story. In the above examples, if the possibility of rain had been mentioned or if someone had already commented on the picture then it it wouldnt qualify.
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