Often derided as an overused cliché or a crutch for bad writing, often it can be used effectively to the delight of the reader or viewer. So what are your favorite uses of deus ex machina in film, TV or books?
Some of mine:
In Revenge of the Nerds when “Dan Conner” is about to beat up Gilbert and the dean the Tri-Lambda’s big black guys show up to save the day.
Babylon 5 In Severed Dreams, when the EA fleet is just barely defeated and reinforcements arrive Sheridan knows the battle is lost Delenn comes to the rescue with the Minbari fleet, “be somewhere else”.
Well, the examples you gave are not a deus ex machina. In Babylon 5, it was established that Delenn was trying to get the fleet to the battle. She just didn’t show up until the very last moment.
A deus ex machina comes out of nowhere. As an example, there’s The Dark Crystal, where the two gelflings fall off the cliff and
the female has wings so they can land safely.This had not be previously established, so it’s a deus ex machina.
In the obscure French science fiction novel, L’Homme Qui Dort Cent Ans, the main character – an American who slept a century and cannot adjust to the new future – solves all his problems by moving to Australia, which is just like the US a century ago. Nothing about this is mentioned until the final chapter so it’s a deus ex machina (as well as being totally preposterous).
The one I do like is in Olive the Other Reindeer when she stumbles upon a package address to her from “Deus ex machina,” which has the file she need to escape.
Now, the cavalry coming in the nick of time is a fun trope, but generally it’s been set up that someone went to get the cavalry – thus no deus ex machina
Unless it was meant to be a jab at Australia. Of course, that would mean almost the entire novel was a long and elaborate set-up for a joke with “Australia” as the punchline.
So, is there a term for the surprise trope described in the OP where the cavalry comes to the rescue, even if the rescuer might not be the cavalry?
I like those scenes too, like when the bully’s picking on the little kid and the little kid’s big brother (or dad, German shepherd, or superhero) is right around the corner.
The eagles were already established, were already shown to be in the area and had even rescued several characters from similar situations. I don’t think they count as ex machina either.
Oh c’mon, that’s absurd. It’s like like claiming that there’s no Deus Ex Machina in Euripedes’ Medea because “divinities were in the area”. You’re interpretation is so narrow that it would include nothing.
This is kind of obscure, but it’s what I thought of immediately.
About 20 years ago, there was a comic book called Sam & Max, Freelance Police. It was terrifically funny, with an offbeat sense of humor. At the end of one of the comics, the villain has captured Sam and Max, and there is no hope of escape. Suddenly, the villain bursts into flames. Sam: “Spontaneous combustion! What a stroke of luck!”
Usually, “the cavalry comes to the rescue,” even if the cavalry isn’t used literally. TV Tropes calls it “The Cavalry.” It’s a common enough theme, obviously.
Der Trihs, the example in The Labrynth nearly works because of that line (and because it’s not resolving the entire plot).
You’d be hard pressed to find a real Deus ex Machina – it’s been considered poor writing for centuries. And most of the examples you find will be jokes (like the Olive the Other Reindeer example).
Sorry, but he’s got it right. The eagles were already shown to be doing this, so they aren’t coming out of nowhere. If, however, the eagles had never been mentioned before in the text, then it would have been one.
I doubt Medea has a line about divinities being in the area, nor are they shown before the end. What categorizes a deus ex machina is that the solution has never been shown or referred to before it comes in to save the day.
The reason why there are few non-joking examples is because it’s been considered poor writing since Euripides. Authors never solve the characters problems from an outside force that hasn’t been mentioned before.
Actually, there is one kind of fairly common Deus ex Machina; the Badass Character Introduction. Where out of nowhere a new character shows up and annihilates someone or something; the gunshot or thrown knife out of nowhere that terrorizes or kills the guy threatening the protagonist, say. It works because it’s always used early on on minor threats, to show off how badass the Badass is; not used to resolve the story. Which is why it doesn’t get normally the Deus ex Machina label; it technically qualifies, but it doesn’t matter because it doesn’t spoil the ending with an easy out of nowhere solution. A problem may be solved or an enemy eliminated, but they only existed in the first place as a prop for the new character’s introduction.
Well, the end to the Reality Disfunction series featured a quite literal Deus Ex Machina, and it HAD to be that way because Hamilton had basically written the whole damn galaxy into the corner with no way out.
The ending of Avatar would certainly be an example of Deus ex Machina. The Smurf Indians pray to their ancestors and the tree root computer/brain thing sics all the dinosaurs on the campy human villains. I actually liked this use of Deus ex Machina. The Smurf Indians are losing the battle since their size, numbers, and animal husbandry skills aren’t enough to overcome the humans’ technology, and only the introduction of quasi-magic allows them to be victorious. This seems like a much more logical conclusion to the Ewok scenario than having the stone-agers beat the space travelers via gumption and well placed logs.
Would Han saving Luke at the end of ANH count according to the strict definition? I guess not since he was introduced before, but he’s not supposed to be around and no one went to get him for help.
