Wikipedia tells me:
The term has evolved to mean a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved by the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability or object. Depending on how it is done, it can be intended to move the story forward when the writer has “painted himself into a corner” and sees no other way out, to surprise theaudience, to bring the tale to a happy ending, or as a comedic device.
The term was coined from the conventions of Greek tragedy, where a machine is used to bring actors playing gods onto the stage. The machine could be either a crane used to lower actors from above or a riser that brought actors up through a trapdoor. Preparation to pick up the actors was done behind the Skene (theatre). The idea was introduced by Aeschylus and was used often to resolve the conflict and conclude the drama. Although the device is associated most with Greek tragedy, it also appeared in comedies.
Being the hip-hop happening guy that I am, I discovered this hat on the Urban Outfitters web store. For 39 dollars you can have one too. Not that I am really suggesting that purchase. But in my never-ending quest to leave no link unclicked I came across it. I had a sense that I knew what it meant but to be sure I looked it up on Wikipedia. “Deus Ex Machina” a machine that would bring a god onstage to solve the problem and end the play. A plot twist to save the writer that has painted herself into the corner.
I’m feeling a little bit at sea these days. The world is so much in turmoil. 6000 dead in a instant in Nepal. Cities and towns are destroyed and will not be rebuilt as the treasures of antiquity they were. Another young black man is dead. A fire destroys the neighborhood CVS in Baltimore, a desperate reaction to a desperate situation. Nothing will bring back the life of another unarmed black man dead by the hands of the police. Can I do anything? Can I change anything? I feel weak and powerless in the face of these tragic moments.
Humanity has painted itself in a corner. Instantly we know about death, violence, and destruction all over the world. I sit in my chair at home and sip my tea as I watch the riot police lineup in Baltimore. A kind of a ballgame, waiting for someone to throw the first pitch, the first rock. I sit and watch someone who I will never know dead body pulled from a collapsed house. I will never know the pain of loss that someone who loves him will experience.
I need a plot twist that will make sense of all this. A God with flowing beard dropped from a crane in the air who will gather all the desperate people and release them from hopelessness. Something that will surprise the audience at home, surprise Anderson Cooper and Lester Holt, and lead us to the happy ending. Please God avail yourself of some “ex machina” and solve my first world problem. Convince me that something will make a difference; a march, a die-in, an occupation. Because I’m simply not sure what will help and I am overwhelmed by the insularity of my comfortableness.
Help for Nepal: http://www.ucc.org/disaster
Help for Baltimore: http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/bal-volunteer-donation-opportunities-20150428-story.html#page=1
Rev. Fred Hayes
