Latin translation?

Question

"Deux Ex Machina" or it also could be "Deus Ex Machina".

I heard it somewhere before but can't remember what it means. Anybody know?

Answer 1

"God from Machine". It is a latin translation of the Ancient (and also Modern, nowadays) Greek phrase "Από μηχανής θεός" (From Machine God). It describes the unexpected solution to a problem. In ancient greek theater, there had been invented some mechanisms-devices as effects to add to the play. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex_machina
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechane

Answer 2

Definition: Deus ex machina (god from the machine) is a term describing the sudden appearance of an unexpected way out of a difficult situation. Sophocles, in Philoctetes, and especially Euripides used the divine intervention technique of deus ex machina in their tragedies. In Greek drama, a god would appear on the stage from a mechane to resolve the plot.

Answer 3

It is usually a stage term referring to ancient staging of plays in which the "god", resolves the plot and solves the problem in the story by coming out of the sky , like some cosmic "Superman" to rescue the day. It was usually accomplished by the primitive theatrical staging, by having the actor playing the god come down from above the stage on some sort of a crane (the "machine").

In modern terminology, it is a too-convenient solving of the plot by some non-human intervention of God or fate or circumstance or accident or chance. It usually is a criticism that this is some form of totally improbable and unbelievable occurrence and hence, uncreative scripting that leaves the modern reader or viewer or stage playgoer unsatisfied.

Here is one analysis from a website I found, that gives a good example or two:
"DEUS EX MACHINA - literally: god from a machine; being or device invoked to solve a particular problem otherwise insoluble; (in classic drama) the intervention of the gods to solve a problem: the "god" was lowered on to the stage by means of a crane-like device."

and here is another, :

"For starters, "Deus Ex Machina" is Latin. Deus means "God", Ex means "from" or "out of", and Machina means "Machine". It's pronounced "Day-oos ecks mack-in-uh" for those who care, and it is among the many things that the Romans stole from the Greeks along with their love of theatre.

The historical origin is from when a "mechane" (I believe the technical term is "crane") would lower an actor playing a god onto the stage, usually to resolve a hopeless situation (as gods tend to do in Greek plays) when the writer couldn't think of a better way to get out of his own mess, and he was facing deadlines so he copped out and wrote a quick fix. (This is similar to that Michael Creighton novel that did that... you know, all of them.) Point is: God from the machine.

More recently though, the phrase has become much more symbolic. According to the mighty Wikipedia, It is "used to describe an unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot." which basically means that when Batman is in trouble he pulls his "bat-item" from his belt and saves the day, and explains why when the aliens in "War of the Worlds" (the good one without Dakota Fanning screaming) are at their most triumphant moment they keel over dead from Earth diseases. I've often referred to this as "Plot-Convenience Theatre", . . ."

Answer 4

It means that, in the plot of a story, a resolution works into the plot from the outside. It is a cheap trick of cheap movie writers, and a classical literary mechanism as well (depending on how well it's used). It means that some unlikely twist unravels in the story to bring it to a sudden resolution- "it was all a dream", like in The Wizard of Oz"; the gods throwing monkey wrenches into Odysseus' journey home, in the Oddessy; or even Alice's little nap in Alice in Wonderland. It comes from a Greek stage convention, and literally means "God from the machine", which can be interpreted as "God on a crane". That is, God is literally dropped onto the stage from above, to set all things right again. It's kinda like the literary version of a computer rebooting.

Answer 5

It means basicly- "God out of the Machine" a more liberal translation is "divine mechanism"