Deus ex machina, Diabolus ex machina, Ghost ex machina

Deus ex machina — a god from a machine. According to David Howard and Edward Mabley, authors of a basic textbook on screenwriting, ancient Greek plays often ended with the appearance of a "god" who was winch-drawn onto the stage to tie together the threads of the story.

The second meaning of "god from the machine" is a person or object that appears in the story unexpectedly and provides a solution to a hopeless case (conflict). "God" was the playwright's saving method, one way of creating a work or patching holes in it, so, with some exceptions (such as as being an integral part of a Tolkien tale), was not considered a good solution.

A lesser known technique is "diabolus ex machina" — the devil from the machine, i.e. someone who creates a problem out of literally nothing. It is said that diabolus ex machina is less criticized than deus ex machina because it is easier to believe in the cause of a problem that came out of nowhere than in a miraculous solution to the problem.

I found diabolus ex machina when I was looking for information about the concept of ghost in the machine, which is sometimes mentioned in the context of ghostwriting. As it turns out, it has nothing to do with either god in the machine or ghostwriting. Sometimes it's not the evidence that's important to find, but the absence of evidence, isn't it?

N. T.

Change: Oct. 18, 2024, 1 p.m.