Deux ex machina means God out of the machinery, meaning a god or some other unexpected happening turns up and sets things right, like the villain suddenly gets a heart attack and dies.
This is not considered as good storytelling today, although the old Greeks favored these kind of dramas.
I read that stories like Cinderella and Pinocchio include deux ex machina, solving the problems, but the writer told me that this was okay because they are stories for children and they accept these kind of phenomenons.
First of all, shouldn't we tell good stories to our kids? Good stories can include just as much fantasy.
And secondly, are these stories really examples of deux ex machina?
Cinderella, absolutely. When she has her All Is Lost moment, crying in the garden with her ruined dress, Fairy Godmother appears and solves it all. She is not introduced earlier in the story and we have no way to predict her arrival. Deux ex machina.
But Pinocchio, I would say, just a little. The Blue Fairy is introduced early in the story so we are told from the beginning that this is a world including a Blue Fairy. And in the ending when Pinocchio becomes a real boy, it is because he has fulfilled his task given to him in the beginning. So far I don't see any problems.
But, the Blue Fairy appears twice in the story solving their problems: when Pinocchio is caged by the marionette owner Stromboli, and as a message on a scroll telling them where to find his father. These two are good examples of duex ex machina, in my opinion, even if we are aware of the option of the Blue Fairy.
This because the Blue Fairy is used as the easy solution, instead of letting the main character get past the obstacle himself.
Maybe we accept this more easily in a child's story, but look at animated features today; are there any "gods" popping out somewhere? Easy solutions not properly setup? No, not that I can come to think of right away.
Good. Children deserve good stories.
2 comments:
As writers are we not the Blue Fairy?
All movies compress time and cheat reality in some way. Every time you see an impossible thing in a movie isn't the Blue Fairy behind that?
The impossible shot in the western.
Sound in space in the Sci Fi movie.
Yes, you're right children need better stories but I'm more concern with them seeing themselves as the magic and not any movie or any other form of story telling.
I think I understand what you mean.
A movie is not as in real life, that is very true.
It is a construction to serve a purpose.
What is a good story is a matter of taste and culture.
The old Greek probably felt great comfort in knowing that the Gods would put everything right and for them that was a good story.
In the Western world we want the main character to solve his/hers own problems. For us, that is good storytelling.
As for children, I think storytelling is essential for their development as humans as well as widening their imagination. For me it is important that the stories show the need for own actions to solve a problem.
Post a Comment