Can somone please explain the concept of deus ex machina to me?

and like how it relates to literature and movies?Can somone please explain the concept of deus ex machina to me?
These answers are all correct. The phrase 'deus ex machina' is used as a metaphor in modern times to describe a sudden intervention to resolve the plot of a story. Usually it is a criticism.



However, the phrase used to be a literal truth, not a metaphor. Often, especially in Greek and Greek-style drama, the plot gets so convoluted that the playwright would resort to having one of the gods come down from Olympus to sort everything out. When this would happen, there would literally have to be a machine (a crane-like thing of levers, ropes and pulleys) to have the actor playing Zeus (for example) descend onto the stage. Thus Deus ex machina (Latin: God from the machine).
Actually, "Deus ex machina" is not just something suddenly pop up and make the story better.



It is something outrageous that have nothing related to the plot and just jump out of the blue to save the dead ends in the plot....



Example: A guy in 15th centuries was being chased by some bad guy, he was cornered to a dead ends that he himself have no chance of gettting out, and suddenly, UFOs from the sky abducted him, examined him, then decided that he was useless and threw he off somewhere else safe....



See how crappy that was?



"Deus ex machina" can be translate to "God in a machine", the reason for that, the others answerer had it pretty well. Or you can just google it.Can somone please explain the concept of deus ex machina to me?
It's a literary device in writing, usually used to wrap up stories quickly if the ending is dragging on or the characters are in a rut.



The greeks or Romans came up with it.(forgot who.) Deus ex machina means something like "gods intervention in the story". Edit: "god from the machine." (Knew it was wrong.)



It greek plays, gods or goddesses randomly swooped in to save the protagonist in the nick of time. It's used now in many many stories now and they don't have to be a diety.



From Lord of the Ring, the eagles were the Deus ex machina. They swept in with little warning or backstory and saved the little hobits.



You notice that they usually have a little to no backstory and can seem a bit random. But I think that, if used correctly, and with a slight amount of backstory added, they can work perfectly well.
Wiki says it's a plot device in which a person or thing appears "out of the blue" to help a character to overcome a seemingly insolvable difficulty.



So when it comes to relating it to literature and movies, it would be used for a plot that where things are just going terrible with no help in sight, and then 'out of nowhere', there lies the answer right in front of them.



*shrugs*Can somone please explain the concept of deus ex machina to me?
well literally it means "God out of the machine."



the concept is basically in a story where it seems like the situation will not end well, when all of a sudden someone appears out of nowhere and helps.



like in the lord of the rings when gandalf the grey comes back as gandalf the white, or in harry potter when it looks like harry is going to die then one of the teachers randomly pops up and helps him.
Actually, it translates into "God from a machine." Everything else is correct :-)