Today, I'm thinking about deus ex machinas: "The phrase deus ex machina (Latin IPA: [ˈdeːus eks ˈmaːkʰina] (literally 'god out of a machine') describes an artificial, or improbable, character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot (such as an angel suddenly appearing to solve problems)." One day, you look in the mirror, and you think you see something in there, you look away, you look back, and then you see something different there. What's the truth? PTSD: "This may include a loss of sustaining faith or a sense of hopelessness and despair." But then: "In modern terms the deus ex machina has also come to describe a being, object or event that suddenly appears and solves a seemingly insoluble difficulty, where the author has 'painted the characters into a corner' that they can't easily be extricated from." A month ago, things were different. Now, they're different again. What does it all mean? "The notion of deus ex machina can also be applied to a revelation within a story that causes seemingly unrelated sequences of events to be joined together. Thus the unexpected and timely intervention is aimed at the meaning of the story rather than a physical event in the plot. This may more accurately be described as a plot twist." A plot twist, indeed. A Gordian knot. A future unforeseen.
