Talk:Deus ex machina

Delete
Why do we have an article on a literary device? There's a whole other wiki for that. Sophie Wilder  14:57, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
 * mmmh. Ty JFBANBSRADA 14:59, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
 * The examples are poor; I don't think most of them really classify as a proper deus ex machina. 15:16, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Burn as off-mission.--ZooGuard (talk) 15:20, 3 February 2013 (UTC)


 * Keep. C ® ackeЯ 15:31, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Why? Sophie  Wilder  16:57, 3 February 2013 (UTC)

Religion? I don't think so...
It is a dramatic device, whose chief effect is shattering an already fragile suspension of disbelief. I'd support removing the religion navbox and category. I once had an upstairs neighbor who was a yodeller, and her nocturnal invocations of the deity had about as much to do with religion as this does. Sprocket J Cogswell (talk) 00:47, 9 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Done, but its earliest uses were from mythology/religious texts. Osaka Sun (talk) 00:52, 9 May 2013 (UTC)
 * I'd be interested to read more about that. I always thought of it as stagehands cranking an Olympian god into view in some classical drama.
 * In other tidbits, Ogden Nash once wrote a poem about the etymology of "breakfast" being related to the croaking chorus from "the Frogs" by Aristophanes. I know all about that, having once sung the role of the Major General (skip to 1:16 for relevant bit) in that G&S operetta. (mmmm, surrounded by affectionate daughters... give me a minute while I relive that moment, brb) Sprocket J Cogswell (talk) 01:00, 9 May 2013 (UTC)
 * "stagehands cranking an Olympian god into view in some classical drama" That's where the phrase comes from, by Horace in 18 BC. Euripides was addicted to it at least 400 years before, and it irritated Aristotle. Osaka Sun (talk) 01:19, 9 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Well, if it irritated Aristotle, it can't be all bad. Sprocket J Cogswell (talk) 01:40, 9 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Ooh let's file it under religion because it had a religious origin 2500 years ago... well didn't all Greek drama grow out of religious ritual? Sumo wrestling had a religious origin too, let's have an article on that, because religion. Sophie  Wilder  07:30, 9 May 2013 (UTC)