Deus ex Machina

He notado que esta expresión es utilizada por mucha gente con diversos sentidos, casi todos incorrectos. Les pongo la definición de la wikipedia. Voy a poner primero la de ingés que me parece mucho más completa. Abajo la de español. Por cierto, se pronuncia Dei (Deus).

Versión Ingles.

Deus ex machina is a Latin phrase that is used to describe an unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot (e.g., having the protagonist wake up and realize it was all a dream or an angel suddenly appear to solve all the plot problems of a story that won't resolve itself by the characters). The phrase has been extended to refer to any resolution to a story which does not pay due regard to the story's internal logic and is so unlikely it challenges suspension of disbelief, allowing the author to conclude the story with an unlikely, though more palatable, ending. In modern terms the deus ex machina has also come to describe a person or thing that suddenly arrives and solves a seemingly insoluble difficulty. While in storytelling this might seem unfulfilling, in real life this type of figure might be welcome and heroic.
The notion of deus ex machina can also be applied to a revelation within a story experienced by a character which involves the individual realizing that the complicated, sometimes perilous or mundane and perhaps seemingly unrelated sequence of events leading up to this point in the story are joined together by some profound concept. Thus the unexpected and timely intervention is aimed at the meaning of the story rather than a physical event in the plot.
The Greek tragedian Euripides is notorious for using this plot device.
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Linguistic considerations

The Latin phrase (deus ex māchinā, plural deī ex māchinīs) is a calque from the Greek ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός ápo mēchanēs theós, (pronounced in Ancient Greek [a po' mɛ:kʰa'nɛ:s tʰe'os]). It originated with Greek and Roman theater, when a mechane would lower actors playing a god or gods on stage to resolve a hopeless situation. The phrase is often translated as "god from the machine", where the machine referred to is the crane device employed in the task.
The pronunciation of the phrase may be a problem in English. The Latin phrase would originally have been pronounced something like ['de.ʊs eks 'ma:kʰɪ.na:], in other words with machina stressed on the first syllable, and with the ch similar to an English k, but English-speaking people may be influenced by the modern English machine ([mə'ʃi:n]), resulting in a mixed pronunciation. Some English speakers face further difficulties in pronouncing the e in Deus [e], which is only approximately rendered as [AY] and is much closer to the ay in day. See also Latin spelling and pronunciation.


Versión Español

Deus ex machina es una expresión latina que significa «dios surgido de la máquina», traducción de la expresión griega «απó μηχανῆς θεóς» (apó mekhanés theós). Se origina en el teatro griego y romano, cuando una grúa (machina) introduce una deidad (deus) proveniente de fuera del escenario para resolver una situación.
Actualmente es utilizada para referirse a un elemento externo que resuelve una historia sin seguir su lógica interna.
En tiempos modernos, y con el surgimiento de la corriente Ciberpunk (Cyberpunk) y otros movimientos similares, se ha empleado también para referirse a la visión de algunos de un dios-máquina (en este caso, una computadora) omnisciente y, por lo tanto, omnipotente. Ejemplos de esto podemos encontrarlos en obras de Asimov, Clarke, Simmons, etc. Un claro ejemplo de este enfoque moderno puede verse también en películas de ciencia ficción como la trilogía de Matrix, donde el planeta entero está bajo el dominio de las máquinas, gobernadas a su vez por el Deus ex machina. También es tocado en videojuegos como es el caso de Deus Ex, o en la televisión, como el capítulo Deux Ex Machina de la primera temporada de la serie Perdidos o el capítulo Ex Deus Machina de la novena temporada de Stargate SG-1. También se puede ver la expresión en el último capítulo de la temporada décimosexta de los Simpsons, cuando Homer pide un deseo, y Dios expresa claramente "Deus ex machina".