A Brief History of Hopium
James Corbett
June 19, 2021
Corbett Report
Deus ex machina (or, "god from the machine") refers to a plot device whereby the hero of a story is saved from some terrible fate by the sudden intervention of a god. The term comes from ancient Greek drama, where the god would literally be brought onto the stage using a machine like a crane or a riser.
The convention of a god appearing on stage to save the main character was popularized by Euripides over 2500 years ago and it has continued to pop up throughout the centuries, even in Shakespeare, who has Hymen, the Greek god of marriage ceremonies, appear at the end of As You Like It to marry the play's heroes and "make conclusion/Of these most strange events."
The plot device is still used to this day. Now, instead of a god intervening to save the day, some miraculous event, object, character or ability appears from nowhere to save the day. Think of the deadly, unstoppable Martians in Wells' War of the Worlds, for example, felled not by the combined artillery of the world's militaries, but by ordinary bacteria. Or think of the T-Rex at the end of Jurassic Park, appearing out of nowhere to save the heroes from the Velociraptors.
These are not just stories we tell ourselves. These are reflections of our thoughts about the world. They reveal our desires and beliefs, and they set up expectations for how the world really works. In the end, something will appear out of nowhere to help the good guys win and vanquish the bad guys once and for all. That's how it always works. Right?
Two- and-a-half thousand years ago, that something was a god. But in the modern world, we're too sophisticated to believe that a god will swoop in and save the day. No, today the deus ex machina isn't a god. More often than not, it's a politician.
ANNOUNCER: Blackrod, on her way to summon the MPs. The monarch's representative. And in the tradition, will have to knock on the door of the House of Commons.
VOICE: Close the door.
BLACKROD: Mr. Speaker, the Queen commands this honorable House to attend Her Majesty immediately in the House of Kings.
Since the age of kings and queens gave way to the age of presidents and prime ministers, an increasingly secular public has stopped looking for divine intervention to save the nation from calamity and instead has begun praying for salvation from the demigods of the modern age: politicians.
https://archive.org/details/a-brief-history-of-hopium_20230505
