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that still qualify as examples of
deus ex machina
, and they can be every bit
as damaging.
Let's look at the movie version of
Jurassic Park
. I will again assume
you've seen this modern classic, and if not I advise you to watch it before
proceeding due to spoilers.
It's Act III, and we're careening toward the moment of highest tension,
the climax. We can feel it. Our Hero, Dr. Alan Grant, is doing his best to
protect his surrogate nuclear family—Dr. Ellie Sattler and children Lex and
Tim Murphy—as they all try to escape from an island full of hungry prehis-
toric predators. Grant empties his shotgun at some vicious Velociraptors,
and then leads his charges through the halls and ducts of the island's main
building, relentlessly pursued by more of the ravenous predators.
But he leads them into a dead end, and they find themselves unarmed
and surrounded by three of the aggressive meat-eaters. Realizing the situ-
ation is hopeless, Grant shields the others with his body and cringes, as
one of the Velociraptors lunges forward—
—and is chomped on by a giant Tyrannasaurus rex!
The camera pulls back to reveal the suddenly present T. rex, as the giant
beast shakes the much smaller Velociraptor in his massive mouth. Almost
as convenient, the other raptors lose interest in their human prey and
make suicidal attacks on the T. rex, allowing Grant and the others a chance
to slip away.
The T. rex isn't a god
per se
, but it's not hard to see that in this situation
he serves a similar role—a superhuman force of nature, conveniently
dropped into the situation at the climax to resolve the conflict for an oth-
erwise hapless Hero.
Let's check it against the Bad Coincidence list.
▪
Benefits the Hero and/or her allies
.
Definitely, since it saves all their lives.
▪
Is the result of the Hero's dumb luck vs. effective planning or action
.
Check.
▪
Is unlikely based on what the audience knows at the time
.
