Deus ex machina

WRITER

What the hell is that?

TRICHINOSIS

The ending for your play.

ACTOR

I don't understand.

TRICHINOSIS

This machine, which I've spent six months 

designing in my brother-in-law's shop, holds the answer.

WRITER

How?

TRICHINOSIS

In the final scene - when all looks black, 

and Diabetes the humble slave is in a position most hopeless -

ACTOR

Yes?

TRICHINOSIS

Zeus, Father of the Gods, descends dramatically 

from on high and brandishing his thunderbolts, 

brings salvation to a grateful but impotent group of mortals.

DORIS

Deus ex machina.

TRICHINOSIS

Hey - That's a great name for this thing!

DORIS

My father works for Westinghouse.

WRITER

I still don't get it.

TRICHINOSIS

Wait'll you see this thing in action. It flies Zeus in. 
I'm going to make a fortune with this invention. 
Sophocles put a deposit on one. Euripides wants two.

ALLEN, Woody.

God (A Play), in Without Feathers, Ballantine, 1983.

Cena do filme Mighty Aphrodite, de Woody Allen

A expressão deus ex machina não tem que prefigurar um deus propriamente dito a tentar manter-se direito, com alguma dignidade, apesar de pendurado num guincho, como no celebrado teatro grego. Pode ser apenas um mero enviado de deus, um jovem risonho que sai dum helicóptero, como em Poderosa Afrodite, ou um tipo desdentado, de colete de ganga, que desce duma máquina escavadora amarela, de lagartas, caterpillar, que o nosso povo designa por «catrapila».

CARVALHO, Mário de.

A Arte de morrer longe, Caminho, 2010.