天外救星
天外救星(英语:deus ex machina,/ˌdeɪəs ɛks ˈmækɪnə, - ˈmɑːk-/[1],拉丁语:[ˈdɛ.ʊs ɛks ˈmaːkʰɪnaː];复数:dei ex machina),亦译作“舞台机关送神”、“机械降神”、“机器神”、“解围之神”等,是意料外的、突然的、牵强的解围角色、手段或事件,在虚构作品内,突然引入来为紧张情节或场面解围。近似词有天降神兵、有如神助等。
词源
拉丁语词组Deus ex machina(英译:God from the machine)翻译自希腊语ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός(apò mēkhanḗs theós),意思是机关跑出的神。
在古希腊戏剧,当剧情陷入胶着,困境难以解决时,突然出现拥有强大力量的神将难题解决,令故事得以收拾、有个好结局。扮演神的演员会利用起重机从舞台上方降下,或是起升机从舞台地板的活门抬上。这种表演手法是人为的,制造出意料之外的剧情大逆转[2]。
现代批评
这种手法通常被评论家认为是不高明的说书技巧,因为它破坏了故事的内在逻辑,纵使有时候会为了这个理由而故意采用。继亚里士多德之后,文艺复兴时期评论家将其视为一种迂拙的情节计策,虽然其仍然受用于文艺复兴时期的剧作家;莎士比亚将此计策用在《一报还一报》《仲夏夜之梦》《皆大欢喜》《泰尔亲王佩力克尔斯》和《冬天的故事》[3]。19世纪末,尼采批评欧里庇得斯透过这种计策将悲剧因素制造成乐观的类型,并促使他高度怀疑戏剧《blissful delight in life》是“希腊快乐”(Greek cheerfulness)[4]。
尼采认为机械降神是苏格拉底文化的症状,重视文化知识过于酒神节的音乐并最终导致死亡的悲剧:[5]
But the new non-Dionysiac spirit is most clearly apparent in the endings of the new dramas. At the end of the old tragedies there was a sense of metaphysical conciliation without which it is impossible to imagine our taking delight in tragedy; perhaps the conciliatory tones from another world echo most purely in Oedipus at Colonus. Now, once tragedy had lost the genius of music, tragedy in the strictest sense was dead: for where was that metaphysical consolation now to be found? Hence an earthly resolution for tragic dissonance was sought; the hero, having been adequately tormented by fate, won his well-earned reward in a stately marriage and tokens of divine honour. The hero had become a gladiator, granted freedom once he had been satisfactorily flayed and scarred. Metaphysical consolation had been ousted by the deus ex machina.[6]
尼采认为,机械降神制造出虚假的慰藉感觉,这是不应该寻求的现象,这种情节计策的诋毁普遍出现在评论意见中[7]。一些20世纪的修正主义者的评论,建议deus ex machina不能在简化的用语中被查看,并主张此种计策是凡人“刺探”与神的关系[8]。拉什瑞姆(Rush Rehm)特别引用希腊悲剧的例子,其中deus ex machina提供复杂化角色的生活和态度,当面临神的同时为观众带来戏剧的尾声[8]。