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Re: details of the story=Cool. Execution in H2=Cra
Posted By: mr_mcmurder <olmec1980@yahoo.com>Date: 12/30/06 7:05 p.m.

In Response To: Re: details of the story=Cool. Execution in H2=Cra (Saint)

: Problem with your explanation is that Gravemind didn't resolve the conflict,
: he progressed it. Nothing ended, there were loose ends. "DEM"
: doesn't leave loose ends. The conflict was not that the characters were
: about to die, but rather progressed the plot of those characters into the
: next phase of the overall conflict, being the search for the Index.

"Deus ex machina" means "god from a machine." It was a term coined by the Greeks when plays were derided for having an intractable situation, when suddenly, a contraption built under the stage would produce some such god right between the conflicting characters, and he would solve it out of the blue. It completely destroys the story progression, and the viewer is left wondering what the hell of even following the story in the first place was, because it is not obeying any rules that were set up previously.

As I stated, the conflict was that the Master Chief was falling to the bottom of a lake, unconscious (or maybe you will argue he was "sleeping/waiting" a la Chuck Norris, and we can have a whole polemic discussion about that), and that the Arbiter was falling down a huge pit-chasm hole thing.

Gravemind saves them both, and then puts them together and sends them off on two quests, all while hitting us over the head with how their characters are very different, so perfectly different, in fact, that the viewer is sorry he got reminded about that fact.

A deus ex machina is a sign of poorly put together writing. It shows the writer has essentially written himself into a corner, and he has to simply break out of the whole action he has set up to get out of it. Gravemind as a character may not be stupid. The god Apollo in and of itself is not, either. But when Apollo pops up from under the stage, or Gravemind is catching bodies falling down bottomless abysses left and right and them lecturing them about how they are a yin and yang, just in case the viewer doesn't know, you are out of the story, and you suddenly don't care, because apparently the writer doesn't, either.


Message Index




Replies:

Who cares about Halo's story? ArticleConman17 12/30/06 2:16 a.m.
     GPS.Peptuck 12/30/06 2:33 a.m.
           Re: GPS.Mr. Mister 12/30/06 4:40 a.m.
                 details of the story=Cool. Execution in H2=Crapmr_mcmurder 12/30/06 3:01 p.m.
                       Re: details of the story=Cool. Execution in H2=CraMelkor 12/30/06 3:51 p.m.
                             Re: details of the story=Cool. Execution in H2=CraDarkSim 12/30/06 4:57 p.m.
                             Re: details of the story=Cool. Execution in H2=Cramr_mcmurder 12/30/06 5:41 p.m.
                                   Re: details of the story=Cool. Execution in H2=CraSaint 12/30/06 6:04 p.m.
                                         Re: details of the story=Cool. Execution in H2=Cramr_mcmurder 12/30/06 7:05 p.m.
                                               Re: details of the story=Cool. Execution in H2=CraMelkor 12/30/06 7:15 p.m.
                                                     Re: details of the story=Cool. Execution in H2=CraSlith 12/31/06 12:54 p.m.
                                               Re: details of the story=Cool. Execution in H2=CraMr. Mister 12/31/06 1:22 a.m.
                                                     Re: details of the story=Cool. Execution in H2=CraPeptuck 12/31/06 2:04 a.m.
                                               Re: details of the story=Cool. Execution in H2=CraPeptuck 12/31/06 8:02 a.m.
                                                     Re: details of the story=Cool. Execution in H2=Cramr_mcmurder 12/31/06 12:35 p.m.
                                                     Re: details of the story=Cool. Execution in H2=CraSaint 12/31/06 3:50 p.m.
                             Re: details of the story=Cool. Execution in H2=CraSlith 12/31/06 12:44 p.m.
                                   Re: details of the story=Cool. Execution in H2=Cramr_mcmurder 12/31/06 3:18 p.m.
                                   Re: details of the story=Cool. Execution in H2=CraMelkor 12/31/06 11:58 p.m.
                       Meh.Peptuck 12/31/06 1:52 a.m.
     Re: Who cares about Halo's story? ArticleCaptain Spark 12/30/06 5:42 a.m.
           Re: Who cares about Halo's story? Articlemr_mcmurder 12/30/06 3:02 p.m.
                 Re: Who cares about Halo's story? ArticleCaptain Spark 12/30/06 5:05 p.m.
           Re: Who cares about Halo's story? ArticleMr. Mister 12/31/06 1:30 a.m.
                 Re: Who cares about Halo's story? ArticleCaptain Spark 12/31/06 9:30 a.m.
     Re: Who cares about Halo's story? ArticleRed_Breast 12/30/06 5:47 a.m.
     Re: Who cares about Halo's story? ArticleDMDyet 12/30/06 8:35 a.m.
           Re: Who cares about Halo's story? ArticleCHAOS1212 12/30/06 9:33 a.m.
     Halo would *blow* w/o a good storyline. Nuff sed *NM*RVideo 12/30/06 9:36 a.m.
     If it wasnt for SP, MP wouldnt exist. *NM*Dojorkan 12/30/06 9:53 a.m.
           ooo, but if not for MP, Halo 2 wouldn't exist. *NM*mr_mcmurder 12/30/06 3:17 p.m.
                 Yes it would.Dojorkan 12/30/06 5:23 p.m.
     My thoughts.[AMS] GreyThor 12/30/06 11:37 a.m.
           Re: My thoughts.Sep7imus [subnova] 12/30/06 11:51 a.m.
           I'll be honest.serpx 12/30/06 12:42 p.m.
                 Re: I'll be honest.Reg 12/30/06 2:04 p.m.
                       Re: I'll be honest.kr-1426 12/30/06 6:39 p.m.
     Re: Who cares about Halo's story? ArticleRockslider 12/30/06 9:13 p.m.
           Re: Who cares about Halo's story? Articleyakaman 12/30/06 10:14 p.m.
           Re: Who cares about Halo's story? Articlemr_mcmurder 12/31/06 2:52 a.m.
           Re: Who cares about Halo's story? Articlescarab 12/31/06 3:56 a.m.
           Re: Who cares about Halo's story? ArticleCody Miller 12/31/06 11:32 a.m.
                 Re: Who cares about Halo's story? Articlescarab 12/31/06 12:07 p.m.
     Meh.SPARTAN-034 12/30/06 10:00 p.m.
     Re: Who cares about Halo's story? ArticleCody Miller 12/31/06 11:26 a.m.



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