Often it’s as simple as magic doesn’t have consistent rules that can be rigorously studied, and you just have to rely on vibes and stuff an old dude told you and hope for the best
huh i thought we decided deus ex machina sorts of plot contrivances were bad.
Why should I automatically think plot contrivance/god from the machine are always bad? They can exist in a story and be okay if the story overall is good/entertaining (though I’ll give you that when they’re bad, they’re pretty bad - e.g. any movie set in the era of telephones that bores you into being aware that major plot points can be solved with a phone call ).
well for one thing we already called it a contrivance.
god from the machine is bad because it’s nakedly from the machine. it’s low-effort it’s not clever. it’s non-s equitur
like, taste is subjective or whatever, but our hegemonic culture I think rightly disapproves of a writer solving a plot problem by having somebody show up who had nothing to do with the whole rest of the story or having some random event happen… unless it’s carefully done as a subversion of expectations like having some family drama and then they all die in an earthquake and there’s some point being made.
