Nick Lowe. "The Well-tempered Plot Device".In normal usage, when people talk of a plot device they mean something in the story that's just a little bit too obviously functional to be taken seriously.
"For instance, a frequently used plot mechanism is a love triangle, where two men try to get the same woman." from Paul Virgil McCracken Flesher; Robert Torry (2007). Film and Religion: An Introduction. Abingdon Press. p. 24. ISBN978-0-687-33489-6.
"Janine functions largely as a plot mechanism: as a foil for the two lovers, as a voyeur, and finally as an unwitting trigger of disaster when she leads in the Gestapo." from Thomas Waugh (4 April 2000). The Fruit Machine: Twenty Years of Writings on Queer Cinema. Duke University Press. p. 107. ISBN0-8223-2468-7.
"Janine functions largely as a plot mechanism: as a foil for the two lovers, as a voyeur, and finally as an unwitting trigger of disaster when she leads in the Gestapo." from Thomas Waugh (4 April 2000). The Fruit Machine: Twenty Years of Writings on Queer Cinema. Duke University Press. p. 107. ISBN0-8223-2468-7.
