In fiction, a MacGuffin
(sometimes McGuffin or maguffin) is a plot device in the form of
some goal, desired object, or other motivator that the protagonist pursues,
often with little or no narrative explanation. The MacGuffin's importance to
the plot is not the object itself, but rather its effect on the characters and
their motivations. The most common type of MacGuffin is a person, place, or
thing (such as money or an object of value). Other more abstract types include
victory, glory, survival, power, love, or some unexplained driving force.
The MacGuffin technique is common in films, especially thrillers. Usually the MacGuffin is the central focus of the film in the first act, and thereafter declines in importance. It may reappear at the climax of the story but sometimes is actually forgotten by the end of the story. Multiple MacGuffins are sometimes derisively identified as plot coupons.
The use of a MacGuffin as a plot device predates the name "MacGuffin". The Holy Grail of Arthurian Legend has been cited as an example of an early MacGuffin, as a desired object that serves to advance the plot. The World War I-era actress Pearl White used weenie to identify whatever object (a roll of film, a rare coin, expensive diamonds, etc.) impelled the heroes, and often the villains as well, to pursue each other through the convoluted plots of The Perils of Pauline and the other silent film serials in which she starred. In the 1929 detective novel The Maltese Falcon, a small statuette provides both the book's eponymous title and its motive for intrigue.
The name "MacGuffin" was coined by the English screenwriter Angus MacPhail, and was popularized by Alfred Hitchcock in the 1930s.
The director and producer Alfred Hitchcock popularized the term "MacGuffin" and the technique with his 1935 film The 39 Steps, an early example of the concept. Hitchcock explained the term "MacGuffin" in a 1939 lecture atColumbia University
in New York
Interviewed in 1966 by François Truffaut, Hitchcock explained the term "MacGuffin" using the same story.
Hitchcock also said, "The MacGuffin is the thing that the spies are after but the audience don't care."
Hitchcock's term "MacGuffin" helped him to assert that his films were in fact not what they appeared to be on the surface. Hitchcock also related this anecdote in a television interview for Richard Schickel's documentary The Men Who Made the Movies, and in an interview with Dick Cavett.
Screenwriter Angus MacPhail, a friend of Hitchcock, may have originally coined the term, according to author Ken Mogg
Film is a particular user of the MacGuffin technique. Examples from Hitchcock films include plans for a silent plane engine in The 39 Steps, radioactive uranium ore in Notorious, and a clause from a secret peace treaty in Foreign Correspondent. Examples from wider film include the Maltese Falcon in the 1941 film of the same name, the meaning of "Rosebud" in Citizen Kane (1941), the Heart of the Ocean necklace in 1997's Titanic, and the "Rabbit's Foot" in Mission: Impossible III (2006). Emphasizing the point that the nature of the MacGuffin is not important, in the film Ronin (1998), the MacGuffin is a metallic briefcase whose contents are never revealed. In discussing the mixed critical reception of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) in which a primary criticism was that the crystal skull in the film was seen as an unsatisfying MacGuffin, director Steven Spielberg said, "I sympathize with people who didn't like the MacGuffin because I never liked the MacGuffin".
In both film and literature, the Holy Grail is often used as a MacGuffin. The 1975 cult classic surreal comedic film Monty Python and the Holy Grail is loosely structured around a knightly quest for the sacred relic. Another well-known example is the infamous briefcase essential throughout 1994's Pulp Fiction. This device closely adheres to the characteristic of "little to no narrative explanation" by never revealing the glowing contents of the briefcase, despite being quintessentially priceless and violently coveted by many major characters.
Examples in television include various Rambaldi artifacts in Alias; the orb in The Adventures ofBrisco County
Examples in literature include the television set in Wu Ming's novel 54 and the container in William Gibson's Spook Country.
In the online game The Kingdom of Loathing, the player's character must eventually complete a long and convoluted quest named "player name and The Quest for the Holy MacGuffin". It involves going to several locations while following clues from the character's father's diary and collecting various items. Eventually it ends in a boss battle and the MacGuffin is returned to the council. The game never reveals what exactly it is or how it will aid in saving the kingdom.
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Infinity Stones serve as MacGuffins.
The MacGuffin technique is common in films, especially thrillers. Usually the MacGuffin is the central focus of the film in the first act, and thereafter declines in importance. It may reappear at the climax of the story but sometimes is actually forgotten by the end of the story. Multiple MacGuffins are sometimes derisively identified as plot coupons.
History and Use
The use of a MacGuffin as a plot device predates the name "MacGuffin". The Holy Grail of Arthurian Legend has been cited as an example of an early MacGuffin, as a desired object that serves to advance the plot. The World War I-era actress Pearl White used weenie to identify whatever object (a roll of film, a rare coin, expensive diamonds, etc.) impelled the heroes, and often the villains as well, to pursue each other through the convoluted plots of The Perils of Pauline and the other silent film serials in which she starred. In the 1929 detective novel The Maltese Falcon, a small statuette provides both the book's eponymous title and its motive for intrigue.
The name "MacGuffin" was coined by the English screenwriter Angus MacPhail, and was popularized by Alfred Hitchcock in the 1930s.
Alfred Hitchcock
The director and producer Alfred Hitchcock popularized the term "MacGuffin" and the technique with his 1935 film The 39 Steps, an early example of the concept. Hitchcock explained the term "MacGuffin" in a 1939 lecture at
It might be a Scottish name,
taken from a story about two men on a train. One man says, 'What's that package
up there in the baggage rack?' And the other answers, 'Oh, that's a MacGuffin'.
The first one asks, 'What's a MacGuffin?' 'Well,' the other man says, 'it's an
apparatus for trapping lions in the Scottish Highlands.' The first man says,
'But there are no lions in the Scottish Highlands,' and the other one answers,
'Well then, that's no MacGuffin!' So you see that a MacGuffin is actually
nothing at all.
Interviewed in 1966 by François Truffaut, Hitchcock explained the term "MacGuffin" using the same story.
Hitchcock also said, "The MacGuffin is the thing that the spies are after but the audience don't care."
Hitchcock's term "MacGuffin" helped him to assert that his films were in fact not what they appeared to be on the surface. Hitchcock also related this anecdote in a television interview for Richard Schickel's documentary The Men Who Made the Movies, and in an interview with Dick Cavett.
Screenwriter Angus MacPhail, a friend of Hitchcock, may have originally coined the term, according to author Ken Mogg
George Lucas
On the commentary
soundtrack to the 2004 DVD release of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, writer
and director George Lucas describes R2-D2 as "the main driving force of
the movie … what you say in the movie business is the MacGuffin … the object of
everybody's search". In TV interviews, Hitchcock defined a MacGuffin as
the object around which the plot revolves, but as to what that object specifically
is, he declared, "The audience don't care". In contrast, Lucas
believes that the MacGuffin should be powerful and that "the audience
should care about it almost as much as the dueling heroes and villains on
screen".
Yves Lavandier
For filmmaker and
drama writing theorist Yves Lavandier, in the strictly Hitchcockian sense, a
MacGuffin is a secret that motivates the villains. North by Northwest's supposed MacGuffin is nothing that motivates the
protagonist; Roger Thornhill's objective is to extricate himself from the
predicament that the mistaken identity has created, and what matters to Vandamm
and the CIA is of little importance to Thornhill. A similar lack of motivating
power applies to the alleged MacGuffins of The Lady Vanishes, The 39
Steps, and Foreign Correspondent. In a broader sense, says
Lavandier, a MacGuffin denotes any justification for the external conflictual
premises of a work.
Examples
Film is a particular user of the MacGuffin technique. Examples from Hitchcock films include plans for a silent plane engine in The 39 Steps, radioactive uranium ore in Notorious, and a clause from a secret peace treaty in Foreign Correspondent. Examples from wider film include the Maltese Falcon in the 1941 film of the same name, the meaning of "Rosebud" in Citizen Kane (1941), the Heart of the Ocean necklace in 1997's Titanic, and the "Rabbit's Foot" in Mission: Impossible III (2006). Emphasizing the point that the nature of the MacGuffin is not important, in the film Ronin (1998), the MacGuffin is a metallic briefcase whose contents are never revealed. In discussing the mixed critical reception of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) in which a primary criticism was that the crystal skull in the film was seen as an unsatisfying MacGuffin, director Steven Spielberg said, "I sympathize with people who didn't like the MacGuffin because I never liked the MacGuffin".
In both film and literature, the Holy Grail is often used as a MacGuffin. The 1975 cult classic surreal comedic film Monty Python and the Holy Grail is loosely structured around a knightly quest for the sacred relic. Another well-known example is the infamous briefcase essential throughout 1994's Pulp Fiction. This device closely adheres to the characteristic of "little to no narrative explanation" by never revealing the glowing contents of the briefcase, despite being quintessentially priceless and violently coveted by many major characters.
Examples in television include various Rambaldi artifacts in Alias; the orb in The Adventures of
Examples in literature include the television set in Wu Ming's novel 54 and the container in William Gibson's Spook Country.
In the online game The Kingdom of Loathing, the player's character must eventually complete a long and convoluted quest named "player name and The Quest for the Holy MacGuffin". It involves going to several locations while following clues from the character's father's diary and collecting various items. Eventually it ends in a boss battle and the MacGuffin is returned to the council. The game never reveals what exactly it is or how it will aid in saving the kingdom.
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Infinity Stones serve as MacGuffins.
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