MacGuffin
Encyclopedia : M : MA : MAC : MacGuffin
A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or Maguffin) is a plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story, but has little other relevance to the story itself.
Contents
Description
The element that distinguishes a MacGuffin from other types of plot devices is that it is not important what object the MacGuffin specifically is. Anything that serves as a motivation will do. A true MacGuffin is essentially interchangeable. Its importance will generally be accepted completely by the story's characters, with minimal explanation. From the audience's perspective, the MacGuffin is not the point of the story.The technique is common in films, especially thrillers. Commonly, though not always, the MacGuffin is the central focus of the film in the first act, and then declines in significance as the struggles and motivations of the characters take center stage. Sometimes the MacGuffin is all but forgotten by the end of the film.
Because a MacGuffin is, by definition, ultimately unimportant to the story, its use can test the suspension of disbelief of audiences. Well-done works will compensate for this, with a good story, interesting characters, talented acting/writing, and so on. Inferior films, which fail in those areas, often only highlight a MacGuffin, sometimes to the point of ridiculousness. MacGuffins may be acceptable to the general audience, but fail to be believable for experts in the subject matter (such as a particular technology, or historical detail).
History
According to film historian Kalton C. Lahue in his book Bound and Gagged (a history of silent-film serials), the actress Pearl White used the term "weenie" to identify whatever physical object (a roll of film, a rare coin, expensive diamonds) impelled the villains and virtuous characters to pursue each other through the convoluted plots of The Perils of Pauline and the other silent serials in which White starred.The director and producer Alfred Hitchcock popularized both the term "MacGuffin" and the technique. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Hitchcock explained the term in a 1939 lecture at Columbia University:
More succinctly, on TV interviews from time to time, Hitchcock defined the MacGuffin as the object around which the plot revolves, and as to what that object specifically is, "The audience don't care!" (sic)
Examples
Films
- In Notorious (1946), the uranium hidden in wine bottles is a MacGuffin. It is the reason the story takes place, but could just as easily have been diamonds, gold, or rare wine. In fact, during production, there was discussion of changing it to diamonds to be more believable [link] [link].
- In North by Northwest, the MacGuffin is the unspecified secret information known by a man for whom Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is mistaken. Thornhill spends the course of the movie trying to find the man, without realizing that he does not exist.
- In Psycho, the money that the character Marion Crane has stolen from her employer is a MacGuffin. After Marion's subsequent disappearance, her sister and boyfriend suspect Norman Bates has murdered her for the money. However, it is revealed that Bates killed Marion without even knowing the money existed. In the end, it could have been jewelry or any number of things. The money was simply a plot device to get her to the Bates' Motel.
- Ronin is an action/thriller that tells the story of a group of former intelligence agents who team up to steal a mysterious metal case which is a MacGuffin. The contents, if extant, are never shown; the entire plot is not about the contents so much as what happens because of it.
- The Double McGuffin (1979) and The McGuffin (1985) are noteworthy for the contextual use of the term in their titles. The 1979 film does indeed involve two MacGuffins: a briefcase full of money and a dead body, both of which subsequently disappear.
- One particularly famous early movie example of a MacGuffin is the titular statuette in The Maltese Falcon.
- The briefcase in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction is a MacGuffin. The contents are never shown; that section of the plot is not about the briefcase so much as what happens because of it. When the briefcase is briefly opened, the viewer does not see its contents, only a yellow-orange glow coming from the case; this is probably itself a homage to the glowing car trunk in Repo Man, or to the mysterious attaché case (containing "The Great Whatsit") in Kiss Me Deadly.
Television
- Cheers : Sam Malone's Corvette is a MacGuffin that lasts throughout the entire television series' time. The audience rarely sees this Corvette but it is the focus of several episodes and is of the highest importance to Sam, often talked about in relation to Sam's own relationships, as it is revered by all characters, especially women in Sam's life. As far as the audience is concerned though, the fact that this object is a Corvette, or a car in general, is entirely irrelevant.
- Alias : Practically every episode of Alias is centered around a MacGuffin which the CIA and/or SD-6 is after. (Sydney Bristow: "What is that--perfume?" Michael Vaughn: "Whatever this is, we have it now, and they don't. Because of *you*." -- Season 1, Episode 13, "The Box (Part 2)"). Even the very spy motif itself is a MacGuffin, providing a backdrop for exploring the complex dynamics of the modern family.
- That's So Raven: episode "Fiver Finger Discount" Eddie wins a prize on from a soda top. The three main characters Raven, Chelsea and Eddie all decide to share the prize. Eddie and Chelsea use it first, but by time it's Raven turn to have it, the prize is either dead/obsolete. In the plot, it's unexplained as to what it is, only that it can't be wet and it's the only one of it's kind allowed in a mall. Classic case of a MacGuffin. Some believe it to be a mechanical dog, but that's mere speculating by their audience.
- The whole premise of The Prisoner is built around a MacGuffin. The protagonist, Number Six, holds some "information". We are never told what this information is, or its significance to his captors, save that it includes the reason for Number Six's resignation (something which he claims is a matter of conscience and not open for discussion).
- A season of 24 contains a MacGuffin, the audio recording of a conversation between the US president and a terrorist. The recovery of the recording nearly leads to the death of the Secretary of Defense and requires Bauer to stow away aboard a plane. It is ultimately destroyed moments before a secure copy is created. This MacGuffin is notorious because Bauer is in possession of a cellphone; the audio is never copied using it, yet he routinely plays the recording to coworkers over the phone. The website Television Without Pity, in a previous season, also referred to Jack's "increasingly desparate search for the MacGuffin" when he was trying to find a plot device of similar plausibility.
Written word
- The contents of the letter in "The Purloined Letter" by Edgar Allan Poe. The hero must try to recover the letter before the villain can reveal its contents — but the reader never learns what the contents are.
- In Running Dog, a postmodern thriller by Don DeLillo, the characters are almost all in pursuit of a reputedly pornographic film shot during the last days of the Second World War in Hitler's bunker. The essential MacGuffin nothing-ness of this film (as noted by Hitchcock) also becomes evident.
Comics
- In Jaka's Story, Oscar attracts a new customer to the bar by painting a statue called a Guffin. Eventually, the Guffin is also what attracts the attention of the Cirinists, which sets the stage for the story's ending.
- In Terminal City, the briefcase is a MacGuffin, because it leads and confronts every character on the city, and the reader never learns what's inside it. The last page of the series shows a man opening the briefcase, which has something glowing inside, and running away, leaving it.
Video games
- In nearly every game of the Super Mario series Princess Peach serves as a living, breathing MacGuffin
- In [[Grand Theft Auto: Vice City]], one mission has you told from a pay phone to go to an airport, kill a certain man there, take his briefcase and bring it back to a location. After killing the man and stealing the briefcase, you are trailed and shot at by two black cars. Essentially every element of this mission is a MacGuffin. The player's employer, identity of the man with the briefcase you kill, the contents of the briefcase, and who is behind the black cars chasing the player are never revealed.
- InFallout game, you're given a quest to search a MacGuffin - a replacement part for a water processor or some other solution to the water problem of your fallout shelter. Time limit and initial difficulty obtaining the part create sense of urgency, but as you progress with the plotline, a much greater threat is being revealed, time limit for the original quest is extended, and the original pursuit becomes an unimportant sidequest. Indeed, solving the water problem is not essential to positive ending of the game.
- Many video games in the adventure and RPG genres include simple fetch quests, in which the object is to obtain an item for some random Non-player character in order to advance the plot. As the item in question is frequently irrelevant or unrelated to the plot, and the main characters generally have no reason to retrieve it other than to satisfy the NPC and obtain something they need, these quests serve as MacGuffins. This is often compounded when the quest to retrieve one such item encounters a roadblock in the form of another character desiring yet another item, extending into a long sequence of item trading.
- A variant on this theme is the common practice in many adventure games to include an item which the player must collect a certain number of in order to unlock more areas (containing more such items), gain new abilities (which help to collect more such items), or otherwise advance towards the actual goal of the game. Examples include the Jigsaw Pieces ("Jiggies") in Banjo-Kazooie, the Power Stars in Super Mario 64, and the Golden Bananas in Donkey Kong 64. These are actually closer to plot coupons than bona fide MacGuffins.
More information
See also
References
- Francois Truffaut. Hitchcock. ISBN 0671604295.
- Slavoj Zizek. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Lacan (But Were Afraid to Ask Hitchcock). ISBN 0860915921.
- Alton Brown. Good Eats. Episode EA1C14.
External links
- [A.Word.A.Day — McGuffin], from the website of an amateur linguist who edited a book (ISBN 0471230324) assembled from the site's material
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.