Infiction, aMacGuffin (sometimesMcGuffin) is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself.[1][2][3][4][5] The term was originated byAngus MacPhail for film,[2] adopted byAlfred Hitchcock,[1][2][3][4][5] and later extended to a similar device in other fiction.[4]
The MacGuffin technique is common in films, especiallythrillers. Usually, the MacGuffin is revealed in the firstact, and thereafter declines in importance. It can reappear at the climax of the story but may actually be forgotten by the end of the story. Multiple MacGuffins are sometimes derisively identified asplot coupons[6][7]—the characters "collect" the coupons to trade in for an ending.[citation needed]
The use of a MacGuffin as a plot device predates the name MacGuffin. TheHoly Grail ofArthurian legend has been cited as an early example of a MacGuffin. The Holy Grail is the desired object that is essential to initiate and advance the plot, but the final disposition of the Grail is never revealed, suggesting that the object is not of significance in itself.[8] An even earlier example would be theGolden Fleece ofGreek mythology, in the quest ofJason and theArgonauts; "the Fleece itself, theraison d'être of this entire epic geste, remains a complete [...] mystery. The full reason for its Grail-like desirability [...] is never explained."[9][10]
The World War I-era actressPearl White used the term "weenie" to identify whatever object (a roll of film, a rare coin, expensive diamonds, etc.) impelled the heroes and villains to pursue each other through the convoluted plots ofThe Perils of Pauline and the other silent film serials in which she starred.[11] In the 1930 detective novelThe Maltese Falcon, a small statuette provides both the book's title and its motive for intrigue.
The name MacGuffin was coined by British screenwriterAngus MacPhail.[12] It has been posited that"'guff', as a word for anything trivial or worthless, may lie at the root".[13]
Director and producer Alfred Hitchcock popularized the term MacGuffin and the technique with his 1935 filmThe 39 Steps, in which the MacGuffin is some otherwise incidental military secrets.[14][15] Hitchcock explained the term MacGuffin in a 1939 lecture at Columbia University in New York City:
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.
In a 1966 interview withFrançois Truffaut, Hitchcock explained the term using the same story.[16][17] He also related this anecdote in a television interview forRichard Schickel's documentaryThe Men Who Made the Movies, and in an interview withDick Cavett.[18]
Hitchcock also said, "The MacGuffin is the thing that the spies are after, but the audience doesn't care."[19]
InMel Brooks's parody of Hitchcock films,High Anxiety (1977), Brooks's character's hotel room is moved from the 2nd to the 17th floor at the request ofa Mr. MacGuffin, a recognition by name of Hitchcock's use of the device.[20]
In contrast to Hitchcock's view,George Lucas believes that "the audience should care about [the MacGuffin] almost as much as the dueling heroes and villains on-screen."[21] Lucas describesR2-D2 as the MacGuffin of theoriginalStar Wars film,[22] and said that theArk of the Covenant, the titular MacGuffin inRaiders of the Lost Ark, was an excellent example as opposed to the more obscure MacGuffin inIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and the "feeble" MacGuffin inIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade.[21] The use of MacGuffins inIndiana Jones films later continued with the titularcrystal skull inKingdom of the Crystal Skull andArchimedes' Dial inthe Dial of Destiny.[21][23]
Filmmaker and drama writing theoristYves Lavandier suggests that a MacGuffin is a secret that motivates the villains.[24]North by Northwest's MacGuffin[25] 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 theCIA is of little importance to Thornhill. A similar lack of motivating power applies to the MacGuffins of the 1930s filmsThe Lady Vanishes,The 39 Steps, andForeign Correspondent. In a broader sense, says Lavandier, a MacGuffin denotes any justification for the external conflict in a work.[24][failed verification]
Alfred Hitchcock popularized the use of the MacGuffin technique.[26] Examples from Hitchcock's films include plans for a silent plane engine inThe 39 Steps (1935), radioactive uranium ore inNotorious (1946), and a clause from a secret peace treaty inForeign Correspondent (1940).[27][28]
The briefcase inPulp Fiction (1994) motivates several of the characters during many of the film's major plot points, but its contents are never revealed.[29]
Similarly, the plot of the 1998 filmRonin revolves around a case, the contents of which remain unknown. At the end of the film, it is said to have led to a historic peace agreement and an end tothe Troubles in Northern Ireland.[30]
George Lucas also used MacGuffins in theStar Wars saga. He "decided that the Force could be intensified through the possession of a mysticalKiber Crystal [sic]—Lucas's first, but by no means last, great MacGuffin."[31]
A similar usage was employed inJohn Carpenter'sEscape from New York, where the protagonistSnake Plissken is tasked with rescuing both the President of the United States and a cassette tape that will prevent a devastating war between the country and its enemies. While there are hints throughout the film, the contents of the tape are never revealed to the audience.[32]
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