Editing MacGuffin

{{Short description|Story plot device}}
{{About||the cipher|MacGuffin (cipher)|the surname|McGuffin}}

In [[fiction]], a '''MacGuffin''' (sometimes '''McGuffin''') 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.<ref name=brewers>{{harvtxt|Brewer's|1992}}</ref><ref name=harmon>{{harvtxt|Harmon|2012}}</ref><ref name=knowles>{{harvtxt|Knowles|2000}}</ref><ref name=room>{{harvtxt|Room|2000}}</ref><ref name=skillion>{{harvtxt|Skillion|2001}}</ref> The term was originated by [[Angus MacPhail]] for film,<ref name=harmon/> adopted by [[Alfred Hitchcock]],<ref name=brewers/><ref name=harmon/><ref name=knowles/><ref name=room/><ref name=skillion/> and later extended to a similar device in other fiction.<ref name=room/>

The MacGuffin technique is common in films, especially [[Thriller film|thrillers]]. Usually, the MacGuffin is revealed in the first [[Act (theater)|act]], 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 as [[wikt:plot coupon|plot coupons]]<ref name=ansible>{{harvtxt|Lowe|1986}}</ref><ref name="sfwa">{{cite web |url=http://www.sfwa.org/2009/06/turkey-city-lexicon-a-primer-for-sf-workshops/ |title=Turkey City Lexicon – A Primer for SF Workshops |last=Sterling |first=Bruce |author-link=Bruce Sterling |publisher=Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America |access-date=January 2, 2014 |date=June 18, 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107203654/http://www.sfwa.org/2009/06/turkey-city-lexicon-a-primer-for-sf-workshops/ |archive-date=January 7, 2014 }}</ref>&mdash;the characters "collect" the coupons to trade in for an ending.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

==History and use==
The use of a MacGuffin as a plot device predates the name MacGuffin. The [[Holy Grail]] of [[Matter of Britain|Arthurian 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.<ref name=lacy>{{harvtxt|Lacy|2005}}</ref> An even earlier example would be the [[Golden Fleece]] of [[Greek mythology]], in the quest of [[Jason]] and the [[Argonauts]]; "the Fleece itself, the {{lang|fr|raison d'être}} of this entire epic geste, remains a complete [...] mystery. The full reason for its Grail-like desirability [...] is never explained."<ref name=green>{{harvtxt|Green|1997|page=40}}</ref><ref name=brown>{{harvtxt|Brown|2012|page=134}}</ref>

[[File:Maltese Falcon film prop created by Fred Sexton for John Huston.jpg|thumb|The "Maltese Falcon" statuette from the film of the same name]]
The World War I–era actress [[Pearl 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 of ''[[The Perils of Pauline (1914 serial)|The Perils of Pauline]]'' and the other silent film serials in which she starred.<ref name=lahue>{{harvtxt|Lahue|1968}}</ref> In the 1930 detective novel ''[[The Maltese Falcon (novel)|The Maltese Falcon]]'', a small statuette provides both the book's title and its motive for intrigue.

The name MacGuffin was coined by British screenwriter [[Angus MacPhail]].<ref name=mcarthur>{{harvtxt|McArthur|2003|page=21}}</ref> It has been posited that {{" '}}guff', as a word for anything trivial or worthless, may lie at the root".<ref name=ayto>{{harvtxt|Ayto|2007|page=467}}</ref>

===Alfred Hitchcock===
Director and producer Alfred Hitchcock popularized the term MacGuffin and the technique with his 1935 film ''[[The 39 Steps (1935 film)|The 39 Steps]]'', in which the MacGuffin is some otherwise incidental military secrets.<ref name=deutelbaum>{{harvtxt|Deutelbaum|2009|page=114}}</ref><ref name=digou>{{harvtxt|Digou|2003}}</ref> Hitchcock explained the term MacGuffin in a 1939 lecture at Columbia University in New York City:

<blockquote>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.</blockquote>

In a 1966 interview with [[François Truffaut]], Hitchcock explained the term using the same story.<ref name=truffaut>{{harvtxt|Truffaut|1985}}</ref><ref name=gottlieb>{{harvtxt|Gottlieb|2002|pages=47-48}}</ref> He 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]].<ref>{{cite interview |author1=Alfred Hitchcock |author2=cavettbiter (uploader) |interviewer=Dick Cavett |title=Alfred Hitchcock Was Confused by a Laxative Commercial |date=October 22, 2007<!--Date the clip was uploaded--> |orig-date=Aired on television c. 1970<!--The exact air date is unknown; this is a guess based on Hitchcock saying Psycho was released 10 years ago --> |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBRZ6GEFjG4 |access-date=September 3, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503122702/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBRZ6GEFjG4 |archive-date=May 3, 2015 |work=The Dick Cavett Show |via=Youtube |time=0:00-1:36 |time-caption=Relevant portion from}}</ref>

Hitchcock also said, "The MacGuffin is the thing that the spies are after, but the audience doesn't care."<ref name=boyd>{{harvtxt|Boyd|1995|page=31}}</ref>

In [[Mel 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 of ''a Mr. MacGuffin,'' a recognition by name of Hitchcock's use of the device.<ref name=humphries>{{harvtxt|Humphries|1986|page=188}}</ref>

===George Lucas===
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."<ref name=vanity>{{cite journal |url=http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/02/indianajones200802?currentPage=4 |title=Keys to the Kingdom |date=February 2008 |journal=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]] |access-date=January 2, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102193209/http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/02/indianajones200802?currentPage=4 |archive-date=January 2, 2014 |first1=Jim |last1=Windolf |url-access=limited}}</ref> Lucas describes [[R2-D2]] as the MacGuffin of the [[Star Wars (film)|original ''Star Wars'' film]],<ref name=lucas>{{citation |year=2004 |orig-year=Theatrical release 1977 |title=Star Wars ''DVD audio commentary'' |first1=George |last1=Lucas |time=00:14:44 – 00:15:00 |time-caption=Relevant portion from}}</ref> and said that the [[Ark of the Covenant]], the titular MacGuffin in ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'', was an excellent example as opposed to the more obscure MacGuffin in ''[[Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom]]'' and the "feeble" MacGuffin in ''[[Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade]]''.<ref name=vanity/> The use of MacGuffins in [[Indiana Jones]] films later continued with the titular [[crystal skull]] in ''[[Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull|Kingdom of the Crystal Skull]]'' and [[Antikythera mechanism|Archimedes' Dial]] in ''[[Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny|the Dial of Destiny]]''.<ref name=vanity/><ref name=vanity2>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/12/indiana-jones-and-the-wait-what-is-the-dial-of-destiny |title=Indiana Jones And The ... Wait, What Is 'The Dial of Destiny'? |date=December 1, 2022 |magazine=Vanity Fair |access-date=June 30, 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202104807/https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/12/indiana-jones-and-the-wait-what-is-the-dial-of-destiny |archive-date=December 2, 2022 |first1=Anthony |last1=Breznican |url-access=limited}}</ref>

===Yves Lavandier===
Filmmaker and drama writing theorist [[Yves Lavandier]] suggests that a MacGuffin is a secret that motivates the villains.<ref name=lavandier>{{harvtxt|Lavandier|2005}}</ref> ''[[North by Northwest]]''{{'}}s MacGuffin<ref name=marez>{{harvtxt|Marez|2019|page=166}}</ref> 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 [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] is of little importance to Thornhill. A similar lack of motivating power applies to the MacGuffins of the 1930s films ''[[The Lady Vanishes (1938 film)|The Lady Vanishes]]'', ''[[The 39 Steps (1935 film)|The 39 Steps]]'', and ''[[Foreign Correspondent (film)|Foreign Correspondent]]''. In a broader sense, says Lavandier, a MacGuffin denotes any justification for the external conflict in a work.<ref name=lavandier/>{{failed verification|date=January 2014}}

== Further examples==
<!-- Please don't add an example without a reliable source explicitly calling it a MacGuffin and explaining how it further develops the idea beyond what is already in the article. These are examples to illustrate, not a list. -->
Alfred Hitchcock popularized the use of the MacGuffin technique.<ref name=FreeDictionary>{{cite encyclopedia | url = https://www.thefreedictionary.com/MacGuffin | title = MacGuffin | encyclopedia = The Free Dictionary | publisher = Farlex, Inc. | access-date=December 7, 2017}}</ref> Examples from Hitchcock's films include plans for a silent plane engine in ''[[The 39 Steps (1935 film)|The 39 Steps]]'' (1935), radioactive uranium ore in ''[[Notorious (1946 film)|Notorious]]'' (1946), and a clause from a secret peace treaty in ''[[Foreign Correspondent (film)|Foreign Correspondent]]'' (1940).<ref name=walker>{{harvtxt|Walker|2005|page=297}}</ref><ref name=filmsite>{{cite web |work=[[Filmsite]] |title=Hitchcock's MacGuffins |url=https://www.filmsite.org/hitchcockmacguffins.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518061221/https://www.filmsite.org/hitchcockmacguffins.html |archive-date=May 18, 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The briefcase in ''[[Pulp Fiction]]'' (1994) motivates several of the characters during many of the film's major plot points, but its contents are never revealed.<ref name=lloyd>{{cite web |url=https://entertainment.ie/movies/movie-news/seriously-what-was-in-the-briefcase-in-pulp-fiction-235840/ |title=Seriously, What Was in the Briefcase in ''Pulp Fiction''? |work=Entertainment Ireland |last=Lloyd |first=Brian |date=April 10, 2019 |access-date=September 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324084224/https://entertainment.ie/movies/movie-news/seriously-what-was-in-the-briefcase-in-pulp-fiction-235840/ |archive-date=March 24, 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> 

Similarly, the plot of the 1998 film ''[[Ronin (film)|Ronin]]'' 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 to [[the Troubles]] in Northern Ireland.<ref name=ign>{{Cite web |date=May 20, 2008 |title=Top 10 Movie MacGuffins |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2008/05/20/top-10-movie-macguffins |access-date=2022-03-25 |website=IGN |language=en |author=<!--Staff byline-->}}</ref>

George Lucas also used MacGuffins in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' saga. He "decided that the Force could be intensified through the possession of a mystical [[Kiber Crystal]] {{sic}}<!-- This is exactly as spelled in the source cited. -->."<ref>{{harvtxt|Jones|2016|p=189}}</ref>

A similar usage was employed in [[John Carpenter]]'s ''[[Escape from New York]]'', where the protagonist [[Snake 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.<ref name=bitel>{{cite web |url=https://lwlies.com/articles/escape-from-new-york-blu-ray-review/ |title=The Bleak Futurism of John Carpenter's ''Escape from New York'' |first1=Anton |last1=Bitel |work=Little White Lies |date=November 18, 2018 |access-date=July 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230924212650/https://lwlies.com/articles/escape-from-new-york-blu-ray-review/ |archive-date=September 24, 2023}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Alien space bats]]
* [[Big Dumb Object]]
* ''[[The Double McGuffin]]''
* [[Monomyth]]
* [[Red herring]]
* [[Schmilblick]]
* [[Unobtainium]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
* {{cite book | title = Brewer's Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Phrase and Fable | location = Boston | publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Company]] | year = 1992 |edition=1st | isbn = 0-395-61649-2 | ref = {{harvid|Brewer's|1992}} | url = https://archive.org/details/brewersdictionar00bost }}
* {{cite book |first1=John |last1=Ayto |first2=Ian |last2=Crofton |title=Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase & Fable |publisher=[[Chambers (publisher)|Chambers Harrap]] |date=March 2007 |edition=2nd |ref={{harvid|Ayto|2007}} |isbn=9780304368099}}
* {{cite book |last=Boyd |first=David |date=1995 |title=Perspectives on Alfred Hitchcock |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZqZZAAAAMAAJ |publisher=G. K. Hall |isbn= 9780816116034 |ref={{harvid|Boyd|1995}}}}
* {{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Noel |title=The Hollywood Family Film: A History, from Shirley Temple to ''Harry Potter'' |date=2012 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |location=London |isbn=978-1-78076-270-8 |pages=134 |url=https://archive.org/details/hollywoodfamilyf0000brow/page/134/mode/1up?view=theater&q=MacGuffin |ref={{harvid|Brown|2012}}}}
* {{cite journal|last=Digou|first=Mike|title=Hitchcock's Macguffin In the Works of David Mamet|journal=Literature Film Quarterly|date=October 2003|volume=31|issue=4|pages=270–275|jstor=43797135 |ref={{harvid|Digou|2003}}}}
* {{cite book |first1=Marshall |last1=Deutelbaum |first2=Leland A. |last2=Poague |year=2009 |title=A Hitchcock Reader |publisher=John Wiley and Sons |edition=2nd |ref={{harvid|Deutelbaum|2009}} |isbn=978-1405155571}}
* {{cite book |title=Framing Hitchcock: Selected Essays from the Hitchcock Annual |publisher=Wayne State University Press |location=Detroit |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P2ydVge4IiIC&pg=PA47|year=2002|isbn=0814330614|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102082916/https://books.google.com/books?id=P2ydVge4IiIC&pg=PA47|archive-date=January 2, 2016 |ref={{harvid|Gottlieb|2002}} |editor1=Sidney Gottlieb |editor2= Christopher Brookhouse}}
* {{cite book |last1=Green |first1=Peter |title=The Argonautika by Apollonios Rhodios |date=1997 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-07686-9 |ref={{harvid|Green|1997}}}}
* {{cite book | last = Harmon | first = William | title = A Handbook to Literature | edition = 12th | location = Boston | publisher = [[Longman]] | date = 2012 | isbn = 978-0-205-02401-8 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Humphries |first1=Patrick |title=The Films of Alfred Hitchcock |date=1986 |publisher=Portland House |location=New York |isbn=978-0-517-60470-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/filmsofalfredhit00hump/mode/2up?q=%22Mr.+MacGuffin%22 |ref={{harvid|Humphries|1986}}}}
* {{cite book | last1 = Jones | first1 = Brian Jay | title = George Lucas: A Life | location = New York | publisher = [[Little, Brown and Company]] | year = 2016 | isbn = 978-0-316-25744-2 }}
* {{cite book | editor-last1 = Knowles | editor-first1 = Elizabeth | title = The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable | location = Oxford | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] | year = 2000 | isbn = 0-19-860219-7 | url = https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00eliz }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Lacy |first1=Norris J. |title=Medieval McGuffins: The Arthurian Model |journal=[[Arthuriana]] |date=Winter 2005 |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=53–64 |doi=10.1353/art.2005.0044 |s2cid=161632566 |ref={{harvid|Lacy|2005}}}}
* {{cite book |title=Bound and Gagged: The Story of the Silent Serials |first=Kalton C. |last=Lahue |year=1968 |publisher=Oak Tree Pubs |isbn=978-0-498-06762-4 |ref={{harvid|Lahue|1968}}}}
* {{cite journal |url=http://news.ansible.co.uk/plotdev.html |title=The Well-Tempered Plot Device |last=Lowe |first=Nick |author-link=Nick Lowe (classicist) |journal=[[Ansible (magazine)|Ansible]] |issue=46 |date=July 1986 |location=Berkshire, England |issn=0265-9816 |access-date=January 2, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728045153/http://news.ansible.co.uk/plotdev.html |archive-date=July 28, 2013}}
* {{cite book |first1=Yves |last1=Lavandier |title=Writing Drama: A Comprehensive Guide for Playwrights and Scriptwriters |translator=Bernard Besserglik |date=June 2005 |publisher=Le Clown & l'Enfant |isbn=2-910606-04-X |ref={{harvid|Lavandier|2005}} |url=http://www.clown-enfant.com/leclown/eng/drama/livre.htm#LEXI |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140118203139/http://www.clown-enfant.com/leclown/eng/drama/livre.htm#LEXI |archive-date=January 18, 2014}}
* {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=quOqDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA166 |title=University Babylon: Film and Race Politics on Campus |first=Curtis |last=Marez |publisher=University of California Press |year=2019|isbn=9780520304574 |ref={{harvid|Marez|2019}}}}
* {{cite book|last=McArthur|first=Colin|title=Whisky Galore! and the Maggie: A British Film Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HnwROL7kGqwC&pg=PP1|year=2003|publisher=I.B.Tauris|location=London|isbn=978-1-86064-633-1|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171224215809/https://books.google.com/books?id=HnwROL7kGqwC&pg=PP1|archive-date=December 24, 2017 |ref={{harvid|McArthur|2003}}}}
* {{cite book | last = Room | first = Adrian | title = Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable | location = London | publisher = [[Cassell (publisher)|Cassell & Co.]] | date = 2000 | isbn = 0-304-35381-7 | url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780304353811 }}
* {{cite book | editor-last1 = Skillion | editor-first1 = Anne | title = The New York Public Library Literature Companion | location = New York | publisher = [[Free Press (publisher)|Free Press]] | year = 2001 | isbn = 0-684-86890-3 | url = https://archive.org/details/newyorkpubliclib00skil }}
* {{cite book|author1-link=François Truffaut |title=Hitchcock/Truffaut |last1=Truffaut |first1=François |first2=Alfred |last2=Hitchcock |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NnE_sPb3XBQC|date=1985|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|isbn=9780671604295|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102082916/https://books.google.com/books?id=NnE_sPb3XBQC|archive-date=January 2, 2016 |edition=Revised |ref={{harvid|Truffaut|1985}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Walker|first=Michael|title=Hitchcock's Motifs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OWhZAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA297|year=2005|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|isbn=978-90-5356-773-9|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171224215808/https://books.google.com/books?id=OWhZAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA297|archive-date=24 December 2017 |ref={{harvid|Walker|2005}}}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|MacGuffin}}
* [https://hitchinfo.net/faqs.html What's a MacGuffin?] at Hitchinfo.net
* [http://wordsmith.org/words/mcguffin.html A.Word.A.Day: McGuffin] at [[Wordsmith.org]]

{{Fiction writing}}

[[Category:Film and video terminology]]
[[Category:Narrative techniques]]
[[Category:Plot (narrative)]]