Although the world of cinema revolves around MacGuffins, many film watchers are unfamiliar with the term. When describing this article to my friends, I was mostly met with the response: “What is a MacGuffin?” The answer is incredibly simple.
A MacGuffin is the driving force of a film’s plot. It is the object that the characters are striving for—the end point they hope to achieve. In working towards this goal, the attainment of the object in question, the characters find themselves in a variety of situations. The process of gaining the MacGuffin forms the film’s plot.
The MacGuffin does not have to be a physical object, but can be something more abstract. For example, if a character is imprisoned at the start of a film, and spends the runtime trying to escape, then the MacGuffin is their liberty. Thus, MacGuffins serve to motivate characters.
Paradoxically, MacGuffins are both the most important piece of a film and the most useless. Titan of cinema Alfred Hitchcock explained the plot device in a 1972 interview as “the thing that the characters on screen worry about, but the audience don’t care.” It does not matter what the MacGuffin is, only that the audience are enraptured by the process of getting it.
Hitchcock is the filmmaker often attributed with coining the term “MacGuffin,” though the concept existed long before its label. One of the earliest forms of MacGuffin, first found in twelfth century Arthurian legends, is the Holy Grail. The actual nature of the Holy Grail is irrelevant to the story; its importance comes from its role in initiating and inspiring the knight’s journey.
MacGuffins also serve to justify characters’ actions. An apt example is the golden briefcase in Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction: Jules and Vincent exact violence, even murder, to find, protect, and deliver this mysterious briefcase. Yet, the contents of the case are never revealed. Their status as hitmen is explained by their need to satisfy their mob boss, Marsellus Wallace.
So the next time you’re watching a film, keep an eye out for this necessary but underappreciated plot device.
“Alfred Hitchcock Presents” by twm1340 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.