What’s a MacGuffin?
The other day Dustin, Phil, and I had a discussion about MacGuffins. What is a MacGuffin you ask? Allow me to enlighten you!
A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin), according to Wikipedia is “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.” It has also been described as “something that spurs characters, both good guys and bad guys, into action”. The term was coined by an Angus MacPhail for film, which was later adopted by Alfred Hitchcock. It has since spread into other application of fiction and writing. It was even mentioned as a joke in the Netflix film Red Notice.
Here are some examples of famous MacGuffins in film:
- The Plans for the Death Star in Star Wars
- The Rug from The Big Lebowski
- Rosebud from Citizen Kane
- Ryan from Saving Private Ryan (Sometimes the MacGuffin can even be a person!)
R2D2 takes the plans for the Deathstar.
All of the above MacGuffins are used to advance the story forward. Characters want to get their hands on the MacGuffin, and are willing to take risks to get it, even when their desires come into conflict with other characters. (Conflict is essentially what moves good stories forward, but that’s another post for another time.)
Our discussion centered around MacGuffins which are more than just ordinary objects designed to move stories forward. There was some debate around whether a MacGuffin is truly an insignificant object and essentially irrelevant by the end of the story. We discussed cases in which we thought MacGuffins were powerful in their own right, and therefore non-irrelevant by the end. Examples we came up with were:
- The One Ring in the Lord of the Rings Series
- The Ark of the Covenant from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
- The Infinity Stones from the Marvel Universe
The precious….
In each of these examples, we can see how the MacGuffin is an important element to the story because of the power it contains on its own. Although interestingly enough, the One Ring from LOTR is destroyed in the end. (Therefore making it irrelevant? I’ll leave that up to you to decide.)
Something to consider is how the type of MacGuffin changes based on the type of story you’re telling.
Case in point, in The Big Lebowski the rug is an ordinary rug and whose primary value to is to The Dude, who spends a significant portion of the movie trying to get said rug back. Compare this with The One Ring from the LOTR series. The One Ring is magical, it was wielded by a Dark Lord, almost brought Middle Earth to its knees, turns the wearer invisible, and corrupts men. That’s quite a difference from a decorative rug “that really brings the room together, man.” The Big Lebowski and LOTR are VASTLY different types of stories with difference settings, different scopes, and different take-aways.
I encourage you to give some consideration to if your story requires a MacGuffin (not all stories do). If so, which MacGuffin is most appropriate to your type of story and setting? Is it a priceless artifact that collectors and art thieves alike are after? (Such as the Falcon from the Maltese Falcon.) Is it a magical item? (Like the Holy Grail of Arthurian Legends.) Is it a missing person? (Like Doug from The Hangover.)
Either way, there are lots and lots and lots of types of MacGuffins and ways to implement them in your story. I found an equally amazing and entertaining list of MacGuffin tropes, which gives sub-types of MacGuffins and examples from books, movies, t.v., even video games. Please enjoy!
Until next time dear readers, have fun looking for a MacGuffin in the next movie you watch or book you read. <3
