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MacGuffins

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MacGuffins
- literature / theatre -

​​A "MacGuffin" is a narrative device in fiction. The actual shape or function of a true MacGuffin is unimportant; it only has to be desirable somehow in order to drive the plot. Some examples include the Holy Grail in Arthurian legends, Helen of Troy, the Arkenstone from "The Hobbit", the Maltese Falcon, the Pink Panther diamond, and the Ultimate Question from "The Hitchhiker's Guide".

It can be argued that the Avengers' Infinity Stones, Harry Potter's Philosopher's Stone, and Sauron's Ring are not pure MacGuffins because they all have specific powers that are relevant to the story.

Though the concept itself is nothing new, the term "MacGuffin" is attributed to filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock (or to a colleague of Hitchcock, screenwriter Angus MacPhail), usually in the form of a joke:

A man is riding on a train when a second gentlemen gets on and sits down across from him. The first man notices the second is holding an oddly shaped package.

"What is that?" the first man asks.

"A MacGuffin, a tool used to hunt lions in the Scottish highlands."

"But there are no lions in the Scottish highlands," says the first man.

"Well then," says the other, "that's no MacGuffin."

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Sources ▼

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MacGuffin