MacGuffin

So, continuing in my series of tropes, today we are going to cover the MacGuffin, or MacGuffins, I can never remember if it's supposed to be plural.

A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or Maguffin) is "a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction." MacGuffins can also sometimes be referred to as plot coupons, or plot tickets, because it is often said that this thing is something a character can cash in for a plot resolution. The main point of the MacGuffin, especially in the beginning of the tale it is involved in, is that the major players in the story, whether they be protags or antags, will sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, assuming it is an obtainable object. In order to determine whether an item is a MacGuffin, try to decide whether it is interchangeable. From TVTropes.org:

For example, in a caper story the MacGuffin could be either the Mona Lisa or the Hope diamond, it makes no difference which. The rest of the story (i.e. it being stolen) would be exactly the same. It doesn't matter which it is, it is only necessary for the characters to want it.

Another common MacGuffin story setup can be summarized as "Quickly! We must find X before they do!"

There is a relatively famous quote from Alfred Hitchcok regarding this plot device:

"In crook stories it is almost always the necklace,

and in spy stories it is most always the papers."

Here are some well known examples from film and literature:

• The Wonka Golden Ticket (somewhat more literal than most cases)
• The briefcase which supposedly contains Marsellus Wallace's soul in Pulp Fiction
• The gold watch that belonged to Butch Coolidge's father in Pulp Fiction
• The Golden Fleece from Jason and the Argonauts (not all MacGuffins are gold)
• The travel visas from Casablanca
• The Green Destiny sword in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
• The microprocessors in The Departed
• Avatar is pretty shameless in it's use of the MacGuffin, going so cheesily far as to call it "unobtanium"
• The One Ring in The Lord of The Rings
• The Silmarilli from The Silmarillion
• The mysterious sugar bowl in A Series of Unfortunate events
• The apocalyptic disaster at the beginning of Cormac McCarthy's The Road (a MacGuffin because we never find out exactly what happened, and because it doesn't matter)
• The Hallows in Harry Potter (the horcruxes would seem like they count, but they don't, because they're actually used in a way which affects the plot outcome)
• The Maltese Falcon, from the film and novel of the same name, is probably the quintessential MacGuffin (see what I did there)

We could go on practically forever with these, and believe me, I would love to, because it's super fun, but eventually you have to move on to the next blog.

Thanks for visiting! Feel free to share some other examples in the comments. I love examples.