A MacGuffin (or McGuffin/macguffin) is a plot device in a movie that captures the viewers attention and drives the plot in a work of fiction. It is the thing in the movie that causes the characters to do or say anything to obtain it. It can be money, fame, survival or something completely unexplained in tangible terms. All we, the audience, know is that the characters must have it. It can start out at the beginning of the movie as the main plot mover, take a back seat during the middle of the movie and either come back with a vengance or be completely forgotten about in the final act of the film. It depends on the movie. MacGuffins usually show up in thrillers but can show up in other genres as well.
The term is believed to have been popularized by director Alfred Hitchcock during a lecture at Columbia University in 1939. He said: "(We) have a name in the studio, and we call it ' The MacGuffin.' It is the mechanical element that usually crops up in any story. In crook stories it is almost always the necklace and in spy stories it is almost always the papers."
Here are some famous examples of a MacGuffin:
~the meaning of "rosebud" in Citizen Kane
~the briefcase in both Pulp Fiction and Kiss Me Deadly
~the element unobtanium in Avatar
~the most famous MacGuffin of them all-the Maltese Falcon
Now! Go find your own MacGuffin and go see a great film!
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