A MacGuffin is the object everyone in a movie wants but doesn't really matter to the audience. Sometimes we don't even know what the MacGuffin is, and that's okay. Either way, it's the thing that drives the plot and motivates characters — and sometimes, that thing becomes even more iconic than the movies they're in.We put together five of our favorite MacGuffins, but before we get into it, let's go over what MacGuffins are exactly...and what they're not.What is a MacGuffin?"MacGuffin" is the term used to describe a basic plot element that drives a film's story forward. It often takes the form of an object, event, or character, one that the good and bad guys in a story want. But it can also be more conceptual, like an idea or knowledge (think Rosebud in Citizen Kane).The word is often associated with Hitchcock. In a series of interviews with François Truffaut in the 1960s, Hitchcock told the following story to describe the concept (via Quote Investigator):It might be a Scottish name, taken from a story about two men in a train. One man says, “What’s that package up there in the baggage rack?” And the other answers, “Oh, that’s a MacGuffin.” The first one asks, “What’s a MacGuffin?”"Well," the other man says, "it's an apparatus for trapping lions in the Scottish Highlands.” The first man says, “But there are no lions in the Scottish Highlands,” and the other one answers, “Well then, that’s no MacGuffin!" So you see that a MacGuffin...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Monday, 1 September