For longer stories - What's your favorite MacGuffin?

[Milo_Grigsby]

MacGuffin - "In fiction, ..... an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself." Wikipedia
Examples - The Maltese Falcon, briefcase in Pulp Fiction

I'm working on a longer form story. I have the MC and supporting character, setting and the beginnings of a conflict/resolution arc. What I need is a good MacGuffin. I have a few tentative ideas but am looking for some inspiration. What's your favorite MacGuffin from books, films, TV shows or just something you would find interesting?

 

[onehitwanda]

the Lime from Anansi Boys.

 

[NoTalentHack]

The briefcase from Pulp Fiction. Tarantino himself has said in the past that it contains whatever you want to imagine it contains.

 

[SimonDoom]

It all depends on the type of story. What's the purpose of the MacGuffin in your story? Typically it's used as a form of misdirection. It works well in suspense and detective fiction, but it might not work in all kinds of fiction.

Another excellent example of a MacGuffin is "The Process" in the David Mamet film The Spanish Prisoner. It's about a long, complicated con game that some play to gain access to a mysterious but presumably extremely valuable company "Process" that is never once described or explained in the movie.

 

[NoTalentHack]

I would like to note the absolute, unbridled audacity of James Cameron naming the mineral in Avatar “Unobtanium.”

 

[onehitwanda]

I would like to note the absolute, unbridled audacity of James Cameron naming the mineral in Avatar “Unobtanium.”

There' a lump of it right fucking there on the desk, while they're talking about it. I mean... really?

 

[SimonDoom]

The diamond The Heart of the Ocean in Titanic is a kind of anti-MacGuffin MacGuffin. It starts off as the plot's motivating object at the beginning of the story, and it has extraordinary value in a dollar sense, but the search team never finds it and in the end Rose tosses it into the ocean before she dies without anyone else knowing she ever had it, so it never really mattered.

 

[onehitwanda]

The diamond The Heart of the Ocean in Titanic is a kind of anti-MacGuffin MacGuffin. It starts off as the plot's motivating object at the beginning of the story, and it has extraordinary value in a dollar sense, but the search team never finds it and in the end Rose tosses it into the ocean before she dies without anyone else knowing she ever had it, so it never really mattered.

Are Rose's boobs the MacGuffin?

 

[EmilyMiller]

MacGuffin - "In fiction, ..... an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself." Wikipedia
Examples - The Maltese Falcon, briefcase in Pulp Fiction

I'm working on a longer form story. I have the MC and supporting character, setting and the beginnings of a conflict/resolution arc. What I need is a good MacGuffin. I have a few tentative ideas but am looking for some inspiration. What's your favorite MacGuffin from books, films, TV shows or just something you would find interesting?

Easy - The Ark in Raiders. The MacGuffin to end all MacGuffins.

Em

 

[onehitwanda]

Easy - The Ark in Raiders. The MacGuffin to end all MacGuffins.

Em

is it strictly a MacGuffin though? In all three of the true Indiana Jones movies (Raiders, Temple of Doom, Last Crusade) the item in question ends up providing the Deus ex Machina that resolves the plot. I'm not sure if they fulfil the insignificant criterion. The Ark melts Nazis, the Shankara Stones melt cultists, and the Holy Grail melts more Nazis. Or tosses them into a bottomless pit... or whatever.

And now I've got the Indiana Jones theme song stuck in my head, and visions of Kate Capshaw taunting me.

thanks Em.

 

[SimonDoom]

Easy - The Ark in Raiders. The MacGuffin to end all MacGuffins.

Em

I wouldn't call it a MacGuffin because it ends up being extraordinarily valuable and a key element to the resolution of the film.

Raiders is a treasure hunt movie where the treasure turns out to be real and valuable. It would be a MacGuffin if in the end it was a fake.

 

[EmilyMiller]

is it strictly a MacGuffin though? In all three of the true Indiana Jones movies (Raiders, Temple of Doom, Last Crusade) the item in question ends up providing the Deus ex Machina that resolves the plot. I'm not sure if they fulfil the insignificant criterion. The Ark melts Nazis, the Shankara Stones melt cultists, and the Holy Grail melts more Nazis. Or tosses them into a bottomless pit... or whatever.

And now I've got the Indiana Jones theme song stuck in my head, and visions of Kate Capshaw taunting me.

thanks Em.

I loathed Willie - ugh!

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

@onehitwanda & @SimonDoom - bad Emily. I’ll go stand in the corner .

Em

 

[onehitwanda]

I loathed Willie - ugh!

Em

Oh, so did I, but I loved her cleavage!

 

[MrPixel]

MacGuffin - "In fiction, ..... an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself." Wikipedia

Huh. By this definition I accidentally wrote a MacGuffin into my Barstow series: the MC's oversized SUV. Obviously a motor vehicle would be a centerpiece of a road trip story, but there are things about it that influence the plot in ways a smaller car would not.

 

[SimonDoom]

I loathed Willie - ugh!

Em

Me too.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Oh, so did I, but I loved her cleavage!

So shallow

 

[onehitwanda]

So shallow

and very, very easy to please...

 

[EmilyMiller]

and very, very easy to please...

If only I had cleavage .

Em

 

[onehitwanda]

If only I had cleavage .

Em

oh you do just fine

do you think they're distracted? Can we steal the MacGuffin now?

 

[NoTalentHack]

I loathed Willie - ugh!

Em

Yeah, but her uselessness gave us this great moment:

 

[SimonDoom]

Yeah, but her uselessness gave us this great moment:

It would have been a better movie if they'd reprised Karen Allen's character Marion, who could outdrink huge Sherpas and could kick ass while also playing the damsel in distress.

 

[alohadave]

in the end Rose tosses it into the ocean before she dies without anyone else knowing she ever had it, so it never really mattered.

I really like the alternate ending that was filmed because the studio sent a note about it.

It's so bad.

 

[alohadave]

It would have been a better movie if they'd reprised Karen Allen's character Marion, who could outdrink huge Sherpas and could kick ass while also playing the damsel in distress.

It was set a year before Raiders.

• 1935: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
• 1936: Raiders of the Lost Ark
• 1938: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• 1957: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
• 1969: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

 

[SimonDoom]

It was set a year before Raiders.

Good catch. It's been a long time since I saw it, and I totally forgot that.