MacGuffin
An object, device, or event that drives the plot but is itself unimportant.
In depth
The audience doesn't care about the object itself; they care about what the characters will do to get it. It drives the plot but has little intrinsic value.
Example
“The briefcase in 'Pulp Fiction'. We never see what's inside, but it drives the entire story.”
Origin and history
The term was popularized by Alfred Hitchcock, who in interviews and lectures used it to describe the spy-film convention of valuable plans, microfilm, or secrets that motivated the chase but had no inherent narrative weight. Hitchcock famously argued that the more meaningless the MacGuffin was, the better — the plot was about the characters' pursuit, not the prize.
Why filmmakers use it
A MacGuffin is the engine of plots that need urgency without theme. It frees the writer to focus on character relationships, set pieces, and moral choices while the artificial object propels everything forward. The discipline is knowing when a MacGuffin is enough and when the audience needs a real stake instead. Heist films, spy thrillers, and adventure stories rely on the device almost universally.
More examples in cinema
- The Maltese Falcon in the 1941 film of the same name is the prototypical MacGuffin — every character lies, kills, or betrays for it, and its actual contents disappoint at the reveal.
- The Holy Grail in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' (technically the Ark of the Covenant) functions as a MacGuffin around which the entire chase is structured.
Common confusion
A MacGuffin is not the same as a 'plot device' broadly. Plot devices include any narrative tool; a MacGuffin is specifically an object whose value is to the characters and not to the audience.