The MacGuffin: What It Is and How to Spot One

A MacGuffin is a term popularized by film director Alfred Hitchcock, who describes it as “the thing that the characters on the screen worry about, but the audience don’t care.”

A MacGuffin is usually established in the first parts of a story, then slowly declines in importance to the narrative. It may pop up again somewhere in the story, but it’s usually forgotten, as it’s already done its part. It’s a plot element most commonly seen in mystery stories but still used in other genres.

What Is a MacGuffin?

In layman’s terms, it’s a magical “thing” that sets the plot, builds the narrative, and keeps the story moving forward. In almost all cases, it serves no other function other than to motivate characters into action.

It can be an object, a character, an event— anything really, as long as it serves its purpose of driving the story forward.

Examples of MacGuffins in Popular Culture

Here are a few famous examples of MacGuffins to help illustrate what they are and how they’re used to tell stories:

The Big Lebowski – The Rug

At the start of the film, Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski is assaulted in a case of mistaken identity. One of the thugs urinates on his rug. Lebowski then goes to search for a replacement rug, setting him off on an adventure filled with kidnapping, porn, and lots of scheming.

Citizen Kane – Rosebud

When wealthy publishing magnate Charles Kane dies, he utters one word: “Rosebud.” This sets a journalist off on a quest to discover what the word means. The story then shifts to exploring Kane’s life and only returns to rosebud in the film’s last moments.

Psycho – 40,000 dollars

A wealthy client entrusts 40,000 dollars to secretary Marion Crane to deposit in the bank. Instead, she steals the money and runs away. Her subsequent murder then becomes the focus of the story. The money is never mentioned again.

Pulp Fiction – The briefcase

Hitmen Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega are tasked to retrieve a briefcase for their boss. The briefcase becomes a point of interest for various factions in the story. The audience is never shown or told what its contents are and why it’s important.

Saving Private Ryan – Private Ryan

A squad of soldiers is tasked to find a particular soldier and bring him home. They experience danger and sacrifice as they try to locate the object of their mission. It’s only near the end that the titular character becomes more active in the narrative.

How to Spot a MacGuffin

There are three ways you can identify a MacGuffin:

1. You can change the object without drastically changing the story.

Whatever you replace the object with (precious jewels, ancient artifacts, or priceless paintings), the quest the characters undertake doesn’t change much. They still go on a mission to find the said object, put it in safekeeping, and so on.

For example, in Temple of Doom, daredevil and archeologist Indiana Jones could easily be searching for a sacred jewel or sacred horn instead of the sacred stones. The plot would largely remain the same.

2. The object has little direct effect on the plot.

In most cases, none of the characters’ actions are directly involved with the object. It is only the knowledge of the object that spurs the characters into action. This means the object isn’t really necessary in telling the story of the characters’ adventures.

Again, in Temple of Doom, Indiana is told by the villagers that their village’s sacred stone has been stolen. This sets him off to recover the stones before the villagers do. It is only at the end of the movie do the stones make a significant reappearance. The experiences that Indiana goes through aren’t directly affected by the stones.

If your answer to these two questions is yes, then you’ve found yourself a MacGuffin! To be more sure, you can use a common formula that storytellers use with MacGuffins: “Quick! We need to get x before they do!”

Also, don’t fall for the trick storytellers use when they give lots of details about the MacGuffin. For example, in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, it’s repeatedly emphasized that the philosopher’s stone can extend life and create gold. Despite that, it never really contributed to the narrative much.

3. The title often has the biggest clue.

Often, the biggest tip-off about a MacGuffin is in the title. Storytellers often include the MacGuffin in the title to immediately make clear what the story is about and what the characters (both heroes and villains) will fixate on.

Need some examples? I’ve got plenty.

The Book of Eli, The Da Vinci Code, The Bourne Identity, The Sword of Shannara, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Sword in the Stone, The Black Cauldron, Schindler’s List, The Fifth Element, The Hot Rock— Are you seeing a pattern here?

Basically any movie, book, video game, comics, and so on with a title that goes “The ____ files/scroll/code/etc” has a decent chance of containing a MacGuffin in the title.

MacGuffins in Literature

You’ll notice most of the examples I’ve mentioned so far are from movies, and though MacGuffins are largely used on the big screens, they can definitely be used in literature. Here are a few examples:

In The Dark Tower series by Stephen King, the titular Dark Tower itself is a MacGuffin. It’s a location that almost everyone in the story converges on but it never actually influences the story directly.
David Eddings, an American fantasy author, often includes MacGuffins in his books. One example is the Sardion in his Mallorean series. It’s a powerful artifact that both heroes and villains are trying to obtain, but it never does do anything special. It’s even destroyed during the final confrontation.
In Glory Road by Robert A Heinlein, the Egg of the Phoenix is something the protagonist must recover after being stolen. Though it does have a function, its function is irrelevant to the story.
In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, the apocalyptic disaster was never fully explained and slowly fades into the background as the story focuses more on the father and son.
In Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, the titular statuette is subject to much discussion and effort to locate, but functions only as motivation for the various characters in the book.

Does Every Story Need a MacGuffin?

Well-crafted stories will always have MacGuffins; it’s an almost guaranteed hook that attracts readers and viewers into staying and experiencing the whole story. What storyteller doesn’t want that?

Go back to your favorite books and movies. Try to find one without any MacGuffins. Chances are, all of them will have one, no matter how small.

The key here is to use MacGuffins only when they’re needed in the narrative. Make your readers and viewers notice them only when necessary and then slowly fade them into the background. After you’ve caught their attention, make them focus on your characters immediately.

Just remember that MacGuffins are there primarily to drive the story forward. When you innovate your use of this plot element, it adds depth and flavor to your story, making it more interesting and enjoyable to consume.

What’s your favorite MacGuffin? Share it in the comments below!

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