Creativity 101, Notable Links : December 1, 2009 : 9:00 am
The MacGuffin Exposed
“In crook stories it is almost always the necklace and in spy stories it is most always the papers.”
- Alfred Hitchcock -
If you’ve ever taken a film class, you know what the MacGuffin is.
(I actually got into an argument once with a teacher who insisted the MacGuffin was the most important element in a film. While it’s important to the characters, it is almost irrelevant to the actual film, or to the audience’s experience.)
TVTropes.com has a great wiki set up about the MacGuffin and the sub-groups they’ve discovered. It’s a fun read, especially for avid story theorists.
(discovered this link courtesy of the lovely archives at JohnAugust.com)
