Pulp Fiction - whats in the case?
Discussion
Ok from the web but I saw this on TV program once and found it interesting.
A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or Maguffin) is a plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story, particularly one whose importance is accepted completely by the story's characters, yet from the audience's perspective it might be minimally explained or may test their suspension of disbelief if it is scrutinized. The device, usually an object, is common in films, especially thrillers.
The term "MacGuffin" was invented by Alfred Hitchcock; according to the Oxford English Dictionary, he explained the term in a 1939 lecture at Columbia University:
In regard to the tune, we have a name in the studio, and we call it the 'MacGuffin'. It is the mechanical element that usually crops up in any story. In crook stories it is always the necklace and in spy stories it is always the papers.
Interviewed in 1966 by François Truffaut, Hitchcock illustrated the term "MacGuffin" with this story:
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 McGuffin.' The first one asks 'What's a McGuffin?' '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 McGuffin!' So you see, a McGuffin is nothing at all.
• One particularly famous early movie example of a MacGuffin is the titular statuette in The Maltese Falcon.
• The sum of money Jean Reno earns in the 1994 film Léon (or The Professional) (Luc Besson)
• Roger Ebert defines the term in his commentary track for Casablanca, where he points out that the "letters of transit"[2] in the film are a MacGuffin.
• A similar homage is the surreal, glowing car trunk in Repo Man.
• The briefcase in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction is a MacGuffin (and a nod to Kiss Me Deadly). The contents are never shown; that section of the plot is not about the briefcase so much as what happens because of it. When the briefcase is briefly opened, we do not see its contents, only a yellow glow coming from the case; this is probably itself a homage to the glowing car trunk in Repo Man.
• The 1979 children's movie The Double McGuffin has two MacGuffins.
• In the film Ronin, the ice-skate carrying case is also a classic MacGuffin.
• In the film Diva, the MacGuffin is a cassette tape.
• The FedEx package that Tom Hanks holds onto throughout his various adventures on the deserted island in Cast Away serves the role.
• In the James Bond movie From Russia With Love, the MacGuffin is the Lektor device which everyone seems interested in getting but is otherwise irrelevant to the plot as it never really does anything and could been easily replaced with a variety of other things.
• In the movie Barton Fink, Barton is given a box to hold on to by John Goodman's character but the contents of the box are never revealed.
• The Zeppelin Tube of Firesign Theatre's Giant Rat of Sumatra—an improbable scientific device, explained by goofy scientific sounding babble, around which the plot revolves, is also a MacGuffins.
• David Mamet's The Spanish Prisoner revolves around a "process" contained in a notebook which is never revealed to the audience. Similarly, the amount of money at stake is written on a blackboard at the beginning of the film; all characters appear impressed by the dollar number, but the amount is never shown to the audience. Both are MacGuffins.
• In the Highlander series, immortal characters battle each other for a "Prize" which is never specified. Unless you count the scene at the end of the film, after MacCloud has won the Prize, where it is.
• In Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, the plot is driven by the chase for the Ark of the Covenant. However, as the powers of the ark are used to save the characters in the end it does serve some use besides character motivation and therefore is not a true MacGuffin in this sense.
• In The Big Lebowski, the rug that "really tied the room together" is a MacGuffin.
• In Dude, Where's My Car?, Jesse and Chester encounter two groups of aliens who are trying to find a MacGuffin called the Continuum Transfunctioner.
• In Mulholland Drive, the identity of the amneastic character, Rita and the origins of the money and the mysterious blue key she has are MacGuffins
A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or Maguffin) is a plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story, particularly one whose importance is accepted completely by the story's characters, yet from the audience's perspective it might be minimally explained or may test their suspension of disbelief if it is scrutinized. The device, usually an object, is common in films, especially thrillers.
The term "MacGuffin" was invented by Alfred Hitchcock; according to the Oxford English Dictionary, he explained the term in a 1939 lecture at Columbia University:
In regard to the tune, we have a name in the studio, and we call it the 'MacGuffin'. It is the mechanical element that usually crops up in any story. In crook stories it is always the necklace and in spy stories it is always the papers.
Interviewed in 1966 by François Truffaut, Hitchcock illustrated the term "MacGuffin" with this story:
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 McGuffin.' The first one asks 'What's a McGuffin?' '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 McGuffin!' So you see, a McGuffin is nothing at all.
• One particularly famous early movie example of a MacGuffin is the titular statuette in The Maltese Falcon.
• The sum of money Jean Reno earns in the 1994 film Léon (or The Professional) (Luc Besson)
• Roger Ebert defines the term in his commentary track for Casablanca, where he points out that the "letters of transit"[2] in the film are a MacGuffin.
• A similar homage is the surreal, glowing car trunk in Repo Man.
• The briefcase in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction is a MacGuffin (and a nod to Kiss Me Deadly). The contents are never shown; that section of the plot is not about the briefcase so much as what happens because of it. When the briefcase is briefly opened, we do not see its contents, only a yellow glow coming from the case; this is probably itself a homage to the glowing car trunk in Repo Man.
• The 1979 children's movie The Double McGuffin has two MacGuffins.
• In the film Ronin, the ice-skate carrying case is also a classic MacGuffin.
• In the film Diva, the MacGuffin is a cassette tape.
• The FedEx package that Tom Hanks holds onto throughout his various adventures on the deserted island in Cast Away serves the role.
• In the James Bond movie From Russia With Love, the MacGuffin is the Lektor device which everyone seems interested in getting but is otherwise irrelevant to the plot as it never really does anything and could been easily replaced with a variety of other things.
• In the movie Barton Fink, Barton is given a box to hold on to by John Goodman's character but the contents of the box are never revealed.
• The Zeppelin Tube of Firesign Theatre's Giant Rat of Sumatra—an improbable scientific device, explained by goofy scientific sounding babble, around which the plot revolves, is also a MacGuffins.
• David Mamet's The Spanish Prisoner revolves around a "process" contained in a notebook which is never revealed to the audience. Similarly, the amount of money at stake is written on a blackboard at the beginning of the film; all characters appear impressed by the dollar number, but the amount is never shown to the audience. Both are MacGuffins.
• In the Highlander series, immortal characters battle each other for a "Prize" which is never specified. Unless you count the scene at the end of the film, after MacCloud has won the Prize, where it is.
• In Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, the plot is driven by the chase for the Ark of the Covenant. However, as the powers of the ark are used to save the characters in the end it does serve some use besides character motivation and therefore is not a true MacGuffin in this sense.
• In The Big Lebowski, the rug that "really tied the room together" is a MacGuffin.
• In Dude, Where's My Car?, Jesse and Chester encounter two groups of aliens who are trying to find a MacGuffin called the Continuum Transfunctioner.
• In Mulholland Drive, the identity of the amneastic character, Rita and the origins of the money and the mysterious blue key she has are MacGuffins
a better yet example of a truly hitchcockian mcguffin/ plot device is the first 1/3 of 'psycho'. the story arc starts with the theft of funds from a bank and the lead female protagonists escape. this leads the male character to the bates motel to find his fiancée. they are then both killed. this story arc is then abandoned, for the new 'psycho' story thread. a neat trick, huh? getting you invested in characters and a narrative, just to have them killed off in front of you. a clever way of heightening the drama for the audience, whilst also increasingly unsettling them. after this revelation, clearly anything goes. yummy. great stuff.
whats that mother?
whats that mother?
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