NOUN
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(film) a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot
the McGuffin was a key element of Alfred Hitchcock's films
How To Use MacGuffin In A Sentence
- Return of the MacGuffin: Iran and Nuclear Weapons (K-punk) “A MacGuffin (sometimes spelt McGuffin or Magoffin), an empty master-signifier, is a now-ubiquitous plot device or catalyst that holds no meaning or purpose of its own except to motivate the players or characters and advance a narrative or story.” Google MLK in Black and White
- The token female often ends up sexually objectified and stereotyped; the MacGuffined person often ends up being essentialized as the representation of virtue and treated as an archetype for The Reluctant Hero; and so on. Objectification in fantasy «
- Example: Say ump hundred, umpty-ump, umpteen or ump years ago, non-central character X unleashes the Dark Lord or steals the MacGuffin Device, only to be Horribly Killed immediately for their Terrible Folly, leaving aforesaid Dark Lord/MacGuffin Device loose in the world to create merry havoc. On Prologues