A Get Together to Tear it Apart

Paper by Megan Whitman. Viewed on DVD.

A MacGuffin, a literary plot device that gives tremendous purpose to characters, but not necessarily meaning to a plot, is relevant even in the films of today because it is what makes films intriguing. The MacGuffin drives a story or work of fiction by giving the characters purpose. It also serves as an obstacle that must be overcome in order for relationships to succeed. A MacGuffin’s power to first separate and then bring couples together is demonstrated in the three movies, Spellbound, Notorious, and North by Northwest. Alfred Hitchcock, the director of all three films, was a master of using the MacGuffin. In all three of these films, the female lead joins with the male lead in search of the mysterious MacGuffin. The searches initially try the couple’s affections for one another, but once they find the MacGuffins, they are able to continue, with even stronger relationships. The MacGuffins enable the audience to become emotionally invested in the relationships being portrayed in Hitchcock’s films, thus creating the desire for the relationships to succeed, regardless of the strain that the MacGuffin creates for the characters and the audience.

The movie Notorious is about a women named Alicia, who, although in love with a fellow spy named Devlin, must marry her target, Alex. She is sent, by Devlin, to Alex’s house in order to discover uranium, the MacGuffin of the film. On her quest to find the uranium, her relationship with Devlin becomes tinged with jealousy over her “relationship” with her target, Alex. In Notorious, the MacGuffin drives the film by giving the characters a purpose of action. They must fly to Argentina and infiltrate Alex’s house in order to find the uranium that connects Alex to the Nazi’s. The pursuit or plot line that the MacGuffin creates also serves as a catalyst for the characters in the story, Delvin and Alicia, to develop a relationship. The MacGuffin plays on the characters’ private goals of finding love and their public goals of personal accrual, creating strife for both. We see the breakdown of their relationship immediately at the couple’s first meeting. Although Devlin and Alicia are lusting for each other, the proposition of becoming a spy, which Devlin offers to Alicia, tarnishes the meeting. The complete dissolution of the relationship occurs during one of the many bench scenes where the two passively quarrel, and Alicia says a final good-bye to Devlin. The duty or responsibility of pursuing the public goal of the acquiring the MacGuffin, the uranium to prove Alex’s Nazi ties, outweighs her private goal of a relationship with Devlin. Alex, the target, begins to poison Alicia, and she is unable to communicate with her spy agency anymore. At this point, Devlin becomes concerned about her silence and goes to the Alex’s house to pay her a visit. Upon realizing that she is not just sick, but poisoned, he rescues her and in the process, surreptitiously reveals Alex’s loyalty to his Nazi companions. Once the MacGuffin is resolved and Alex is connected to the Nazis, their private goal of love is finally able to outweigh their public goal of accrual and Devlin and Alicia’s relationship is able to succeed.

In the movie Spellbound, the couple is constructed a little differently than in most Hitchcock films because the female lead must save the male lead. Constance, the female lead, is a doctor of psychoanalysis. She first meets John when he is posing as Doctor Edwards, the replacement head of the hospital. She discovers that the supposed Doctor Edwards is actually an amnesia case and begins a mission to discover his suppressed memories in order to figure out what happened to the real Doctor Edwards. The MacGuffin of the film is John’s unknown identity, and the memories that he is suppressing. The initial scene, when Constance and Doctor Edwards meet, is love at first sight, with romantic music and shadowed light highlighting the passion in Constance’s eyes. Initially, the two are able to indulge in their private goal of a relationship with no tension. Constance does not yet realize that the man she loves is an imposter. However, once this fact comes to light, the public goal outweighs the private and the MacGuffin begins to cause strain between the couple creating dissonance and stress. Constance attempts to treat John’s amnesia with psychoanalysis, and John responds with anger and violence to this treatment. Though, Constance stays by John’s side, and throughout their journey, they become even closer, eventually acquiring the MacGuffin. Constance discovers John’s identity and they learn that Doctor Edwards accidently skied over a cliff. However, Constance and John learn that Doctor Edwards was shot before he fell, and John was arrested for his murder. The MacGuffin was not fully acquired before this point and so it is up to Constance to fully complete the purpose of the MacGuffin as it tests the relationship one last time. When she figures out who really shot Doctor Edwards the purpose the MacGuffin set out was finally realized, so Constance and John could be together. The public goal was accomplished, so that the private goal could be pursued.

Another Hitchcock film, North by Northwest is the story of man, Thornhill, who is mistakenly identified as the spy George Kaplan by the crime boss VanDamm. While trying to clear his name and discover the real identity of George Kaplan, Thornhill runs into Eva, a beautiful seductress who assists Thornhill in his search. Eva however double crosses Thornhill, appearing to be the love interest of VanDamm. Later, Thornhill discovers that Eva is in fact spying on VanDamm. Out of all of Hitchcock’s films, North by Northwest has the most intertwined and least obvious MacGuffin, the identity of George Kaplan. Thornhill first meets Eva on a train while trying to escape from the police. Eva hides him, and then seduces him creating a relationship less about love and more about physicality. The private goal of Thornhill is the relationship with Eva. However, the private goal of Eva at this point is only the seduction of Thornhill, not the relationship. Publically, the characters’ goals interplay with each other’s. Thornhill wishes to discover the identity of Kaplan, while Eva wishes to trick Thornhill into walking into a trap set up by VanDamm. However, to Thornhill, it appears that they both are working to figure out the MacGuffin and achieve that purpose. The MacGuffin causes the relationship to break down after Thornhill escapes the trap set up for him and discovers that Eva led him into it. The public goal of discovering the MacGuffin overpowers the private goal. Eventually, Thornhill is picked up by the FBI who informs him that the man that he has been searching out, George Kaplan, is not a real person, and that Eva is actually a spy. The MacGuffin has been realized with this information, and Thornhill, after a daring rescue, is able to fully realize his private goal of a relationship with Eva.

A MacGuffin does not only give the characters a purpose, it gives the audience a purpose as well. It creates an emotional investment in the characters, and that is why it is so important. The interplay between the public and private goals the MacGuffin creates not only introduces suspense, but it tests the audience’s emotional investment in both the characters and the story. It also creates a desire in the audience for both the public and private goal to be realized. This investment is why the MacGuffin is so important even in today’s films. In Lesley Brill’s opinion, “Like the Grail quests of medieval romances, the MacGuffins of Hitchcock’s films give motive force to the characters,-get them out having adventures, falling in love, (and) slaying dragons” (Brill 4). Brill also believes that the MacGuffin is of the utmost importance to the story, however for a different reason. Brill sees Hitchcock’s films as typical and romantically fairytale-esqe, complete with stereotypical archetypes and a “looseness of natural law.” She only believes in the MacGuffin as the motive for original action and believes that the relationships that occur in Hitchcock’s movies only do so because the brave and handsome hero is duty bound to rescue the heroine from the hands of evil. From Brill’s opinion of the MacGuffin, we can assume that even though the relevance is small, it is a necessary piece of plot in all films because if the hero has no motive to leave the house, he will not have the chance to ever slay the dragon.

Michael Kurland analyzed how the MacGuffin is used as well as its importance in his article, “A Powerful Plot Device for your Fiction.” As he says, “The more you examine the idea, the more you’ll find it describes a powerful narrative device found in most, if not all, fiction. Many writers don’t even realize they have a MacGuffin in their story, but it’s there nonetheless” (Kurland). Kurland described the use of the MacGuffin perfectly. It is an integral part of all fiction, written or filmed, that focuses stories, assists characterizations, and strengthens the storylines. The drive that the MacGuffin gives the characters creates audience interest, gives characters a reason for action, and empowers the story. The MacGuffin is not only relevant to movies of old, but to all fictitious written works.

Of Hitchcock’s many films, the movies North by Northwest, Notorious, and Spellbound beautifully showcase the plot device that Hitchcock named the MacGuffin. Even though the MacGuffin only has meaning for the characters, its presence can make or break a movie. The love story surrounding the MacGuffin follows a similar pattern in all three of these movies. Initially the relationship is untarnished. The two individuals are full of lust and love and it appears to be a perfect union. When the MacGuffin is introduced, the relationship is strained, and the characters must put their private goal of lust and love on hold to give their full attention to the public goal that the MacGuffin presents. Finally, when the MacGuffin has been found or completed, the couple is able to once again focus entirely on their private goal. This pattern works because the audience becomes emotionally invested in the relationships between the hero and heroine characters, creating a desire in the audience for both the success of the private and public goals. This audience investment is the key to the prolonged success of the MacGuffin. The relationships that are created around the MacGuffin are able to outlast all odds and thus stick in the minds of the audience, even after the film is over.

Works Cited

Brill, Lesley. “North by Northwest and Hitchcockian Romance.” Film Criticism 6.3 (1982): 1-17. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 June 2011.

Kurland, Michael. “A Powerful Plot Device for Your Fiction: How to Use a ‘MacGuffin'” A Powerful Plot Device for Your Fiction: How to Use a ‘MacGuffin’ 119.2 (2006): 30-33. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 June 2011.