User:ZachsMind/MacGuffin

MacGuffin

(working draft. I don't know where this should go, if anywhere)

Alfred Hitchcock popularized the term MacGuffin for a plot device used in stories like mysteries, suspense, and thrillers that helps to forward the story, but is not necessarily important in and of itself. Arguably, Heroes consists not of one plotline but several different plotlines simultaneously. In one plotline a noun can be very important but in another character's plotline, not so much. The MacGuffin in a standard plotline is the person, place or thing which motivates characters to meet and conflict with one another. Details about said MacGuffin may bog down a story, if the writer, characters, or even readers dwell too much on the minutiae. For example, Dr. Chandra's journal contains details which may be of mild interest to the audience, but are not always necessary for the writer to detail in full. Enough is given to build in the viewer a sense of realism that it is in fact Chandra's journal, but we don't need to see every page. Sometimes in a given plotline, just the fact the journal exists may drive one character to behave a certain way, or may cause other characters to trash Chandra's apartment while Mohinder's away. It could be a prize that multiple characters want to glean information from. It might be something that multiple characters want to destroy. What's in the journal is not as important as what people will do to aquire it. Other potential MacGuffins include The Algorithm, the contents of The Genesis files, The List of potential enhanced humans, discovering the identity of Patient Zero, The map, AWI's needle, Hiro's sword, Isaac's paintings, Linderman's money, and through parts of storylines up to and including Homecoming, the cheerleader referred to in "Save the Cheerleader Save the World" was even a MacGuffin.