concept
MacGuffin
An object the characters chase that drives the plot โ whose actual nature barely matters.
Origin
Alfred Hitchcock popularized the term in the 1930s, describing it as a device whose specifics are irrelevant because the chase, not the prize, is the point. Classic examples: the microfilm in North by Northwest, the briefcase in Pulp Fiction, the Ark in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Maltese falcon in The Maltese Falcon.
Modern usage
Standard screenwriting vocabulary. Used loosely outside film for any pretext-object that motivates action โ 'the merger is a MacGuffin; the real story is the board fight.'
Tags
plot-device
narrative