Video: MacGuffins Aren’t MacGuffins

Another in the excellent screenwriting series Raising the Stakes.

Jonathan W. Stokes is a screenwriter with a unique credit to his name: Five of his original screenplays have been named to the annual Black List. That alone should get your attention, but there’s also this: Over the last few years, he has produced a valuable video series called Raising the Stakes.

Recently, Jonathon debuted the second video in Season 4 of his screenwriting series. Episode 4: “MacGuffins Aren’t MacGuffins.” Here’s how he frames the subject:

The MacGuffin is a perfectly good film theory term that is almost always misused. We want it to mean one thing, but it means something different. In this video I attempt to define what a MacGuffin actually is, versus what it should be.

True MacGuffins are empty and meaningless, but perhaps we storytellers should strive to make MacGuffins that are emotionally meaningful and thematically significant.

Here is the video.

I’m going to jump to the end of the video where Jonathan says this:

“For my money, have your prize be emotional for your characters … then you have a prize that is relevant to plot … to character … to emotion … and to theme.”

There’s that word: Theme.

I’ve interviewed 200+ screenwriters. When I ask some craft questions and get to “In your view, what is theme,” the responses are all over the place.

I think it’s the single most nebulous term related to the writing craft.

Here’s how I teach it to my film school students: Theme = Meaning.

What does the story mean?

Implicit in that is what does the story mean to the Protagonist?

Grounded in that character’s transformational journey, theme really is about this: What does the story mean to the Protagonist emotionally?

There is the physical journey through space and time. That is the domain of the Protagonist’s want … their Conscious Goal.

There is the concurrent psychological journey through backstory (Past) and into opportunity (Future) that transpires in the now (Present). This is the domain of the Protagonist’s need … their Unconscious Goal.

This brings us to the concept of the Talisman: Any physical object with symbolic, emotional, and/or psychological meaning to a character.

MacGuffin or not, talismans speak directly to where Jonathan ends his video: Have your prize be emotional for your characters.

Like the snow globe in Citizen Kane.

The piece of cloth from his beloved’s dress in Braveheart.

Or the Ellie badge in Up.

Movies are about entertainment. But critically, they are about eliciting an emotional experience with the audience.

Physical objects with emotional meaning to the Protagonist are a great way to achieve that goal.

Here are the movie clips featured in Jonathan’s video.

Do yourself a favor and screen Jonathan’s latest video. And more to come in the next several weeks as the rest of Season 4 rolls out!

For more videos in Jonathan Stokes’ excellent Raising the Stakes series, go here. While you’re there, why not subscribe?

Here are links to previous Go Into The Story articles featuring Jonathan’s excellent videos on storytelling.

Season 1

Episode 1: The Objective Correlative
Episode 2: Breaking Suture
Episode 3: Nuking the Fridge
Episode 4: 10 Ways to Invest Your Audience in Your Hero
Episode 5: Heightening

Season 2

Episode 1: Theme Shown
Episode 2: Raising the Stakes on the Call to Adventure
Episode 3: 7 Ways To Do Bad Exposition
Episode 4: 9 Rules For Good Exposition
Episode 5: Magic Flight

Season 3

Episode 1: The Act One Break
Episode 2: Atonement with the Father
Episode 3: Seven Set Pieces
Episode 4: The Midpoint
Episode 5: Anaphora and Epistrophe

Season 4

Episode 1: What is subtext?
Episode 2: The Christ Symbol
Episode 3: Why “We’re Not So Very Different, You And I”

For more background on Jonathan W. Stokes, you can go here.

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To learn more about Carl Jung, go here.