Pulp Fiction Briefcase [Archive] - Two Plus Two Older Archives

Sponger15SB

11-10-2004, 06:31 PM

Main Entry: McGuffin
Function: noun
Definition: in film, a plot device that has no specific meaning or purpose other than to advance the story; any situation that motivates the action of a film either artificially or substantively; also written MacGuffin

bwana devil

11-10-2004, 06:33 PM

I saw the American premiere of Pulp Fiction in Austin. Tarantino was there and was asked the same thing. He said that he originally wrote it w/ money in the case. Then he said he replaced w/ diamonds. Then he just figured it was better for each individual person to put whatever they thought was most desired in the briefcase.

I'm sure he's been asked this a zillion times so I'm sure most people even fairly interested in movies have read or heard some response from him.

Years later I read an interview and someone asked him about Wallace's soul. He thought that was indicated that he had no intention of trying to imply that thought people were reading into the "signs" way too much.

daryn

11-10-2004, 06:34 PM

<blockquote>In risposta di:<hr />
Main Entry: McGuffin
Function: noun
Definition: in film, a plot device that has no specific meaning or purpose other than to advance the story; any situation that motivates the action of a film either artificially or substantively; also written MacGuffin

[/ QUOTE ]

exactly. please, all you idiots, stop fantasizing about what's in the case.

ilya

11-10-2004, 06:34 PM

Main entry: pedantic bore
Function: insult
Definition: Sponger15SB

Sponger15SB

11-10-2004, 06:38 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Main entry: pedantic bore
Function: insult
Definition: Sponger15SB

[/ QUOTE ]

get a [censored] clue man.

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpulpfiction.html

ilya

11-10-2004, 06:57 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Main entry: pedantic bore
Function: insult
Definition: Sponger15SB

[/ QUOTE ]

get a [censored] clue man.

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpulpfiction.html

[/ QUOTE ]

What's your point?
I understand what a MacGuffin is. And obviously the briefcase is a MacGuffin. But who cares? It's fun to argue about what's inside.

maryfield48

11-10-2004, 06:58 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Main entry: pedantic bore
Function: insult
Definition: Sponger15SB

[/ QUOTE ]

get a [censored] clue man.

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpulpfiction.html

[/ QUOTE ]

Being right is an insufficient defence to a charge of pedantry.

Blarg

11-10-2004, 07:10 PM

[ QUOTE ]
The same thing that was in the car trunk in "Repo Man".

[/ QUOTE ]

Which would be the same thing that was in the briefcase in "Kiss Me Deadly" a couple decades earlier.

ThaSaltCracka

11-10-2004, 07:11 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Main entry: pedantic bore
Function: insult
Definition: Sponger15SB

[/ QUOTE ]

get a [censored] clue man.

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpulpfiction.html

[/ QUOTE ]

Being right is an insufficient defence to a charge of pedantry.

[/ QUOTE ]you should have said this Ilya. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

Blarg

11-10-2004, 07:12 PM

Pedantry? I never knew he wanted to have sex with kids.

Sponger15SB

11-10-2004, 07:16 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I never knew he wanted to have sex with kids.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, now you know. /images/graemlins/ooo.gif /images/graemlins/ooo.gif

TylerD

11-10-2004, 07:17 PM

About a year ago a British paediatrician was attacked because the local vigilante couldn't read very well.

maryfield48

11-10-2004, 07:20 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Main entry: pedantic bore
Function: insult
Definition: Sponger15SB

[/ QUOTE ]

get a [censored] clue man.

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpulpfiction.html

[/ QUOTE ]

Being right is an insufficient defence to a charge of pedantry.

[/ QUOTE ]

Pedantry? I never knew he wanted to have sex with kids.

[/ QUOTE ]

However, being right is a necessary element of pedantry.

ilya

11-10-2004, 07:36 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Main entry: pedantic bore
Function: insult
Definition: Sponger15SB

[/ QUOTE ]

get a [censored] clue man.

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpulpfiction.html

[/ QUOTE ]

Being right is an insufficient defence to a charge of pedantry.

[/ QUOTE ]you should have said this Ilya. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh well. I am slow, and a pedant myself besides.

cnfuzzd

11-10-2004, 08:03 PM

POTD!!

peace

john nickle

maryfield48

11-11-2004, 02:42 AM

peace, john nickle.

--
Peter

Daliman

11-11-2004, 02:48 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Main Entry: McGuffin
Function: noun
Definition: in film, a plot device that has no specific meaning or purpose other than to advance the story; any situation that motivates the action of a film either artificially or substantively; also written MacGuffin

[/ QUOTE ]

I concur, as has QT on numerous occaisions.

P.S. If you think it's marsellus's soul;

#1 Why is it glowing?
#2 Why did Brad and the boys have it?
#3 WTF is it doing in a suitcase?
#4 Get a clue.

daryn

11-11-2004, 02:50 AM

<blockquote>In risposta di:<hr />
P.S. If you think it's marsellus's soul;

#1 Why is it glowing?
#2 Why did Brad and the boys have it?
#3 WTF is it doing in a suitcase?
#4 Get a clue.

[/ QUOTE ]

#1 souls glow, duh
#2 they were obviously delivering it to the devil (666 pw)
#3 how would you carry it??
#4 i actually don't believe this, it's clear that it's a mcguffin, but anyone could come up with answers to these questions.

ThaSaltCracka

11-11-2004, 02:54 AM

dude, the McGuffin answer is soooooo lame though, come on people, lets think here, what could it be? Maybe it contains Q's self control.

daryn

11-11-2004, 02:56 AM

yeah the truth is always more boring.

ThaSaltCracka

11-11-2004, 02:57 AM

yeah, tonight I will think about McGuffins to help me go to sleep.

Daliman

11-11-2004, 02:58 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
P.S. If you think it's marsellus's soul;

#1 Why is it glowing?
#2 Why did Brad and the boys have it?
#3 WTF is it doing in a suitcase?
#4 Get a clue.

[/ QUOTE ]

#1 souls glow, duh
#2 they were obviously delivering it to the devil (666 pw)
#3 how would you carry it??
#4 i actually don't believe this, it's clear that it's a mcguffin, but anyone could come up with answers to these questions.

[/ QUOTE ]

#1 Some souls suck IN light, like a black hole. Not naming any names, but a certain owner in NY comes to mind...
#2 Why would he have brad and the boys deliver it? Everyone knows the best person to have sell something to the devil is David Arquette.(does he STILL have BOTH a career AND Courtney?)
#3 Soul Handbag (http://www.triple5soul.com/shop/style.asp?Style=FZ-B507&Rec=9350&Category=5)
#4 Bah on you.

daryn

11-11-2004, 03:01 AM

nice /images/graemlins/grin.gif

Daliman

11-11-2004, 03:04 AM

[ QUOTE ]
nice /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I rise (or lower) to the occasion at times.

Blarg

11-11-2004, 03:06 AM

It's not really a MacGuffin because it doesn't function in a way that nothing else could equally well stand in for without further plot development.

A MacGuffin is an exposition deleter, a time saver and a plot cutter. The glowing briefcase deletes nothing, adds time and interest without explaining it rather than cuts it and glossing over it, and has no effect on the plot at all.

The gangsters could just be owed money, pure and simple, and that would perform the identical function with no more work for the director and writer(same guy in this case) and no less clarity or drive to the story, and no less scenery to chew through in order to propel the story. It would even make more sense.

A MacGuffin is a cheat, in a way. The glowing briefcase doesn't cut corners, it adds them in.

What it is is a simple homage to the mysterious, unexplained glowing briefcase in Kiss Me Deadly.

daryn

11-11-2004, 03:08 AM

<blockquote>In risposta di:<hr />
It's not really a MacGuffin .... What it is is a simple homage to the mysterious, unexplained glowing briefcase in Kiss Me Deadly.

[/ QUOTE ]

i'm pretty sure QT has said specifically it was a mcguffin in interviews. i'll take the directors word over yours.

Blarg

11-11-2004, 03:20 AM

Or you could use logic.

Tarantino didn't invent the concept, by the way. He has absolutely zero more authority than anyone else to say what's a MacGuffin and what isn't.

He can use English however he wants, but I'll take a logical interpretation over the answers of a director throwing reporters a bone to get them off an annoying topic.

Ever read a Hitchock interview? He's famous and hilarious for telling them whatever they want to hear, or whatever comes off the top of his head, especially when they ask him stupid questions about things best left to the imagination.

"What's in the suitcase" is a classic example of a very stupid question that won't go away and whose only proper answer is, "It's best left to the imagination." That's the whole point.

And that's the end of the point. But if you want to follow dead ends further, I'm sure Hitchcock would be happy to roll over in his grave to laugh at you and Tarantino would be happy to tell you whatever is necessary to shut you up and get you onto a more productive, less mercilessly obvious topic.

daryn

11-11-2004, 03:24 AM

all i'm saying is basically this: if i ask QT a question about a movie of his, and he gives me an answer, i'll take it.

i'm certainly not going to spend my time speculating about his creation as it seems you have done.

Blarg

11-11-2004, 03:39 AM

There is no speculation, man. It's just using the English language in the way it's intended.

Surrendering logic doesn't make any difference, even if you surrender it to a celebrity. Even a really cool celebrity.

The fact is, a MacGuffin is a plot device that moves the plot along without the need for the expenditure of time spent in exposition or the writing of said exposition.

If you want to go to the source, Tarantino is not it. Read Truffaut's book interviewing Hitchcock, where the term was first coined by Hitchcock and first came to public notice. That was back in the 1950's, when Tarantino wasn't even born. Do you see now why I say that Tarantino is not the man to define what the term means?

As an accomplished poker player, you don't seem the type to be so resistant to either fact or logic. Seriously, look it up if you like. I've read the book myself, and my logic holds up and is not complicated or flawed. Unless you have absolutely no feel for or understanding of the artistic process or the goal of the filmmaker, it's clearer still.

But really, the logic and clear meaning of the words should suffice. Beyond that, you're simply being stubborn.

daryn

11-11-2004, 03:42 AM

ok mr. semantics. let's not call it a mcguffin. instead let's just call it something that tarantino wrote into the movie just to make idiots ask questions about it and try to deduce what lies within it. can we agree on that?

evidently it worked on you.

Tyler Durden

11-11-2004, 03:45 AM

Can anyone give another example of a McGuffin? How common are they?

Blarg

11-11-2004, 03:55 AM

It's not semantics and there is no way in hell you don't know it through and through.

You could have just said, okay, I was wrong.

Would have been much less lame than saying I tried to deduce what was within and ask questions about it, when you know I did the opposite and never cared, and my whole point was explicitly that it didn't matter in the first place and was simply an homage.

Jeez, you can certainly be one cussed, stubborn individual.

daryn

11-11-2004, 03:57 AM

i guess i just disagree with you about the homage. again i'm just more willing to take QT's word over yours. i must be an idiot.

p.s. tell your friend to stop kicking down banana trees in his yard. what a moron. now you have free bananas, now you don't!

Blarg

11-11-2004, 04:07 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Can anyone give another example of a McGuffin? How common are they?

[/ QUOTE ]

Example: Everyone has to find a scrap of paper on which is written a secret formula that when recited would bring about the end of the world.

End of central plot point.

A lot of CGI efects ensue, many bullets are fired, somehow you wind up seeing a girl's breasts, but not the star's, and a love story seems to come out of nowhere and then disappear, only to mysterously resolve in a seemingly unmotivated kiss at the ending. Evil finds itself defeated...this time.

Example: Jack says something that Janet and Chrissy misunderstand on Three's Company, and hilarity ensues.

End of central plot point.

Actually, a simple and improbable misunderstanding has been created that anyone with any sense would ask about and talk over before things got too crazy, but somehow things progress into absurdity, and Mr. Roper winds up in a dress, and, after being hit on the head, thinks he's the flower girl at Jack and Larry's wedding.

Daliman

11-11-2004, 04:11 AM

wow, you must be KILLER at parties.

Blarg

11-11-2004, 04:13 AM

You must go to really weird parties.

elwoodblues

11-11-2004, 10:16 AM

The movie Psycho is probably the best example I can think of. The whole first third of the movie is a McGuffin (about her stealing money from her boss then fleeing)

Bulldog

11-11-2004, 10:26 AM

[ QUOTE ]
"What's in the suitcase" is a classic example of a very stupid question that won't go away and whose only proper answer is, "It's best left to the imagination." That's the whole point.

And that's the end of the point.

[/ QUOTE ]

And this discussion is about that point. He says, "it's best left to the imagination." This topic is about that imagination--if you have no imagination, please (not you specifically) drop out of this thread now.