Pulp Fiction Briefcase

[daryn]

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]

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]

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]

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

[Blarg]

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]

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]

[ 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]

wow, you must be KILLER at parties.

[Blarg]

You must go to really weird parties.

[elwoodblues]

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)