North by Northwest, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 thriller, features a handsome lead, a beautiful love interest, a charming villain, and exciting action scenes that led to it being called “the first James Bond film,” as noted by The Guardian’s John Peterson (Peterson). Even if it is one’s first time viewing the film, it is easy to pick up on moments that are obviously iconic, including the moving text in the opening credits, the crop duster attack, and of course the final scene on the face of Mount Rushmore. Although the film spouts originality and iconic moments, there is one element that stands most important in moving the plot, which is in my opinion, the microfilm, otherwise known as a “MacGuffin.”
According to Michael Kurland of New York Times, …show more content…
Films such as Star Wars, Pulp Fiction, and The Lord of the Rings all use MacGuffins to drive the plot forward. The featured MacGuffins in those films include the plans to the Death Star, Marsellus Wallace’s brief case, and the One Ring, respectively. In Orson Welle’s Citizen Kane, Charles Foster Kane’s last word happens to be “rosebud,” a name that has not the slightest meaning to the other characters. However, it is the instigation for the reporter to interview many people from Kane’s life, which illustrates the nonlinear story that became known as one of the greatest films of all time. “Rosebud” is one of cinema’s most famous MacGuffins of all time and one of the earliest.
In North by Northwest, the microfilm is being pursued by both a government agency and an organization led by James Mason’s character, Phillip VanDamm. Although the microfilm is indeed the driving force behind the picture, what it contains or what it does is never explicitly revealed in the film, only that it contains sensitive government material. Although the microfilm is a mere plot device to the audience, it is much more than that to the film’s
According to Michael Kurland of New York Times, …show more content…
Films such as Star Wars, Pulp Fiction, and The Lord of the Rings all use MacGuffins to drive the plot forward. The featured MacGuffins in those films include the plans to the Death Star, Marsellus Wallace’s brief case, and the One Ring, respectively. In Orson Welle’s Citizen Kane, Charles Foster Kane’s last word happens to be “rosebud,” a name that has not the slightest meaning to the other characters. However, it is the instigation for the reporter to interview many people from Kane’s life, which illustrates the nonlinear story that became known as one of the greatest films of all time. “Rosebud” is one of cinema’s most famous MacGuffins of all time and one of the earliest.
In North by Northwest, the microfilm is being pursued by both a government agency and an organization led by James Mason’s character, Phillip VanDamm. Although the microfilm is indeed the driving force behind the picture, what it contains or what it does is never explicitly revealed in the film, only that it contains sensitive government material. Although the microfilm is a mere plot device to the audience, it is much more than that to the film’s