When is a MacGuffin not a MacGuffin?

[Johnny Novgorod]

Yes I am.

And at the point of "the audience don't care," your own source would further seem to prove you wrong.

And then he goes on to use the same quote I offered.

Not exactly helping your case.

The audience doesn't care the way characters do.

 

[Mikeyfell]

To my knowledge from my film minor days, there is one easy way to tell the difference between a MacGuffin and what's not a MacGuffin:

If the object that you are chasing could be changed to anything else and it would not change the movie in any way, then you are chasing a MacGuffin.

The orb is not a MacGuffin because it becomes pretty damn important in the plot.

I always hated that particular definition because "being interchangeable" is such a nebulous concept.

If a thief is trying to steal something valuable that valuable thing could be anything without changing the story, but if that same thief was trying to steal a key to a safe with a valuable thing in it, the key has to be a key but that doesn't suddenly make it not a MacGuffin.

Or a story where the hero has to rescue the princess from the tower.
The princess is a MacGuffin but is she interchangeable?

A MacGuffin is just a thing that's only there to drive the plot, regardless of how unique it is.
I've also never heard a definition of MacGuffin that extends to whether it was used in the narrative.
The only definition I know says it's a MacGuffin if it's introduction is not a direct result of an event in the plot, (Usually at the beginning of a story)

 

[synobal]

I know I shouldn't redefine stuff but in my writing I try to ask myself "does this item give the protagonist and even antagonist to be doing what they are doing when there is lager more important things going on?

This is sort of true for Guardians, not for the protagonists because they are losers and would likely not be doing much of significance with out it. But its certainly true for the antagonists.

A good example would be Mass Effect 3 (I like the game so I'm not trying to bash it) the crucible is a total macguffin because it gives shepherd and crew an excuse to be running around doing what they are doing instead of solely focusing on the war effort.

 

[Olas]

If the orb isn't a MacGuffin, then we need to either modify the definition, or make a new word for what it is because it definitely fits into a commonly found trope you see. I mean, it sounds like according to Hitchcock's definition that neither the Ark of the Covenant or Holy Grail from Indiana Jones would be MacGuffins, and I always saw those as quintessentially MacGuffin.

If they aren't then there should be another word for them.