Editing MacGuffin (section)

===Yves Lavandier===
Filmmaker and drama writing theorist [[Yves Lavandier]] suggests that a MacGuffin is a secret that motivates the villains.<ref name=lavandier>{{harvtxt|Lavandier|2005}}</ref> ''[[North by Northwest]]''{{'}}s MacGuffin<ref name=marez>{{harvtxt|Marez|2019|page=166}}</ref> is nothing that motivates the protagonist; Roger Thornhill's objective is to extricate himself from the predicament that the mistaken identity has created, and what matters to Vandamm and the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] is of little importance to Thornhill. A similar lack of motivating power applies to the MacGuffins of the 1930s films ''[[The Lady Vanishes (1938 film)|The Lady Vanishes]]'', ''[[The 39 Steps (1935 film)|The 39 Steps]]'', and ''[[Foreign Correspondent (film)|Foreign Correspondent]]''. In a broader sense, says Lavandier, a MacGuffin denotes any justification for the external conflict in a work.<ref name=lavandier/>{{failed verification|date=January 2014}}