Zizek on the McGuffin

As Zizek indicates in the article, the corpse is the McGuffin in the film, and in this film we can once again experience the void created by this object, as well as its relation to all of the plot and character. More than half of the people in this small town are linked together by this body, but we can say that the body’s appearance, condition or even the cause of death does not matter. To continue my classmates’ comments in their posts, the depersonalization / deconstruction of Harry (Lol Woody Allen) turned the corpse into parts of fragmented symbols or abstracted qualities, and eventually “justifies” people’s aloofness of Harry’s death. I think the most depersonalization of Harry happened with the doctor’s interaction, who is supposed to be the most keen about bodies and deaths in the film. After 2 times of not being able to discover the corpse, he eventually saw it, and ironically, in the night time, and also he was not tripped. After the doctor’s body examination, Jennifer’s explanation to the doctor “it wouldn’t interest you. It’s purely personal not medical”, and the doctor’s comments “Put him back. Put him back” encapsulated the lack of any concern about the corpse itself. Abstractly, if we visualize the corpse as the center black hole and the characters being at the perimeter, we can see how the corpse pulls characters into the plot and catalyze different interactions between characters. The characters stand at the perimeter of the void, and then their relationships are formed or distorted due it the void in the middle. Note that in a small town like this, we still hear them say that they have never interacted with some of their neighbors (Sammy said this about Jennifer, and Captain said this about Ms. Gravely). The location or quality of the corpse also needs to be adjusted based on the new dynamic between the personal relationships, but again, what is at the center of the void does not matter. In 39 steps, there is a directional and relatively stable relationship between the characters and the McGuffin. The protagonist and the 39 steps are both after the formula. What is different in The Trouble with Harry is that the relationship between the center object and the characters (mostly the four main characters) is much more dynamic and ambivalent. It is never the cause of murder they are after, that none of them actually wanted to indict any of their fellow villagers, that they do not trust the justice system to deal with the body (because its powerlessness and the potential rumors); that they want to just un-know the body, to forget everything that has happened, and to leave the murder conclusion to the possibilities they have listed but yet to confirm. I would say that this ambivalent attitude from multiple perspectives is captured really well, and we can almost define the McGuffin more clearly: the McGuffin in the film is the lack of the cause of Harry’s death.