[innerSpaceman]

I guess the Shankara Stones are the most Maguffinish by the textbook defintion, and certainly that's another reason why I dislike ToD ... because they didn't bother to integrate the Maguffin into the story. It could have been anything that brought fertility to the Village and had RaveScene GlowyDiamonds effects when brought together on the dance floor.

So I retract. While any powerful supernatural Jewish artifact embodying God's Mighty Power would have done, the truth is there's probably very little on that particular menu other than the Ark of the Covenant.

Similarly, though I think the Holy Grail was used to less effect, perhaps only the Fountain of Youth could have provided a similar substitute for that particular story ... and not as apt a metaphor for the film's Father-Son element as the Holy Grail (though I think that metaphor was under-explored).


So I concede the nature of the Maguffin ... but not its dramatic purpose. The movies are better to the extent Indy, pardon the expression, joneses for the item, and fights like hell (over and over again) to get it.