A MacGuffin by definition is a plot device which provides motivation, but is not actually important to the story.

The Swan station is only one of possibly eight or more different stations, and although they do raise the stakes and the motivations of the characters I don't think the Swan qualifies as a McGuffin.

It would, only if we were to find that there was no importance at all to a weird electromagnetic discharge that turns the sky white, crashes jet planes, hurls heavy steel hatches through the air, smashes up cutlery, washing machines and stuff, and gives (or as is speculated) enhances Desmond's pre-existing future visions.

Also its effects were important enough to require a team of men to enter a safe code in a computer every 108 minutes (which I believe was real, actual, important work and not a mind game).

I tend to think that the hatch was actually imperative to the overall plot, and that it was the catalyst for a number of changes already in motion. In fact, now that it is destroyed, its effects are still resonating through the characters in their actions and motivations. The producers have stated that the hatch implosion has had an as-yet unseen effect on the Island and possibly on a global scale.

Sounds pretty integral to the plot in my book.

__________________
"The Naked Gun!"

Frank Drebin remembers a lost love.

Frank: It's the same old story. Boy finds girl, boy loses girl, girl finds boy, boy forgets girl, boy remembers girl, girls dies in a tragic blimp accident over the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day.

Jane: Goodyear?

Frank: No, the worst.

The unseen effect is that the rest of the world is dead. except for the 4 toed goliath that once roamed the island...

wait a sec. thinking about it. if there was a entity of that size... he would feel kinda cramped on the islands...

That statue was probably just a little art project that Ben worked on years ago. He's been there all his life, ya know. He just felt a little creative and started sculpting and then everyone made fun of him because he forgot a toe. That's why he had so much anger inside him!

That reminds me of a great fake quote from Slash, former guitar player for Guns'n'Roses, regarding singer Axl Rose:

__________________
"The Naked Gun!"

Frank Drebin remembers a lost love.

Frank: It's the same old story. Boy finds girl, boy loses girl, girl finds boy, boy forgets girl, boy remembers girl, girls dies in a tragic blimp accident over the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day.

Jane: Goodyear?

Frank: No, the worst.

I like that. but maybe the foot fell from the sky and landed on Henry Gales Dharmist parents... Much like the house does in the wizard of OZ