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For the introduction to this regular series about film and how the best movies change our lives read the introduction below….
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Yesterday was Ground Hog Day. When I say “Ground Hog Day”, many people think not of the weird myths of a rodent looking at its own shadow, but rather of the 1983 movie of the same name.
Though the fantasy comedy film directed by Harold Ramis (a practitioner of a Buddhist lifestyle), with a screenplay by him and Danny Rubin, was a success when it first came out it has become a cult film among shaman’s, New Age types, and physicists, philosophers, and metaphysicians with an interest in multiverse theory.
The film stars Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Stephen Tobolowsky, Brian Doyle-Murray, Chris Elliott, and other great comic talents. Murray portrays Phil Connors, a cynical television weatherman covering the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, who becomes trapped in a time loop, forcing him to relive February 2nd repeatedly.
In the years since its release, the film has grown in esteem and is often considered to be among the greatest films of the 1990s and one of the greatest comedy movies ever. It also had a significant impact on popular culture; the term Groundhog Day became part of the English lexicon, meaning a monotonous, unpleasant, and repetitive situation. The film has been analyzed as a religious allegory by Buddhists, Christians, and Jews. Groundhog Day is also credited with the mainstream acceptance of comedy films featuring fantasy genre elements. In 2006, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry.
The Plot
On February 1, television weatherman Phil Connors reassures his Pittsburgh viewers that an approaching blizzard will miss Western Pennsylvania. Alongside his producer Rita Hanson and cameraman Larry, Phil travels to Punxsutawney for his annual coverage of the Groundhog Day festivities. He makes no secret of his contempt for the assignment, the small town, and the "hicks" who live there, asserting that he will soon be leaving his station for a new job.
On February 2, Phil awakens in the Cherry Tree Inn to Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe" playing on the clock radio. He gives a half-hearted report on the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil and the festivities. Contrary to his prediction, the blizzard strikes the area, preventing all travel out of Punxsutawney, and although he desperately searches for a way to leave, he is forced to spend the night in the town.
The next morning, Phil wakes once more to "I Got You Babe" and the same DJ banter on the radio. Phil experiences the previous day's events repeating exactly and believes he is experiencing déjà vu. He again unsuccessfully attempts to leave the town and retires to bed. When he awakes, it is again February 2. Phil gradually realizes that he is trapped in a time loop that no one else is aware of. He confides his situation to Rita, who directs him to a neurologist, who in turn directs him to a psychologist; neither can explain his experiences. Phil gets drunk with locals Gus and Ralph and then leads police on a high-speed car chase before being arrested and imprisoned. The next morning, Phil awakens in the Cherry Tree Inn.
Realizing that there are no consequences for his actions, Phil begins spending loops indulging in binge eating, one-night stands, robbery, and other dangerous activities, using his increasing knowledge of the day's events and the town residents to manipulate circumstances to his advantage. Eventually, he focuses on seducing Rita, using the loops to learn more about her so that he can try to sleep with her. No matter what steps he takes, Rita rebuffs his advances, particularly when Phil tells her he loves her; Rita asserts that he does not even know her.
Phil gradually becomes depressed and desperate for a way to escape the loop. He commits suicide in a variety of ways, even kidnapping Punxsutawney Phil and driving them both off a cliff. Each time, he reawakens on February 2 to "I Got You Babe". He eventually tries to explain his situation to Rita again, using his detailed knowledge of the day to accurately predict events. Convinced, Rita spends the rest of that day's loop with Phil; she encourages him to think of the loops as a blessing instead of a curse. Lying on the bed together at night, Phil realizes that his feelings for Rita have become sincere. He wakes alone on February 2. Phil decides to use his knowledge of the loop to change himself and others: he saves people from deadly accidents and misfortunes and learns to play the piano, sculpt ice, and speak French. Regardless of his actions, he is unable to save a homeless old man from death.
During one iteration of the loop, Phil reports on the Groundhog Day festivities with such eloquence that other news crews stop working to listen to his speech, amazing Rita. Phil continues his day helping the people of Punxsutawney. That night, Rita witnesses Phil's expert piano-playing skills as the adoring townsfolk regale her with stories of his good deeds. Impressed by his apparent overnight transformation, Rita successfully bids for him at a charity bachelor auction. Phil carves an ice sculpture in Rita's image and tells her that no matter what happens, even if he is doomed to continue waking alone each morning forever, he wants her to know that he is finally happy because he loves her. They retire to Phil's room.
Phil wakes the next morning to "I Got You Babe", but finds Rita is still in bed with him and the radio banter has changed; it is now February 3rd. Phil tells Rita that he wants to live in Punxsutawney with her.
The original idea for Groundhog Day came to writer Danny Rubin in 1990. While waiting in a theater for a film to start, he was reading Anne Rice's book The Vampire Lestat (1985).[3][4][5] Rubin began musing about vampiric immortality and what one would do with their time if it was limitless. He reasoned that vampires were like normal people who did not need to adhere to ordinary rules or moral boundaries. He questioned if and when immortality would become boring or pointless, and how a person would change over time, especially if they were incapable of substantial change. He singled out men he deemed to be in arrested development, who could not outlive their adolescence.
Analysis and the Time Loop Duration
The duration of Phil's real-time entrapment in the time loop has been the subject of much discussion. Ramis once said that he believed the film took place over 10 years. When a blogger estimated the actual length to be approximately 9 years, Ramis disputed that estimate and his own. He replied that it takes at least 10 years to become good at an activity (such as Phil learning ice sculpting and speaking French), and "allotting for the down-time and misguided years he spent, it had to be more like 30 or 40 years." A similar estimate suggests that it takes at least 10,000 hours of study (just over a year's worth of time) to become an expert in a field, and given the number of loops seen or mentioned on screen, and how long Phil could spend per day studying, that Phil spent approximately 12,400 days or nearly 34 years trapped. In Rubin's original concept draft, Phil himself estimates that he has been trapped for between 70 and 80 years, having used books to track the passage of time.
Ramis said that based on Buddhist doctrine, it takes approximately 10,000 years for a soul to evolve to the next level. In 2005, Rubin said, "it became this weird political issue because if you asked the studio, 'How long was the repetition?', they'd say, 'Two weeks'. But the point of the movie to me was that you had to feel you were enduring something that was going on for a long time ... For me it had to be—I don't know. A hundred years. A lifetime."
In his book Groundhog Day, Ryan Gilbey thought the vagueness surrounding the length of the loop was one of the most remarkable elements of the film. Just as there is no justification for why or how Phil is caught in the loop, the length of time is only as long as it takes for Phil to become a better person.
Thematic Analysis
The character of Phil Connors has been interpreted by many theologians and philosophers as a bodhisattva: someone who helps others reach nirvana.
The film has been interpreted in many ways by different groups. Rubin has said that he did not set out to write the film as a spiritual analogy. He simply wanted to tell a story about human life and periods in it where a person becomes trapped in a cycle no matter how much they want to escape. He said it was not "just about a man repeating the same day but a story about how to live. Whose life isn't a series of days? Who doesn't feel stuck from time to time?" In the bowling alley scene, Phil asks two Punxsutawney residents if they understand what it is like to be stuck in a place where nothing they do matters. He is referring to his own trapped situation, but the two men, though not trapped in their own loop, know exactly what he means.
While Rubin and Ramis discussed several of the philosophical and spiritual aspects of the film, they "never intended [it] to be anything more than a good, heartfelt, entertaining story". Murray saw the original script as an interpretation of how people repeat the same day over and over because they are afraid of change. Rubin added that at the start of the loop, it is the worst day of Phil's life. By being forced to change who he is, to embrace the world around him, each moment of his day, becomes the best day of his life; the day he falls in love. In a 2017 interview, Murray said he believed Groundhog Day still resonated because it is about "the idea that we just have to try again... it's such a beautiful, powerful idea."
Rubin has been contacted throughout the years by different experts providing their own interpretations. It has been seen as a Christian allegory with Punxsutawney Phil representing Jesus Christ, an example of the Nietzschean concept of the eternal return, the spirit of Judaism, and the essence of homeopathy. It has also been interpreted as an adaptation of the Greek mythological figure Sisyphus who is also condemned to an eternal, daily punishment. Others have found significance in the numbers present in the film. Ramis himself was fascinated by Rubin's original draft and its concepts of reincarnation. The date of Groundhog Day also has implications. It is set between the end of winter—characterized in the film as a period of satire and the end of things—and spring—a season represented by comedy and connected with themes of renewal and redemption.
Buddhist leaders commended the representation of the ideologies of regeneration. Phil can be interpreted as a bodhisattva, someone who has reached the brink of Nirvana and returns to Earth to help others to do the same. In the Jewish faith, Phil's escape or reward can be seen as him being returned to Earth to perform moral deeds or mitzvot—the precepts and commandments of God. In Christianity, his journey can be interpreted as a form of resurrection or a means of securing a place in heaven.
In Falun Gong religious philosophy, the film has been interpreted as a message that the spiritual self cannot evolve until it learns from past mistakes.
In Catholicism, Phil's situation can be identified as a form of purgatory, escaped only by embracing selflessness. MacDowell said "Wouldn't it be great if we had that kind of experience and learn something from it? We go through life and are not always conscious of it... whatever religion you want to base yourself in, that's ultimately why we're here."
Groundhog Day can also be interpreted as a secular tale in which Phil is experiencing an existential crisis where primal indulgences are no longer satisfying, causing him to fall into a depression that he escapes by taking ownership of his own self-improvement; he then uses his improved persona to benevolently help others.
Phil initially compares himself to a god, declaring that as a weatherman, he makes the weather. After several loops he comes to believe he is a god, asserting that omnipotence may be mistaken for having lived so long one simply knows everything. Using his knowledge he is able to manipulate events in his favor. The repetition gives Phil an opportunity to escape from his own narcissistic self-confinement. Unwilling to change himself, the means to do so are forced upon him. After constant rejection by Rita and his idea of love, Phil hits an emotional low and repeatedly commits suicide. At one point he suggests that he has killed himself enough times to no longer exist. It is at this point, Ramis suggests, that Phil becomes ready to change.
It is only when Phil stops using the loops to indulge his own desires and instead uses them to selflessly help others that he is freed. In repeatedly failing to save the old homeless man, Phil is also forced to accept that he is not a god. Similarly, regardless of how much knowledge he gains about Rita, and despite his accomplishments learned throughout the loops, he is unable to impress her enough to earn her love. He wins her over only once he stops trying to do so, when he demonstrates genuine care for helping others without fakery or self-interest, knowing that the day will likely reset and it will have all been for naught. Only then does Rita return his affections.
The aspects of Rita that Phil mocked at the start of the film have become qualities he admires and respects, and in turn, Phil receives Rita's love not because he desires it, but because he has genuinely become the type of person that Rita could love. This demonstrates the redeeming power of love, something Ramis wanted to emphasize. For him, Groundhog Day represents having the strength and knowledge to make a change when faced with the opportunity to repeat previous mistakes.
Rick Brookhiser argues that it is because Phil fully appreciates every facet of the day that he is rewarded by the day being taken from him. He said, "loving life includes loving the fact that it goes". John Seamon said that where other films use memory as a means of reflection or escape, Phil effectively lives within his memories, repeating them indefinitely; he has no hope for a future because everything will reset. By remembering and appreciating new details, Phil is able to grow as a person and becomes the agent of his own change. Rubin said Phil will not return to his old ways after his experiences, but might suffer disappointment that no day will ever live up to his final, perfect February 2, after which he essentially loses his superpowers.
Critical Reassessment and Influence
Though it originally received mixed to positive reviews Groundhog Day is now considered one of the greatest films ever made.
Several publications have ranked it as one of the greatest comedy films of all time.
The film's success helped to legitimize the use of fantasy in mainstream comedy films, laying the groundwork for future fantasy comedies such as Liar Liar (1997), The Truman Show (1998), and Click (2006).
The phrase "Groundhog Day" has become a common term to reference a repetitive, unpleasant, and monotonous situation. It is recognized by dictionaries under two definitions: the holiday itself, and "a situation in which events are or appear to be continually repeated." The term's use is such that it has been defined as a cliché to refer to a situation in this way. It has been invoked (sometimes inaccurately) by singers, sports stars, comedians, actors, politicians, archbishops, and former Guantanamo Bay detention camp inmates. Then-President Bill Clinton referenced the film in a 1996 speech to troops stationed in Bosnia. The term was used during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, to refer to the monotony of quarantine and isolation associated with attempts to stem the spread of the virus.
The Takeaway
Groundhog Day is considered one of the most beloved comedy films ever made, an all-time classic, and a pop-culture touchstone. In 2020, Paste described it as having a "mythic, permanent pop-cultural status reserved for few films".
Its impact on the town of Woodstock, Ill. (where it was actually filmed) and Punxsutawney was lasting and significant. Since the film's release, Woodstock has hosted its own Groundhog Day festivals. These have included groundhog Woodstock Willie, screenings of the film, and walking tours of filming locations. The town attracts approximately 1,000 tourists for its event, which has featured appearances by Albert, Rubin, and Tobolowsky.
Punxsutawney, which once drew only a few hundred visitors to its festival, has since attracted tens of thousands. The year following the film's release, over 35,000 people visited the town for Groundhog Day. Residents appreciate the film's impact on the town but assert that their focus remains on Punxsutawney Phil and the long-lived festival.
In Woodstock, plaques are positioned at key locations used in the film, commemorating moments including Phil meeting Ned, the pothole in which Phil trips, and the town square pavilion where Phil and Rita share a dance.
As of 2016, Rubin had continued to receive mail from fans, philosophers, and religious leaders with content ranging from simple letters to sermons and dissertations. He has spoken of psychiatrists who recommend the film to their patients, and addicts who have told him that it helped them realize they were trapped in a repeating cycle of their own.
Sometime after the film's release, Murray changed his opinion about it. Though he originally had a great dislike for the film he now calls it "probably the best work I've done". Murray’s character in the film was able to be both antagonist and protagonist at the same time. He’s everything that’s horrible and everything that’s wonderful.
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Author: Lewis is a writer, teacher, and master results-oriented life coach. He is a former member of the National Board of Review for Motion Pictures the author of over twenty books and offered regular film revues on his talk show on NPR Affiliated WIOX91.3 FM. He can be contacted at LewisCoaches@gmail.com
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