I'm not sure why I'm putting this on a page, but hey what the hell, like anything else here makes sense. Today I'd like to discuss the movie Groundhog Day. Didn't see the movie? You're browser has a back button. Didn't like the movie? Fine. You too may use the back button. But as far as that goes there seems to be a lot of people who really don't like the movie despite the fact that I would say it is one of my favorites. It wasn't at first actually. I watched it and was sort of ho-hum, but for some reason it stuck in my mind and I felt a sort of... craving to watch it again when I saw TV advertisements or saw it on DVD in a store. The really really weird part about this is the fact that my story is pretty common. Groundhog Day did OK at the box office, but not fantastic. Yet it has done very well in DVD sales. Siskel (of Siskel and Ebert/Roper fame) added it to his list of favorite movies years later. It's odd that I should grow to like a movie like that, but downright weird that it's a common trend.
Anyway, there's this strange thing I've found about myself in recent times, and that's the fact that I watch a movie and sort of mill it around in my mind, but I don't really reflect on it until later. Groundhog Day was a movie I always thought I should get so I walked by a copy for $8 and picked it up. I know what you're thinking. That movie is on TV all the freaking time. I hear this a lot but I actually sort of... stopped watching TV O_o; I also bought Army of Darkness and have heard people say that it's been on TV so much they're sick of it. Well I'm sick of commercials. I tell you I've not actually watched TV in such a long time I don't even know how it freaking works anymore. Like I start watching Lost season 1 and half of Season 2 on DVD. I'm like, this is awesome. But then I try to watch it on TV. Yeah, like you have to WAIT for a show... ZZzzz... And commercials! I forgot about those. Then I have to pee but I can't pause it. I gave up after two episodes. I'll buy the DVDs just save me from the adult diaper commercials. So Groundhog Day right... After watching it I REALLY began thinking about the movie.
I mean the premise is simple: guy relives the same day over and over. However there are interesting themes to think about. For instance Phil Connors (Bill Murry) comes to the realization that every action on that day has no consequences. So there are lots of interesting things to do. A direct relation to that is the fact that whatever he does, doesn't matter. Then there are things you can experience that no one else can... like death. But in the end Phil gets lost in everything and feels rather hopeless.
There is an interesting thing to the specific day relived here. And that is the fact that he relives an ordinary day. As is related in the movie he doesn't relive the best or worst day in his life, just an ordinary one. There is also a subtlety in the fact that he is also trapped by the blizzard, and thus MUST spend his day in the small town. He cannot just take a plane and fly off, or drive anywhere - he is limited to his immediate surroundings. This also makes you actually appreciate modern society a bit. While many (mostly teenagers) bitch endlessly about small towns, there is really a HELL of a lot of stuff to do. Go to the library, jump off buildings, spank random women on the street, drive around in circles. Imagine if you merged this concept with "Little House on the Prairie". Yeah, you relive the same day over and over. You can plow the field... or maybe not today. Maybe I'll go into the one town that's within a days travel. Or maybe I'll look at the grass. Now THAT would totally suck!
But this is also in a way a bigger metaphor for life because you do not relive the best day of your life all the time. Most of your days are not that exciting and quite ordinary. After school your days begin to blend like they're the same day in and day out. This is literal for Phil, however he also relives the same day differently. He in fact starts the day with unlimited possibilities, but it only dawns on him to do other things when he gets tired of following the script of his life that he'd been following.
And the part that really intrigues me is about becoming a better person. Unlimited days you could smoke, drink and do whatever. Yet at some point he starts to learn new things. Learn new languages, ice sculpting, playing the piano... an unlimited number of things to learn.
That's all and good but it actually sort of dawned on me at one point where Phil asks two guys at the bar: "What would you do if you were reliving the same day over and over". A guy replies, that about sums it up for me. Which is actually true for many of us. You see it's like we live day after day with little variations, yet it doesn't have to be that way. For Phil, he had the chance to relive each day. For each one of us, we have the chance to improve ourselves and the lives of others every day.
It's easy to sit and watch the movie and think it would be nice to have endless amounts of time to learn and do stuff. However I would say such a thing knowing full well that instead of possibly learning or doing new things I'm merely letting those opportunities pass me buy. And so I started to really think about my life and what I should do with it. You know, I actually can do some things and improve myself. All it takes is motivation to start doing them.
And strangely enough I think I will. Perhaps I will write my own self help book one day.