Groundhog Day

CLASSICS OF OUR TIMES II

GROUNDHOG DAY

 Raymond Li

February 2nd is Groundhog Day. According to the folklore, if the groundhog comes out from hiding and becomes afraid of its own shadow, 6 more weeks of winter are to be expected. Many townships over North America and Europe celebrate this day with festivities but none is as grand as the one held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Phil Connors, the television weatherman played by Bill Murray in the 1993 movie “Groundhog Day”, was given the assignment to cover the Groundhog Day at Punxsutawney for the 3rd time in as many years.

Phil was egocentric and miserable. His egocentricity was in fact an overcompensation of the disdain he has for his life. He turned a potentially fun assignment into a tedious chore, and projected his frustration uninhibitedly towards his colleagues, cameraman Larry and their producer Rita, played by Andie MacDowell.

The movie did not explain why Phil became that way, so we, the audiences, are not swayed to sympathize with him. In many ways, Phil reminds us of that “someone” whom most of us would have the misfortune of running into one time or another in our lives, someone we dislike and tend to avoid 

On their way home after covering the Groundhog Day, the news crew had to be turned back to town; the highway was closed due to a snow storm. Disappointed, Phil went about his miserable sulky way that evening. He woke up the next morning to the same radio broadcasting as the day before, and soon realized he was reliving yesterday all over again.

This was when Phil went into shock while we lift off on a fantasy ride in one of the slickest movie of all times.

“Groundhog Day” is ranked by the American Film Institute as the 34th funniest movie from their list of 100, and hailed by the Writers’ Guild of America as having the 27th best ever written screenplay out of a prestigious company of 101. It is also honoured by US National Film Registry in 2006 as being “culturally, historically and aesthetically significant”. This is no small feat for a film that had completely flown under the radar at the 1993 Oscar nomination dominated by blockbusters like “Schindler’s List” and “Jurassic Park”.

Soon after the movie came out, the phrase “groundhog day” was fondly adopted by the US military to depict their tedious, repetitive and often unpleasant assignments. Nowadays, “groundhog day” is commonly used “…as a reference to an unpleasant situation that continuously repeats, or seems to” (Wikipedia). 

Imagine, just imagine, that you live the same day over and over again, nothing is changed until you intervene, but only for a day. People you were nasty to cannot remember what was done to them. People you are nice to will draw a blank look when they see you again tomorrow. All memories are wiped clean at the start of everyday except for yours, and you have to carry all the accumulated pains and regrets into eternity. Things you hold dear to your heart would not last for more than 24 hours, and even when you have committed suicide, you will still wake up to the same ode, same ode with no hope of escaping the rut. Tell me, if this is not the ultimate punishment, what is?  

That was the movie’s version of “groundhog day”. However, the movie provided Phil with an escape clause. When he learnt to become a more caring and better person, not only he won the heart of Rita, the producer whom he initially tried to take advantage of but eventually fell in love with, he was also able to break the curse of that ultimate punishment.

The movie never spelled out how long it took for Phil to get things right. Director Harold Ramis mentioned in an interview that the script called for a span of 10 years, and he dropped a hint here and there to indicate the length of this span. 

That means Phil had relived the same day over and over 3650 times!

Is it possible for anyone to become entangled with the same unpleasant situation(s) over and over for 10 long years in real life?

I will walk away first! Many will say, but having to walk away from every unpleasant entanglement is just like living a version of “groundhog day”. The vicious cycle has to be stopped.

Henri Nouwen mentioned in his book “The return of the Prodigal Son” that he constantly fell back into an old trap of self indulgence even before he became aware of it (P. 41). He also mentioned that out of the many voices in his realm of consciousness, he learnt to listen only to that one voice that whispered “my beloved son”.

Henri recognized that a significant percentage of unhappiness and regrets are self-inflicted. Unless we are able to look into ourselves without prejudice and indulgence, we may never be able to reconcile any recurring concern that foster the vicious cycle of “groundhog day”.

Introspection requires a set of references. For Christians, they are the calling of our Heavenly Father, as depicted by Henri, and the teachings of the Holy Bible. Reconciliation is the key to activate that escape clause, just like in the movie, to eliminate “groundhog day” once and for all.

 The skills we learn through reconciliation are quite transferable. Should we be confronted with unforeseen trial and tribulation, if God so desires; these skills will be invaluable to our mental and spiritual survival.

It is a real bonus to be able to contemplate about spiritual issues after watching an entertaining movie. If you have not seen “Groundhog Day”, I urge you to see it. If you have seen it a while ago, watch it again and see if you would feel differently.

By the way, I want to thank Jane for introducing the book “The Return of the Prodigal Son” to me, and I do not receive any royalty on the copyright of the movie.