It’s Groundhog Day – again!
[NOTE: What could be more appropriate on Groundhog Day than a repeat of an old essay about the movie? The film is a huge personal favorite of mine: very funny, mysterious, and touching. This essay has been slightly edited, of course, because in the spirit of the movie we try to get it better and better.]
In discussions of the film “Groundhog Day” on this blog, I’ve noticed a couple of people questioning why the Bill Murray character would find Andie McDowell’s Rita deserving of all those years of his devotion and energy. For example, “…[W]hat, exactly, made the lovely but, let’s face it, vapid Rita worthy of Phil’s centuries of effort?”
My answer is that he discovered love. Yes, Rita was beautiful, and a good human being with many excellent qualities. But of course she was imperfect, and over the years (centuries? millennia?) Phil no doubt had learned just about all of her flaws. Still, it didn’t matter to him because it wasn’t about Rita, exactly—it was about the fact that, somewhere along the long path of his transformation to wisdom, he finally understood that every person in town, including the ones he couldn’t tolerate at the beginning, was worthy of his attention—and of something one might call “love,” in its broadest sense.
And somewhere along the way to that knowledge, Phil’s efforts in “Groundhog Day” stopped being about getting into Rita’s pants or even getting her to love him, although that certainly took up a larger percentage of his time (and the movie’s length) than some of his other pursuits. But he probably spent at least as much time learning to play the piano (a form of love, too), or to carve ice sculptures, or to become skilled at some of the more mindless and meaningless tricks he mastered, or learning details about the life of almost everyone in town.
Was the old derelict, whose life Phil tried to save over and over and over, “worth it” either? Such questions no longer mattered to him, because the gesture and the effort were worth it, and every life was worth something to him.
Rita, of course, had always been physically attractive to Phil. But as the film (and time) wore on—and on—she became the object not just of eros, but of agape as well. By the end of the movie, I think that Phil had come to appreciate the idea of the theme and variations versus the symphony, which I wrote about here:
And, although walking repeatedly in the same place is very different from traveling around the world and walking in a new place every day, is it really so very much less varied? It depends on the eye and mind of the beholder; the expansive imagination can find variety in small differences, and the stunted one can find boredom in vast changes.
And I submit that love is like that, too. Some people spend a lifetime with one love, one spouse; plumbing the depths of that single human being and what it means to be in an intimate relationship with him/her. Others go from relationship to relationship, never alighting with one person for very long, craving the variety.
It would seem on the face of it that the second type of person has the more exciting time in love. But it ain’t necessarily so. Either of these experiences can be boring or fascinating, depending on what we bring to it: the first experience is a universe in depth, and the second a universe in breadth. But both can contain multitudes.
Towards the end of the film (SPOILER ALERT), Phil makes it clear that he has given up the pursuit of Rita entirely, and immersed himself in his love for her instead. Is this what finally frees him?
[NOTE: Here’s another essay on the film that’s worth reading.]
“Tablet” has an interesting article tracing Groundhog’s Day back to German Candlemas.
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Quite simply, Groundhog Day is the Americanized German Candlemas tradition of looking to a hedgehog or badger to forecast the length of winter based on whether or not it sees its shadow. The U.S. isn’t a native habitat for hedgehogs, which is why aside from Sonic, we don’t hear much about them here. By contrast, the American landscape is positively alive with groundhogs (also known as woodchucks). So German immigrants to Pennsylvania made the switch, with the first recorded Groundhog Day occurring in 1886.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/groundhog-day-christian-roots
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Germans Candlemas commemorates the presentation of Jesus at the Temple and the purification of the Virgin Mary, according to Jewish law. The name “Candlemas” comes from the blessing of candles for use in the church throughout the year, symbolizing Jesus Christ as the light of the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candlemas
I always figured Groundhog’s Day was some quirky local custom that went national.
In Old Hollywood the pretty woman was always desirable and worthy of effort to attain, unless she turned out to be bad at heart. 1993 movies are already “Old Hollywood.”
I did not like the movie Groundhog Day. The man was placed into Hell.
I do not see why the movie was so popular.
Erronius
Excellent post neo. I’ve been meaning to watch the film for the third or fourth time for a long time, but now I think I’ll do it.
One of the amazing things about the film is that there are so many very short snippets of scenes that happen when we see the hundreds or thousands of days that Phil has gone through. Many of these snippets only last a few seonds, but must take considerable time for the filmmakers to set up and execute.
I saw the broadway musical version, which only had a short run. I thought it was pretty good. And it definitely had a different slant than the movie. The folks of Punxsutawney were portrayed in a much more negative light. The ladies sitting in from of me, from a small town Pennsylvania, were not pleased in their conversation at intermission. At the time I thought, … Ladies, you know how this ends don’t you?
I think you put your finger on the movies appeal– philosophical, while still being a very enjoyable heartfelt comedy.
One of my favorite movies.
There’s a new Jeep commercial with Bill Murray in which he reprises “Groundhog Day.” It’s a cute commercial
I think one of the reasons for its enduring popularity is because it’s one of the few modern movies that takes the form of a classical fable. It has moral lessons on all levels, and logical intricacies that can either be ignored or explored – but neither approach detracts from the quality of the story.
I sometimes wonder if Ramis and Murray and the rest of the writers understood, upon reflection, what a finely-constructed piece they had made, or if it was one of those accidental near-perfect results that sometimes comes from good artistry. I occasionally re-watch the movie and still also get a kick out of the scenes that were cut, like the pool hall.
Bill murray has a redemption arc
Hes a cynic sort of a con artist
Bill Murray is all about the redemption … with a large slice of humorous cynicism on the side. There’s more than a funny man under that hood.
“The Razor’s Edge”
“Scrooged”
“Groundhog Day”
“What About Bob?” (sort of)
I cant stand that last one
Razor edge was him trying to step into tyrone powers shoes (checks notes)
Razor’s Edge. I think Murray was stepping out of his clown shoes for a change.
I also think Murray is, in his way, a spiritual person. In fact still Catholic after all these years.
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You don’t need to ask if [Bill Murray’s] faith is important to him. He talks about how 19th-century candidates risk not getting canonized because the church is keen to push ahead with the likes of John Paul II and Mother Teresa. “I think they’re just trying to get current and hot,” he smiles.
One new saint he does approve of is Pope John XXIII (who died in 1963). “I’ll buy that one, he’s my guy; an extraordinary joyous Florentine who changed the order. I’m not sure all those changes were right. I tend to disagree with what they call the new mass. I think we lost something by losing the Latin. Now if you go to a Catholic mass even just in Harlem it can be in Spanish, it can be in Ethiopian, it can be in any number of languages. The shape of it, the pictures, are the same but the words aren’t the same.”
When asked if he thought hearing the Mass said in one’s own language is a good thing, he remarked “I guess,” and continued:
“But there’s a vibration to those words. If you’ve been in the business long enough you know what they mean anyway. And I really miss the music – the power of it, y’know? Yikes! Sacred music has an affect on your brain.” Instead, he says, we get “folk songs … top 40 stuff … oh, brother…”
–“Does Bill Murray do what he does because of his Catholic faith?”
https://aleteia.org/2019/01/28/does-bill-murray-do-what-he-does-because-of-his-catholic-faith/
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Who knew?
Great movie, fine post. Again. The erotic Eros thrill of the chase, and strong feeling of achievement after a successful seduction, like he feels at some point with the blonde “from high school”, is without commitment and sort of with less meaning.
Phil changes. And, in becoming the kind of person who knows others and loves others, becomes more love-worthy himself. Like a knight on a quest for a Holy Grail, to love others as much as he loves himself. To be the best, most lovable person, to one you love who won’t settle for second best. He had to show his “real” self to Rita, AND that real self had to very attractive. To her.
Happy marriages probably include a good bit of loving the other as they are while also helping them aspire to becoming a better version of himself. Phil’s desire and willingness to become a better person is admirable. And lovable.
Like a knight on a quest for a Holy Grail, to love others as much as he loves himself.
Tom Grey:
Pity Joseph Campbell wasn’t around to provide sage comment on Groundhog Day.
And a major tragedy…in Kentucky…
Yes, I guess the stress must have been just too intense…
“Kentucky groundhog dies on Groundhog Day after making prediction of an early spring”—
https://nypost.com/2024/02/03/news/major-the-kentucky-groundhog-dies-on-groundhog-day/
(That and trying all these years to compete with Phil…)
But he gave it his all.
RIP Major…
i would contact hercule poirot just in case,
ot I can’t think of a role that andie mcdowell has been wrong in, I’m going back to st elmo’s fire where she had a small role,
there does seem to be a meta theme where policies that have been tried before and found wanting, have been taken uo again with gusto, the clean energy mirage, the hudna with the revolutionary guard and their proxies, the wonderful milieu that gave us deathwish and escape from new york extrapolated nationwide, as if everyone in public life, sans a scarce few are the townspeople in knobblers gulch,
Who knew? I’m getting flooded with adverts for young mothers who want to ***””. All this time living in Plano, TX, and I never knew!
I have to be more careful about what we sites I visit