Authenticity is the Key to Life

The corny and shallow message that I believe should be taken from groundhog day is that the only way to enjoy our repetitive and predictable life is by helping and caring for others, and finding love. However I believe that there is also a deeper meaning, which is that the only way to find the meaning of life is by doing what we want to do, deep down in our hearts. Phil spends the beginning of the movie as a self centered jerk who is sarcastic and rude to almost everybody in his life, until he finds his passion in helping others and enjoying others happiness. I am not saying that we all have to spend our lives doing charity and being completely selfless, because that may not be authentic to every single person on earth. For Phil, I think that he has always wanted those human connections and love, but has not been able to look inside himself and recognize that craving. On the other hand, some people are just born to spend their lives in solitude enjoying their own company, which is also great. However to know exactly what makes you happy, you must critically think about it, and ultimately listen to your heart. The only real cure to this absurd world and the only real answer to the question “what is meaning of life?” is authenticity. This is because ultimately, if you are authentic with yourself, you will be able to find your own happiness, and your own love, with out any dependence on other people, and this independence will give you the freedom to be how and what and who you want to be. 

Meaning in each day

The message I got from Groundhog Day is that we are all repeating a similar thing day after day and that it may seem pointless or stupid and like life is never moving forward. But when you learn to be content and at peace with it life moves forward again. We see this when Phil finally gets Rita the next day finally comes. We have to make our days enjoyable and do the things we love so that the repetition of daily life doesn't seem so dull. It is up to you to create meaning in your life, as Phil did when he tried to help the old man and the guy choking and all the other people who thanked him at the dance at the end. What is the meaning of my life? I think that is up for me to decide. Phil decided he would create meaning by saving peoples lived, changing their lives for the better, or making their last day more enjoyable. Groundhog Day also demonstrated how much life can change you. Phil hated the town where he had to report Groundhog Day. But after what we estimate to be ten years of repeating the same day he becomes attached to the people there, finds enjoyment and begins to like the town. In the end he wants to live there. Similar to Phil who goes from hating the town to wanting to live in it people change as they experience life. I am not the same as I was ten years ago and few are. Especially when you are young you change more as you grow older.

Phil n' Phil

Groundhog day is about a man named Phil Connors who ends up living the same day over and over again. The film is about his arc of charter development as he deals with how to make the best of his situation.

The film relates to the myth of Sisyphus because both Phil Conners and Sisyphus must find meaning in doing the same exact thing every day of their life (supposedly for eternity). The difference is that Phil can do something different every day, and Sisyphus must do exactly the same thing. However, they are similar in that each day when they wake up, they know exactly what will happen the next day.

I identified the themes of the absurd, suicide, trying to find meaning, and a search for authenticity, satisfaction of self.

Phil has three phases of dealing with his newfound existence, 1. I can do whatever I want with no consequences, 2. This is pointless I’m going to kill myself, and 3. I should make the best of this and try to help people and myself have the best day ever. This allows him to see all sides of humanity and eventually see the best in people.

I would recommend this film for those looking to study existentialism and even those who aren’t. It’s a very funny movie and so I think a lot of people could relate to it.

He is not the god

     In the film Groundhog Day, the main character Phil is trapped in Punxsutawney for a second night because of a snowstorm that comes in after the groundhog ceremony. When he wakes up in the next morning, it is the same day as yesterday, with the same bad weather keeping him stuck in town and the same events repeating themselves like a broken record. In this endless time loop, Phil goes through a transformation and finally becomes a local hero in Punxsutawney.

     Phil planed and rehearsed everything so he could pretend to be Rita’s ideal man and seduce her. However, Rita gets mad at Phil after she realizes Phil is faking all those things. That is when Phil start knowing that he is not the god of groundhogs day, on the contrary, he is just a poor man who trapped in Feb. 2rd - even death cannot help him escape from the prison of time. Phil used to believe that “no consequences no worries”. He could do whatever he wanted to satisfy his desire, without being responsible for anything. Therefore, Phil did everything he could imagine until the excitement finally turns to be dolefulness. The reality is that the Groundhog Day experience is no simply in his head, but happening to everyone else as well. While Phil wakes up on a brand new Feb 2rd again, the consequences and hangovers that he left over yesterday are actually turns out to be others’ trouble. After Phil realizes his point, his attitude towards life changes completely. The enteral recurrence he suffers actually transforms to a power to help others.

Living in the life you live in

              The existentialism is to find out the meaning of life for themselves since everyone has different values. However, it does not mean that our actions goes without responsibility, as we grow up to an adult and desire more freedom, the more responsibility comes to us as well. Moreover, we are going to become what type of the person in the future is all about our choices in nowadays, and that’s the responsibility that we need to take for ourselves. In the movie the Groundhog Day, the weatherman Phil, is going to report the Groundhog day and he meets the snowstorm that stops him from going back home which requires him to stay in the town for one more night. However, when he wakes up in the next morning, he finds out that he gets caught in a blizzard that trapped in a time warp. He feels stressful and painful at the first couple days, and then he turns into “enjoys” his life by doing all the crazy things that he needs to consider about the consequences in the reality but not for now. After he feels in love with the girl, Rita, who is the Pd, he tries to remember all the things that she likes in order to get closer to her. However, that does not work very well. After Phil gets to know the people in the town and knows what happened in the day, he tries to help everyone to saves their life, which moved Rita and makes her falls in love with Phil. At the time that Phil thinks the time is over and all the happiness things are gone and the day is going to start over again, he finds out that he gets out from the time warp and the happiness do come true.

              In this film, the time wrap is an opportunity for Phil to find out what is really valuable for him. At first he is a person that is tried of his job, and hates the town so much. After experiences the time wrap and gets to know the people in this small town, he learns how to love and care about others, and most importantly, he turns himself into the right way to stop the time wrap. This experience helps Phil to develop himself and inspires him to show his hidden side, which is the positive side, to others. I really recommend this film since this film also let us think about ourselves. Do we really live in the right way and do we actually treat the person that we love wholehearted? That's the question the film drops to me and let me think about myself.

Groundhog Day and Absurdity of Life

In Harold Ramis's "Groundhog Day" (1993), an intriguing comedy about repeating the past, Bill Murray is Phil Connors, an arrogantly self-centered and cynical TV weatherman, sent for the fifth time to the small town of Punxsutawney, PA to cover the Groundhog ceremony held every February 2nd. He stumbles into a time warp and winds up repeating the same day over and over again until forced to look at himself from the distance and to examine his attitude. 

The theme of absurdity is greatly revealed in this film, which reminds me of the myth of Sisyphus. Phil has to live the same day over and over again, just like Sisyphus, who pushes up the rock over and over again. They all are involved in a repetitive tedious task in their life. People might assume that they would become bored and desperate about the situation, yet it is not the case. Phil goes through various stages of mind, from excited to bored to desperate to accepting. Sisyphus, similarly, acknowledges the futility of his task and the certainty of his fate, and thus reach a state of contented acceptance.

Camus believes that all human beings spend their lives on futile jobs and tasks, or the absurdity so to speak. Camus sees Sisyphus as the absurd hero who lives life to the full, hates death, and is condemned to a meaningless task. Just like Sisyphus, we are all doing things like pushing a rock up the mountain every day. There is no meaning, no purpose behind our work. Yet these meaningless tasks enrich our life, guiding us to live to the fullest. He also believes that the absurdity is the undeniable essence of human life. When we finally realize and accept this absurd nature, we reach content and happiness. 

I personally think this philosophy of the absurd is quite passive and pessimistic. It calls for no meaning of life and that all we do is pointless. I hardly agree with this philosophy. Probably because I am still young and inexperienced, I believe our actions and decisions all have meaning. Our actions can affect ourselves, other people and the world. I still would like to look at our life in a much more positive and optimistic perspective than the philosophy of absurdity.

Back to the True Self

In the film Groundhog Day, Phi, a weatherman, is accidentally trapped in a small town of Philadelphia and was forced to live on the day with endless repetition. Everyday from the moment he woke up, the truth that there is no tomorrow in his life has engraved in his heart, which propels Phil to continuously find new ways to start the always-same day. 

Day after day, when Phil finds himself trapped in Punxsutawney on groundhog day, he first uses a negative attitude to spend his day. He revels himself in the privileges of wealth and comforts, and spends his day aimlessly loafing around the small town. He tries to talk, to explain, and to find the way out from the trap, but fails once again. The desperate eagerness of escaping from the repetition upsets Phil, and makes him the only one who remembers what happened in the previous edition of the same day. 

As the days repeat endlessly into the same day, Phil ultimately finds a purpose in life: completely changing to a new self in order to approach his female producer, Rita, so he can pretend to be her ideal man. He began to spend his day learning piano and ice crafting, and even making a list of her habits, favorite food and artists. Besides, he tries to be as kind and friendly as Rita so that they share the similar values and beliefs. His passion toward Rita motivates Phil to change his personalities and live a better life with the growing sense of empathy for others in his heart. 

Enriched by this experience of intimacy, Phil begins to live a life he has never lived before, and is able to find true fulfillment by offering kindness to others. Instead of being isolated from the society, Phil finally became the local hero and learned to enjoy his life by acting goodness. 

Everyday a new day

 Phil is a fairly successful weather man. However, he is not satisfied with his current job and believe

that he is destined to be something better, a celebrity. One day, he wakes up and finds out that he is

stuck on the Groundhog day. Like the myth of Sisyphus, who pushes the rock up the hill, waits it to

fall, then pushes again, Phil has to repeat the same day over and over again.At first, he is excited

about the fact that he can try all kinds of things that he dares not to try in the past. But gradually, his

excitement wears out by the unchanging routine. No matter what he does, the next day everything

goes back to what it was before. Suddenly, he loses his significance.

   Many people, like Phil, are living a self-centered life. To them, the whole purpose of living is to

achieve a goal after another. They do not want to admit their mediocrity and enjoy a plain but happy

life. They are so obsessed with fame and material that they forget that their are other parts of life

that also matter. 

   In Groundhog Day, Phil changes from a person who thinks “the glass is half empty” to a person

who appreciates and enjoys his life. When he sees that he cannot save the old man’s life, he does

not give up, because he realizes that though his ability is limited, he still can live his every day to its

full potential. He can still do great things to others. It is often said that “if you cannot change the

world, change yourself”. The Groundhog Day gives him a chance to get to know people around him

and to “live” again. If to him everyday is boring and without color, even if time passes, it’s just the

same day repeating itself. When he finally learns to love each day though it’s the same day, he is out

of the trap.  I recommend this film because it is funny and meaningful. Everyone more or less feels

trapped in the same day. But it is our own choice to live every day differently.

Live in the moment

Groundhog day is a movie about an arrogant weather reporter, Phil Connor, who goes to Punxsutawney to report annually Groundhog day. However, he is stuck in Groundhog day. At first, he is really existed because he could do whatever he want because on next groundhog day morning, nobody will remember what happens. Gradually he loses the interests and wants to escape the day. He tries to suicide but failed. Then, he decides to find some meaningful things to do and learning some skills. He also realizes that there are a lot of people who needs help and he starts to help him. Then, he finally escapes the groundhog day. 

I find the theme of absurdity in this film. At first, Phil Conner lost his meaning of life in the repetition of groundhog days. He is out of rules and doing some crazy things because he know that everything will repeat again in the “next” Groundhog day. But soon he realizes it is meaningless, because he has too much freedom. He is lost and live in a boring life. Therefore, he finds him selves something to do, such as learning piano and helping others. Gradually, he finds helping others could also bring happiness to himself. Therefore, he finds his own meaning of life. 

Also this movie makes me think that Phill has a lot of Groundhog day, if he did something wrong, he could do it again next time. However, we cannot live in one day repeatedly, so how could we fix our mistake? I think I just need to learn from mistake and don’t do it next time. 

Yesterday once more

In the movie Groundhog Day, Phil Connors, a weatherman for local TV station, goes to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to broadcast the Groundhog Day celebration. After waking up the next morning, Phil experiences the same day all over again. When Phil first realizes he's living the same day over and over again, he first takes advantage of it. He steals, lies and breaks laws. It gets boring and Phil even wants to get end of this cycle or Groundhog die by committing suicide. Eventually, he realizes manipulating people to what he wants is not the right way, and begins to help others instead.

Phil’s experience reminds me that sometimes people just need a push in the right direction to fulfill their full potential. Phil awakes everyday morning with the same fundamentals all in place. So this movie raises a question “are we living the same day over and over again?”  Sometimes, I feel that the environment may changes a little from day to day but it does not affect me directly. Phil tries all kinds of things to get away from the Groundhog Day. The symbolism of him being stuck in the endless loop of the same day until finally changing his own character for the better can be used and applied to help any person in life. Ultimately, Phil realizes that the only thing he can change is his own mind and behavior. Phil story of transformation is that people should take a step back when they feel trapped and look at the bigger picture in life. When Phil spends a good amount of time helping others, he gives himself to something bigger or other than himself, which makes him a better person and find a meaningful life.