Groundhog Day is one of the most amazing movies made. This movie was made in 1993 and has endured the test of time and is beloved by many! It has everything. It is a love story, a comedy, science fiction and philosophy that Buddhists love. But it is also a horror movie.
Groundhog Day Synopsis
Phil Conners (Bill Murray) is a weather reporter. Every year his station sends him on location to the small town of Punxsutawney to film a report about their annual Groundhog Day. Along with him is his cameraman, Larry (Chris Elliot), and his producer, Rita (Andie MacDowell).
Phil is cynical and arrogant and hates the assignment. The small town’s charms are lost on him. The day starts with waking up in a local bed and breakfast to an alarm clock playing I Got You Babe by Sonny and Cher. The day ends with a snowstorm he did not predict as a weatherman and they are stuck in Punxsutawney for the night.
Phil wakes up to the same alarm clock playing the same song. He discovers to his horror that the day is still Feb 2nd and it is the same day. This keeps happening over and over and over again. Every day he wakes up and is the only one who knows he is stuck in a time loop. No one remembers the previous today because for them it is always today.
He falls in love with Rita and the people in town, but every morning it is the same day again and no one remembers the connections he made. His only way out is through self discovery and love. The only way to tomorrow is to have the day transformed.
The Beauty of Do Overs Without Consequence
My 40’s and my 50’s have largely been spent single with occasional relationships and a variety of jobs and residences. To be able to make a mistake, say something wrong to a friend or someone you are attracted to, learn from that, and get a fresh do over without anyone remembering the mistake is an amazing opportunity most people would love to have.
The wonderful part of nostalgia is remembering the beautiful moments of life and discovery. Part of the dark side is ruminations of past mistakes, hurts, and pain. To be able to relive the beautiful moments again and again at will and to not repeat the mistakes that had consequences and loss is a fantasy many have in life.
To achieve these new moments and make them better in the do over, Phil has to listen to people, see how they respond, and study the moments that happen to do things better the next today.
The Dark Side of Do Overs and the Consequence
In the movie there are 38 days depicted and 414 days referenced. But he was there a lot longer. How long is a matter of debate. In a special commentary edition of the DVD, director Harold Ramis said that Phil Conners was stuck in the time loop for 10,000 years. In a later interview he recanted and said Phil was likely there for ten years.
A 2009 blog post by pop culture writer Wolf Gnards took the days referenced in the movie and the skills he learned (like mastery of French, the piano, and others) and came up with 8 years, 8 months, and 16 days. This is the most cited figure.
My personal favorite is the WhatCulture calculation. What Culture delivered an even more exhaustive calculation of 33 years and 350 days. This one factors in not only the skills learned, but allows for melancholy and a great many other things.
Melancholy is part of the story. He likely successfully committed suicide 42 times only to wake up the next morning uninjured. According to Harvard University, 7% of suicide attempts succeed. That means he may have had 600 failed attempts leaving him injured or in pain until the time loop resets itself.
While no one else remembers any of his experiences, Phil remembers every single moment. That is the dark side of the do overs. Phil lives with the memories of everything good and bad.
So do we.
What We (Don’t) Have in Common With Phil Conners
We do not get an 8 year or 10,000 year do over. But like Phil, every day we wake up is today and it is all we really have. We spend so much time ruminating in the past and planning for tomorrow that we often miss out on today. To find tomorrow Phil had to make the most out of today.
To have that today he had to be fully present. And for the rest of his todays, I suspect he remembered to enjoy every today he had and make the most of it.
To have the best today you have to pay attention to the moments around you, learn from other people’s reactions. If you want to learn to play piano, recite french poetry, or do any other thing, there is still time to learn these things.
And like Phil we will have our dark days and we will remember them. You may not seize every day. Sometimes the best you can do is sit in your room and try to throw playing cards into a hat like Phil did for six months for 4 to 5 hours a day.
No matter how hard things get, I do hope you never try to shorten your life by your own hand. I tried that once and came closer than I care to admit to succeeding. Remembering the mistakes of yesterday almost cost me every tomorrow which was a future today. To be honest, few who matter will remember the mistakes you made the manner you do and you get do overs with others you meet and new circumstances. Sometimes, you get to have them with the same person.
One memory I have the day after my attempt there was a nurse observing me. When I woke up she looked at me and said, “Today is the tomorrow you were worried about yesterday. Let’s see if we can make it a good day.”
In my life I have made mistakes, missed out on opportunities, hurt other people’s feelings, and took the day for granted. I also have sweet remembrances of days where I “got it right”. I do not know how many tomorrow’s and today’s are left for me.
I would love to tell you there is a secret to seizing the day every day. There isn’t and the self help gurus of the 80s were as full of shit as they are today. Some today’s will be hard, you will still make mistakes, hurt people, be hurt by people, and face pain. But there will be those days where you see the beauty, make the most of the moment, fall in love, laugh, and learn wondrous things.
What are you going to do today? Who will you pay attention to? I hope it is a good day for you. And if it is not, we hopefully get to have tomorrow.
Stay Totally Awesome!
Stay True to You!
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