do i hear more?
To begin today, I nitpick: Benesh (2011) summarizes Groundhog Day in chapter one of her dissertation. And, in making a link between the film--or rather, all film--and our active imaginations, she mentions the phrase "no consequences." She calls it "a phrase that Phil Connors... uses at one point to describe his unique situation" (p. 8). She's wrong. That's Gus' line, not Phil's. But, I don't really intend to nitpick Benesh today (it just fits my character to do so). In fact, I rather like her first chapter. I like the approach she takes to connecting film and dreaming. I particularly appreciate a line she quotes from Beebe (2008): ...in addition to wanting to be entertained, the mass audience is in constant pursuit, as if on a religious quest, of the transformative film. (p.20) Thus a film can be a metaphor that teaches us something about how to live, not in a prescriptive way, but in an evocative one, by allowing us to vicariously expe...