the groundhog day project

Speaking of religion... well, I was a couple entries ago . Speaking of religion, the use of angels in Groundhog Day makes for an interesting take on things... maybe more interesting than the mention of Joyce Kilmer's "Trees" but why harp on that again? (And, no I did not intend a pun there with the harp bit.) Anyway, first angel: there's an angel statue in the front lawn of the bed and breakfast. I think Michael Foley would see that as evidence that Phil has a guardian angel watching over him from the start of the time loop all the way to February 3rd. I hope it's a fox... (And, that will perhaps be the most dated reference in this whole blog when historians study it in the future. [Seriously, reading this entry again nearly two years later, it took me a moment to figure it out.]) And, that angel is visible again right before Rita goes into the bed and breakfast on date night. And, again at the end of the film. Second angel: well, in dialogue, Phil tells...

I just noticed that kid at the bottom right last night. That was Day 76 and there was still something new to see in Groundhog Day . (And, sorry the screencap is so blurry. The copy I've got of the movie on my iPad is not nearly as clear as the DVD copy I'm watching right now. If I remember, I will replace that image later) Things to note: He's wearing blue , even has a blue sign. He's facing away from the camera, which at first I thought was awkward. But, then I figured it was a way of getting in the shot without being too obvious about it But, then I thought, what if he's not even a real boy? What if he's a ghost? Or a Ted Danson cutout? Another supernatural element wouldn't be too out of place, after all. I mean, aside from the obvious supernatural bit... the time loop, there's also the devil in the red hat at the Tip Top Cafe and God serving drinks at the local bar. And, if you don't get those references, that is so very very sad... fo...

So, anyway, meaning shows up where we find it. And, that meaning may just be that Phil has found God in the time loop. It isn't like Michael P. Foley is the only one that thinks so. Rick Wade, author of "Will Winter Ever End? Groundhog Day and Modern Thought - A Christian View of American Modernism" would seem to agree, for example. He even cites Foley. But Wade's primary point is not necessarily to express a Christian take on the film, but rather comment on the modernist elements of Phil Connors (pre time loop especially) from a perspective that happens to be Christian. His way of doing things doesn't get my confirmation bias ire up as much as Foley's does. Wade specifically critiques what he calls "a major philosophical shift in modern times, namely, the abandonment of a teleological view of the world." In lay terms, that last bit means we (the increasingly larger secular crowd) have abandoned the notion that there is inherent purpose to our exi...

Not too long ago I wrote about Groundhog Day as a religious film . That is to say, I discussed how folks of different religions see the film as exemplifying their specific belief systems. And, notably, when I cited Michael P. Foley's "Phil's Shadow" , I dismissed almost out of hand his suggestion that when Phil looks up after O'Reilly dies in the alley, he is looking to God. Specifically, what Foley says is this: But Phil’s conviction evaporates once he is forced to acknowledge the inevitable death of an old beggar whose life he repeatedly tries to save. In the final scene of this subplot, he is kneeling down, vainly administering CPR to the man, when he stops and plaintively looks heavenward. And in an unrelated moment, he indirectly acknowledges God as Creator by reciting the verse, “Only God can make a tree.” God alone, Phil learns, is the Lord of life and death. Now, I think it's presumptuous to link the mention of Joyce Kilmer's "Trees" ...

Well, it's Groundhog Day ... again. Actually, and weirdly, the movie hasn't gotten old just yet. Watching it on DVD the past week, because I've been away from my apartment, has allowed me to notice a few new things (e.g. black people ) and figure out some old stuff (e.g. locations ). My current schedule, with the added classload of grad school (as opposed to the freedom of summer break), coaching forensics, and staying with my kids at my wife's place while she's away, has pushed my viewing time into the late night. But, I kinda figured that might happen just because of school, hence the 6am rule . (And that rule makes total sense for this movie anyway.) And, it's nice having something relatively consistent in my schedule day-to-day. Plus, I have an excuse to share stuff like this bit from the Dalai Lama today on Facebook : Mentally, physically and emotionally we are the same. We each have the potential to good and bad and to be overcome by disturbing emotion...

I must do this quickly. Not just because it is late at night and I have a deadline, but because to do it thoroughly and properly would just take too long and probably get far too boring. What am I going to be doing, you might ask. Well, I've mentioned that when I was competing in speech and debate I used Groundhog Day as an example in all but one of my impromptu rounds. Well, today was my first tournament as an official coach and one of the rounds I judged was impromptu, so I've got a nice sheet of quotations just itching to be linked to Groundhog Day . First, a brief explanation, in case you don't know how the event works: each speaker is given a bit of paper with three quotations on it. You pick one and take about 2 minutes to prepare a 5 minute speech built around the quotation. You have some attention getter, then you share the quotation you've picked, explain what you interpret it to mean, agree or disagree with it, and then you're off. The usual methods fo...

An aside before I get into what may amount to, well, not much. See, I'm going to listen to Harold Ramis' commentary track again, see if something new jumps out after watching the movie so many more times since I did it before . The aside: upon turning off the film last night, I turned on a rerun of Seinfeld on KDOC and it's "The Heart Attack," originally aired 25 April 1991. And, guess who was on the screen: none other than a pre-Ned Ryerson Stephen Tobolowsky. Didn't get to see much of the episode as it was nearly over, but I might watch it when I'm ready to write a whole entry about Tobolowsky. Today, it's Harold Ramis... I mentioned before that they picked Woodstock and not the actual Punxsutawney because it had the nice town center they wanted--the real Gobbler's Knob is in a wooded area outside of Punsxsutawney--but amusingly Ramis also goes as far as to say that this is what Punxsutawney was "supposed to look like." "Cheap...