the groundhog day project

The character of Phil Connors is named Phil because that is the name of the groundhog in Punxsutawney's Groundhog Day celebration, as Rubin (2012) explains: And who is the center of attention for the festivities in Punxsutawney? A groundhog named Phil. For the time being, I decided to call my character Phil as well, hoping that somehow there would be resonance created by associating my guy with the groundhog. (p. 15) Many authors have latched onto that link between the two Phils, including of course Benesh (2011) and myself. And, Phil himself makes the connection before he kidnaps the groundhog and kills them both. But, after writing about names yesterday , I wondered if there wasn't some more resonance in Phil's name that just the obvious. The name Philip (or Filippo in the Italian remake, È già ieri ) means "lover of horses." More elaborately, From the Greek name Φιλιππος ( Philippos ) which means "friend of horses", composed of the elements φιλ...

I’ve dealt with obituaries before in this blog— Jane Catherine Lotter , an author who wrote her own; Martin Manley , a sportswriter who planned and blogged about his suicide; and even Lucina Paquet Gabbard , who played a small part in Groundhog Day —so I thought it worth bringing up this bit from an obituary I saw online today: Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick born Jan 4, 1935 and died alone on Aug. 30, 2013. She is survived by her 6 of 8 children whom she spent her lifetime torturing in every way possible. While she neglected and abused her small children, she refused to allow anyone else to care or show compassion towards them. When they became adults she stalked and tortured anyone they dared to love. Everyone she met, adult or child was tortured by her cruelty and exposure to violence, criminal activity, vulgarity, and hatred of the gentle or kind human spirit. It reminded me of Orson Scott Card’s Speaker for the Dead , in which a Speaker spends time with and interviews those wh...

There’s a song by Queen in the movie Highlander with the lyrics “who wants to live forever when love must die?” There’s more to life than love, obviously. But, I think sometimes love, or simply passion, not just for another person but for a thing, for an idea, for a hobby… for a movie even—that’s what makes life great. I’m actually tempted to side with Claire Bacha for a moment, to agree with the idea that it’s Phil’s love for Rita that drives him to make himself better. But, I don’t think it’s that specific. I think that the night Rita actually stays with him isn’t about Phil connecting with Rita, per se—and, this despite his speech to her as she sleeps—but about Phil connecting with anyone. On screen, this is the first time Phil is genuine and honest with anybody. I don’t think it’s vital that it be with Rita and be linked to the romantic plotline—I think that’s just part of the film ultimately being structured and sold as a romantic comedy—but rather that it could have been with a...