Regarding whether Phil took the initiative to change himself

Carley 2022-03-19 09:01:02

The mechanism of this cycle is: 1. The protagonist will not get old; 2. Everything (interpersonal relationship and property) will be reset; 3. The memory and reflection of the protagonist will not be reset. In this case, Phil can indeed be a god: his time is inexhaustible. We witnessed Phil learned and mastered playing the piano and carving ice sculptures, and were able to anticipate many accidents of the day and solve them. Phil's "superpowers" made him predictable. At the last party, his personality charm shined brightly, but we still have to think: these skills and foresight are all he learned in the gap of time, which is quite like the product of fraud. Perhaps what the movie wants to convey is that we have to live a colorful day, acquire skills, and actively socialize, but we ordinary people do not have this cyclical mechanism. We are not gods, our principal (including time and property) is not reset every day, and the things we mess up will not disappear with a wake-up bell at 6 o'clock tomorrow morning. With the help of this supernatural power, Phil made rapid progress in many aspects during the eternal February 2nd. When the cycle ends, when tomorrow arrives, he is obviously reborn.

There is no clue in the film about how the loop ends. What we have seen is that Phil spent an unmistakable, decent, and most popular Groundhog Day among the various "February 2" that the audience saw, and his cycle ended. This matter itself is a bit strange. I think about how this day is defined, that is, what is the condition for the termination of the cycle. Is there a term "the most complete day"? Even if Phil can seize many opportunities by coincidence, he cannot save the people of a small town in Pennsylvania from misfortune this day. Compared with the original "normal" day, in the last time on February 2, he did many good deeds, but such good deeds can't be done in one day. The ending of the cycle seems absurd. From my perspective, the screenwriter is somewhat helpless (happy ending anyway).

Movie screenshot

Since it is difficult to have a defined standard for the termination of the cycle, Phil may have the idea that he will be trapped in the cycle forever. This will give people who are trapped in an endless loop a sense of despair: they can't make any changes. There are scenes of Phil looking for his death in the middle of the film. When he couldn't even ask for death, then he might be going crazy. Before he was driven mad, he found a way of self-resolving. Although he will come back tomorrow and everything will be the same, he can change himself.

This is a bit like a scheme of the mechanism designer to domesticate people trapped in the loop in a certain direction, such as becoming polite and contacting art and literature. Phil seemed to be proactive, but it seemed to have been set in the dark-he finally jumped out of the cycle with this, like some kind of heavenly choice.

If such a "complete" day is over and the cycle does not end, will Phil still be like a superman the next day to save trouble? If he still has this kind of inner enthusiasm and patience, he will soon discover that the troubles that occur cannot be solved by himself, and there is no absolutely correct way to deal with everything. The feeling of having superpowers but still powerless may push him into another abyss of despair-what he did is still meaningless.

If there is a master behind this cycle, Phil is just one (or countless) mice, and the variables are constantly controlled until the experimenter finds the "optimal solution".

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Extended Reading

Groundhog Day quotes

  • Phil: You want a prediction about the weather, you're asking the wrong Phil. I'll give you a winter prediction: It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be grey, and it's gonna last you for the rest of your life.

  • Phil: Do you know what today is?

    Rita: No, what?

    Phil: Today is tomorrow. It happened.