Groundhog Day

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Groundhog Day

The movie Groundhog Day cannot be said to be the funniest piece ever released by Bill Murray and Harold Ramis working together and neither is it the most financially successful movie of the time. However, the small and gentle effort pumped into the movie by the two film masters led to the most endearing movie ever thought of by the two. Groundhog Day is an amusing and sweet surprise package. Although the term endearing is an understatement of Murray’s style of humor, Groundhog Day is a thriller thanks to Murray’s comic hostility. Combining the bitter and the sweet is an essential recipe for making a palatable film. The themes and stylistic devices employed in Groundhog Day are key ingredients of its success as a comedy.

Two major existential themes cut across Groundhog Day: One of the themes is loss of identity while the other is “When is life worth living?” (Baldwin, 2015). For purposes of this paper, the theme of loss of identity will be illustrated in finer details. Reality dawns on Phil (the anchorman) that each day he wakes up is a Groundhog day. He does things that he would not do on normal occasions, including stealing Punxsutawney Phil. In these instances, Phil lost his self-identity. Being a different person each day scraps off specific personality from him. On one day, he could be a bored, lonely anchorman while the next day he goes crazy and drives his truck from a cliff. Phil’s loss of self-identity could be explained by the fact that he no longer had responsibilities, a situation that gave him freedom to do anything or be anything he aspired. Research establishes that the strongest principle of growth is in human choice. Later on, however, Phil developed some wisdom by realizing that even though chances were limited to opening up his tomorrow, he could lessen the pain of such a feeling through helping other people. He not only looked after himself, but also helped the poor, started a relationship with the woman he loved, and came to the rescue of those in need. These good deeds enabled Phil to locate his self-identity (Philosophy Film, 2012).

Groundhog Day was highly conceptualized. Although it is primarily a comedy, the movie can as well be considered a fantasy or science fiction (Turan, 2010). Through the movie, time plays a cruel trick on Phil, with the same day being repeated continuously as a metaphor for Phil’s angry rut at the commencement of the film. Murray has always performed transcendently. The screenplay is perfect, continually peeling inventive comedic riffs from the premise. Surprisingly, these riffs often work on another metaphorical level of a man troubled in life.

The film’s mise-en-scene is intentional, combining both design and composition to create a unified perfect viewing experience. For purposes of this paper, the final scene, where Phil wakes up to a new day following continually woken up to the same day, will be analyzed. In this scene, Phil is skeptical at first when he wakes up but is later overwhelmed with joy. The elements in the scene resonate to the rest of the film. The framing and kinesis of figures here are in perfect collaboration to give the mise-en-scene its uniqueness.

The framing is a straightforward one as to the most critical figure. Following the panorama stint of the clock striking 6:00 am, Murray is the frame’s focus for the remaining sections of the scene. Despite MacDowell’s appearance in the frame at certain instances, Murray is at the heart of the shot. MacDowell occupies the left third portion of the screen whenever he is present as Murray takes the center of the screen for almost the whole scene. This is a simple way of alerting the audience that Murray is the key figure in the scene. With MacDowell occupying the screen’s left third and the static nature of the shot angle, an empty space remains on the screen’s right side, making the balance of the shot questionable. However, this is an implication to viewers that something is amiss. This is very true because Murray has seemingly overcome the time loop that held him captive previously.

The movement of the characters is vital to the scene’s mise-en-scene. When Rita moves her arm through the shot (YouTube), there is the justification to the initial shock that the scene met Phil’s claim that “today is tomorrow.” In addition, the motionless body of Phil, as he stares at the window, buttresses the differences in the scene. The motion and lack thereof together establish a thoughtful kinesis. When the kinesis and framing of the scene are merged, one obtains the scene’s composition. This composition tells much about the mise-en-scene of the film.

Additionally, this scene has certain design elements: costuming and directing. Rita’s bright white shirt (YouTube) abruptly disorients the audience as her arm appears in the “expected” scene. The costume choice distinguishes this scene from the rest. In addition, the directions to Phil’s acting distinguish the scene from the rest. The shock and confusion in Phil indicate to the audience the kind of reaction any other person would have in such a case, though done mostly through facial expression. These elements combined help further the theme of self-identity in the scene and throughout the film. The choice of this scene is vital because it is the peak of Phil’s realization of his self-identity.

In conclusion, Groundhog Day is a film of a kind. The comedy is made up of powerful themes that would be difficult to act out in normal circumstances. However, the Director and his crew produced an excellent piece. The design elements, techniques, and mise-en-scene together develop the central theme of self-identity. The movie is one worth watching especially for students interested in film analysis and movie directing.

References

Baldwin, W. (2015). Groundhog Day: Film Analysis. Retrieved 24 January 2015 from

HYPERLINK “http://www.academia.edu/1172240/Groundhog_Day_Film_Analysis” http://www.academia.edu/1172240/Groundhog_Day_Film_Analysis

Philosophy Film (2012). Reply to “Philosophical Evolution in Groundhog Day”. Retrieved 24

January 2015 from HYPERLINK “http://philosopyfilm.blogspot.com/2012/04/reply-to-philosophical-evolution-in.html” http://philosopyfilm.blogspot.com/2012/04/reply-to-philosophical-evolution-in.html

Turan, K. (2010). Movie Review: Groundhog Day. Retrieved 24 January 2015 from

HYPERLINK “http://articles.latimes.com/1993-02-12/entertainment/ca-1227_1_groundhog-day” http://articles.latimes.com/1993-02-12/entertainment/ca-1227_1_groundhog-day

YouTube (n.d). Phil: New and Improved. Retrieved 24 January 2015 from

HYPERLINK “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvGNWLszAQA” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvGNWLszAQA