2 Feb 2012
11:09 PM |
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Groundhog Day: Love Makes the World Go 'Round
It's late, and I need to get to sleep, but this is an itch I have to scratch.
I watched Groundhog Day again today, as I do every year about this time. There's so much to say about that movie, and most of it has already been said, but something occurred to me some time ago that I meant to comment on here, but didn't. I believe someone else has already alluded to it, but I didn't make a note of it at the time. If I can find it later, I'll post a link to it.
But sometime last year it dawned on me that three of my favorite movies were all very similar in one respect. Longtime readers know my affection for The Matrix, others may know that I also love The Fifth Element. And, of course, whatever it is I do here is named after the Danny Rubin, Harold Ramis, and Bill Murray movie that I watched tonight. They are all, essentially, the same movie.
And it was Groundhog Day that made me see the added dimension and connections to The Matrix and The Fifth Element.
Consider, for now, that Phil Connors is not the victim in Groundhog Day. Truly, he is kind of the hero, in that he gets the girl in the end and presumably they live happily every after. But what was at stake? If you're like me, you probably thought that all that was at stake was Phil's life, the endless repetition of February 2nd. But no. Phil was essentially immortal. He could have almost anything he wanted, except Rita and anything outside the physical limits of Punxsutawney. His only apparent suffering was that he couldn't have the object of his desire, Rita.
But consider the other people in Punxsutawney! They're the ones trapped in a repeating time loop, whose lives never extend beyond February 2nd, repeating the same single day in a life..Much like the people trapped in the Matrix not living their own lives, instead experiencing a virtual life, expending their vitality in the service of a machine. And also like the people of Earth (indeed, all life in the universe) in The Fifth Element, doomed to extinction, to see the end of their days to Ultimate Evil
In both The Matrix and The Fifth Element, we have exceptional beings who are expected to perform heroic deeds to overcome the forces that threaten the lives of everyone else. In Groundhog Day, we have a jerk who learns how to become a decent human being - albeit one who might be said to be an exceptional being because he alone is aware of the nature of his circumstances. He is enlightened even before he ultimately becomes enlightened. He knows he's trapped, because he can remember reliving the same day over and over again. Nobody else does.
Previously, I believed it was all Phil's act of growing into a selfless human being that finally earned him Rita's faith in him; and that at the same time, it was his enlightenment as a selfless human being that allowed his life to go on. I never considered anyone else's.
But in The Matrix and The Fifth Element, the ostensible heroes, the exceptional ones who possess powers and abilities beyond those of others, neither can achieve their intended purpose without the expression of love for them by another. Neo "dies" only to be saved by Trinity's expression of faith. Leeloo cannot perform her purpose because she does not know love. It is only Korben Dallas' expression of love for her that allows her to live and perform her purpose.
In Groundhog Day, Phil Connors achieves enlightenment in the form of ego-extinction and selfless service to others long before Rita falls in love with him. We can quibble about when exactly, but certainly not long after he learns he can't save the old man. But he continues in his selfless acts of service, while perfecting his artistic abilities in music and ice sculpture over some indeterminate, but presumably long period of time. Laboring selflessly, without hope or expectation of reward, apart from the intrinsic reward of the act itself. Meanwhile, the world remains trapped in a single day.
What frees the world, ultimately, is actually Rita's expression of love for Phil. Only then does the rest of the world get to go on with their lives, and Phil becomes a mere mortal without exceptional powers. While Phil was the hero, he was never the victim.
And when I had that thought, the endings of both The Matrix and The Fifth Element changed for me. I'm not sure if it's some kind of universal theme, that love as a generative force, most commonly expressed between a man and a woman, is what is required to "save" the world. I suppose it is universal, but I haven't thought about it too much. This was just a thought that came to me some time ago, reading about Groundhog Day, or watching the movie, seeing the people of Punxsutawney as the victims, and seeing a connection between heroes who always seemed to require a loving partner to perform the salvific act. Whether you are "the one," or "a perfect being," or a jerk who learns how to become a decent human being, you can't save the world without someone else's love.
In any event, in Groundhog Day at least, it is love that makes the world go 'round.
At least, more than once. |