Groundhog Day 2011



 “I Got You Babe”

I awoke this morning as the digital alarm clock beside me clicked to 6:00.  In the silent room the radio seemed to blare at first, although it really wasn’t that loud.  No, the station was not playing, “I Got You, Babe” by Sonny and Cher, but what followed was eerily familiar nonetheless.  The news announcer proclaimed, “It’s February second, Groundhog Day.  It’s unlikely that he will be able to see his shadow in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, which is expecting cloudy skies due to a major winter storm moving through the area today.”  He went on to the weather news immediately, with talk of the massive storm moving from the Midwest across to the Northeast today, including a bit about deteriorating conditions, the impact on travel, and the closure of some interstates in Ohio.  Some are already referring to the storm as the “Groundhog Day Blizzard.”

“I make the weather.”

Fans of the movie, “Groundhog Day,” will appreciate all of that.  I love the movie; it is one of my top five movies of all time.  But the movie is not why I love my Groundhog Day holiday.  In fact, long ago in 1993, when “Groundhog Day” was released, I had some serious mixed emotions.  I looked forward to a good Bill Murray comedy, but I was worried that it would detract from the true meaning of my  underappreciated favorite day.  Let’s face it – Groundhog Day already was a hard sell as a favorite holiday.  If people began to associate the words "Groundhog Day" with a movie instead of the annual event, then my holiday might find itself becoming even more anonymous.

My fears both were and were not justified.  The movie did indeed become associated with and change how people perceived the holiday.  The movie took the essence of Groundhog Day and grafted onto it a story about the human experience that also happened to be funny and as quirky as the holiday itself.  The movie was worthy.

In French, “A Day Without End”

The movie has changed how people perceive Groundhog Day.  For one thing, before the movie, few people beyond metropolitan Pittsburgh could have told you where Punxsutawny was, or what was unique about it.  The movie also has elevated public awareness of the holiday, which before 1993 was noticed mostly around Punxsutawny and in elementary schools throughout the country.  The very words “Groundhog Day” became an idiom, meaning a situation that repeats itself endlessly, implying monotony.  And that’s okay, because that is where “EveryMan” (a literary character who represents each of us) must begin his journey to find significance in the world around him.

Perhaps most significantly though, the movie has forever linked Groundhog Day with this idea – that the commonness of our lives may become uncommon by the very act of our becoming aware.  Phil Connors, the main character, became “EveryMan” as he struggled to understand and deal with the endless repetition of the unremarkably common.  In the end, he discovered that what seems ordinary is truly extraordinary, if only we stop and notice it.  



“The true excitement of a large
squirrel predicting the weather”

No theme could be more true to the spirit of Groundhog Day, and those who love it.  The true meaning of Groundhog Day, the ascendant wonder of the ordinary world around us, is perfectly presented. 

The movie manages, appropriately, to be both funny and morally compelling.  Like the holiday, itself, the movie simultaneously presents themes from many different traditions.  The groundhog emerging from hibernation is reminiscent of the Christian resurrection.  The endless renewal of the day reflects the pagan awareness of the ongoing cycles of nature.  Phil Connors' character injects an element of modern rationalism with a hefty dose of cynicism.  But this movie is not a lecture on philosophy.  It's a hilarious comedy with dramatic highlights, like life, and it is both entertaining and meaningful.

In a way, the Groundhog Day celebration is analogous to another holiday.  We all know, or should know, that the true meaning of Christmas is the birth of Jesus.  The coming of God to live among humanity is really what we celebrate at that season.  But then there’s Santa Claus.  He has nothing to do with the original story really, except that he presents an example of someone living in accordance with the Christmas spirit of love and giving.  Santa Claus is not what Christmas is about, but he is a welcome and true-to-form personification of the holiday.

Phil is in control. 

But which one?

Phil Connors is for Groundhog Day what Santa Claus is for Christmas.  Not the reason, but a welcome addition true to the spirit of wonder and appreciation that should characterize this holiday.  The movie is not the reason for celebrating Groundhog Day, but the movie has proven to be a worthy expression of that spirit.  

With thanks to a commenter named Scott, from a website with a disturbing name and a lot of keen insight (www.llamabutchers.mu.nu/archives/155228.php), I present the best expression I have yet found of why Groundhog Day deserves the distinction of Greatest Holiday.

“It's the non-holiday holiday, the otherwise completely ordinary day of the year where the possibility of redemption and renewal are completely and utterly within grasp. Nothing seems quite as impossible to accomplish, as long as it is something to recapture a sense of wonder of the goodness capable of being found in the extremely ordinary.”

Have a Great Day, Everyone.  It’s Time.

Gryphem