I have not written in over a week. I wish I could say I was doing important productive things like putting together a puzzle, or even playing Zelda, but no, I just did not feel like writing anything. I did watch one of my favorite movies, along with basically everyone in the world. I am obviously talking about Groundhog Day.
While watching the movie, I noticed other people on the different social media sites commenting about the movie and how it ends. There are a multitude of theories about what broke the curse on Phil. I have noticed there are three main ones that people believe…
- Ned Ryerson is the devil and Phil eventually buys insurance (sells his soul) for the curse to end. I hate this theory. It means that Phil was tortured, and eventually gives in without ever really knowing what was happening or growing as a person.
- The curse ends because Rita falls in love with Phil. This seems to be the popular theory. I do not agree with this one either though. I do not hate it. However, it has some problems. If Phil could have tricked her into bed during that first run, would that have broken the curse? Was she falling for him then? Was she falling for him when he told her the truth and she fell asleep with him? Again, this has nothing to do with Phil’s growth as a person.
- Phil finally becomes a good person. I am sure someone compared Phil’s journey with something like Dante’s Inferno or something like that. Phil goes through different stages of his never-ending day, and eventually decides to do just be better. He saves the kid every day, he tries to help the old man, he saves Buster from choking, he helps the old ladies, he learns the piano, he learns ice carving. During all of those pursuits, he is bettering himself, and eventually the curse is lifted when this new Phil, who is truly content with himself, is able to share himself with someone else, in this case Rita. Honestly, I do not know if this is an actual theory, this was always just my interpretation of the movie.
I have never read or watched any director’s commentary about the movie. I do not want to know what Harold Ramis intended by the ending. I like having my own theory, and damn it, I think it is pretty good.
