Zoë Cumler

CMS 298

4/28/14

Definition: “A simulation is an experience that is self-contained, referring mainly to itself” (p. 247).

Examples of Simulations:

Video Games Movie Theaters Amusement parks/theme parks

The whole idea behind a simulation is that you are entering a completely different world within the one you are physically in. For example, when you play a video game, you are entering a different world full of signs and symbols meant to represent objects, ideas, and stories in the physical world. When we are done playing the game, we shut it off and it disappears. Anything else that takes place after you shut the game off and walk away, stays within that tiny world. It exists only there. If you decide to hit the reset button on the game, you are creating a copy of everything you just did, but the game starts over again. You can repeat this over and over again, as much as you want.

The culture in the U.S., as well as many other similar countries, are becoming extremely simulational. For example, everything from water, theme and amusement parks are simulational; the movies; sports arenas; shopping malls; even watching the weather on the news is simulational. Why? Because it creates an additional, smaller world within itself. You enjoy the world while you are there, but make little to no connection with it after you leave.

When a culture becomes so obsessed with simulation, it begins to become a characteristic of our culture. This can affect how texts are understood, as well as the significance they carry with them.

This movie is about weatherman, Phil Connors – a self-centered, conceited, selfish news meteorologist who travels to Punxsutawney, Pa. every year for the Groundhog festival. By using the rhetoric of simulation, the film becomes a metaphor for self-absorption and socially disconnectedness.

Repetition & Phil Connors representing the Groundhog

“Fun-ness”

Self-absorption

Women as cure to self-absorption (and therefore simulation).

Repetition seems to be a key theme closely associated with simulation. For example, there are countless scenes throughout the movie where Phil experiences vast amounts of repetition.

1. Phil is a weatherman. This means he repeats the same ironic dialogue and gestures every day while giving the weather. We see him rudely imitate his same weather spiel every time someone mentions a blizzard. This is also true of the Groundhog who really only makes his presence know once a year to give the weather.

2. We see how Phil is meant to represent the Groundhog itself due to the fact that he repeats the same trip to Punxsutawney every year to cover the Groundhog story. He becomes stuck in the simulational world of Punxsutawney, just as Phil the Groundhog is. We also understand how they are meant to represent one another considering they both have the same name, Phil.

Phil expresses anger towards how his life is the same “every day” and “every year”. Since he doesn’t appreciate the true variety that his life is capable of having, he is doomed to literally repeat the same day for years and years in the simulational world of Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney. He even tries to kill himself several times in a row due to his vexation with the repetition.

Phil bases his entire attitude on how “fun” things are. If things don’t seem fun enough, Phil’s attitude is morose and rude. He doesn’t really seem to enjoy anything unless it directly benefits him in some way. This part of the “fun-ness” theme also ties into the self-absorption theme as well. When at the second day of Groundhog day, Phil approaches Rita to tell her something is wrong. When she asks if he’s drunk, he says, “Drunk’s more fun.”

When Phil initially realizes he is permanently stuck in February 2nd, he first believes it is the best thing ever because he can do whatever he pleases because he will face no consequences. This involves using his friend’s car to go drunk driving, getting chased by cops, and ending up in jail only to find himself back in the B&B bed the next day. However, this all quickly grows old for him, and he then switches to trying to seduce women.

Phil, once he realizes he is stuck in Groundhog Day, tries to conquer many female companions by learning information from them one day, and using it the next day to appear to have things in common. This is a tactic he uses because he believes this is fun for him. This domination of females is also tied into the theme involving Women.

Throughout the first 3 quarters of the movie, we are exposed to just how self-centered and self-absorbed Phil really is. He only cares about things that will benefit him – he could care less about helping others, let alone treat them with some respect.

When Ned Ryerson first approaches Phil in the street, Phil immediately assumes that he must know him from watching him on TV. He can’t possibly grasp that someone may simply know him on a personal level because he refuses to make any social or personal connections with a single person.

Once slowly cut off from reality (phone and satellite down due to the blizzard), Phil throws an absolute fit and tries to get through to the operator about it, as if expecting some sort of special treatment. When the operator tells him there is nothing to be done, Phil explains, “But I‘m a celebrity in an emergency.”

Later in the film while Phil is attempting to seduce Rita in his hotel room, she shuts him down by telling him, “You must be crazy. I could never love anyone like you, Phil, because you’ll never love anyone but yourself!” This not only creates a connection between the simulationalclosed loop of self-centeredness, but it creates a connection with many of the audience members who may be experiencing a similar attitude toward their lives.

Throughout the film, Phil is constantly turning to women for the wisdom and understanding, as long as he can exploit them after. He turns to a few female companions to make him feel like he’s having fun, but the only woman he actually turns to for advice for his problems, is Rita.

In this sense, the film places “authentic relationships with women as an antidote to a simulational obsession” (Brummett, p. 254). In doing so, the film appears to question our culture’s obsession with simulation, while also offering a revisal of attitudes toward women as a means of getting over such an obsession. We really see this occurring at the end of the film, when Phil realizes his true feelings for Rita and gets to a point where she falls asleep with him, thus creating a human connection with another person and changing his fate in Groundhog Day.

Phil finally manages to emerge from Groundhog Day after having spent years in the simulational world. He only manages to do so after falling in love with someone besides himself. Besides this, we see him go from a self-absorbed egotist, to a cultured, friendly, hospitable, kind-hearted man. He buys coffee and breakfast for his crew, he learns piano and Italian, he saves a child who falls from a tree, etc. And finally, he creates an authentic relationship with a woman. This, then, appears to be the only way to escape the world of simulation.