A Note on Groundhog Day (the movie)

I saw it when it came out in theaters and I’ve seen it on a small screen once or twice before. And I watched it again yesterday evening.

I like it.

I could almost imagine doing a detailed analysis of it. And I’d be looking for ring composition, that is, for a center point around which the whole movie pivots. Whether I’d find it, that’s another matter.

But it almost seems made for that kind of a plot. As you may recall, Groundhog Day is set mostly on Groundhog Day. Bill Murray is a cynical weatherman from a local station in Pittsburgh. He’s got to journey to Punxsutawney, once again, to report on whether or not the groundhog sees his shadow. He covers the story and then heads back to Pittsburgh with his producer (Andie McDowell) and cameraman (Chris Elliott). They get caught in a blizzard and have to return to Punxsutawney. He wakes up at 6AM expecting to return to Pittsburgh. That doesn’t happen.

Instead, he discovers that Groundhog Day is going to repeat itself. He does the same things, meets the same people in the same order, over and over again. But with differences. At one point he starts killing himself. Day after day after day. And day by day he becomes less of a jerk, more of a mensch. He pursues Andie, more and more successfully. But this his a bit late in the series of repetitions. By this time he’s shown himself to be an excellent ice sculptor. And he’s been taking piano lessons and has gotten so good that he’s able to be the life of the party. Not long after than Andie sleeps with him. And when they wake up, guess what, it’s no longer Groundhog Day. It’s become February 3rd. End of film.

So, first question: where’s the midpoint, if there is one? Off hand I’d go for the first time he tries to kill himself, though that may be a bit late. But that’s the question – where’s the midpoint? – to ask. Just don’t press too hard on it.

On the other hand, what argues against the ring-composition notion is the general timing of the film. If I were to undertake an analysis of the film, one thing I’d do is list each and every Groundhog day along with the time in the firm when it starts. That’s easy enough to do because each time starts the same way, a shot of the clock turning to 6AM and “It Got You Babe” on the radio. When we’ve got, then, is this:

Before GH Day
GH Day 1
GH Day 2
...
GH Day N-1
GH Day N
February 3

How long is each of these segments? And what changes from one GH day to the next?

I’m guessing that the longest segment in the film is either before GH Day, or the first GH Day. Successive GH Days get shorter and shorter, up to a point. And then some of them are certainly longer, certainly those near the end of the series of repetitions. But the final segment of the film, February 3, is quite short. Temporally it may mirror the day before GH Day, but it is a much shorter segment. That suggests it may not be a structural mirror for the opening segment.

So, Groundhog Day may not be a ring composition. Have I talked myself into doing the analysis? Not yet.

We’ll see.