Philosophy
A very interesting discussion of the movie Groundhog Day by Vince Manapat.
Vince's question can be re-asked as do we have a right to be a curmudgeon? Sure, it's nice to be sunny and helpful, but do we have to be? he was not much fun to be around, but he wasn't harming anyone? It wasn't a crime of behavior of of will, he did not wish well for others. But do we have to?
- Rip Larry Gelbart
My Fellow Comedists, We lost a good one this week. Larry Gelbart died. Amember of Sid Caesar's legendary writing team, he went on to give us A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Tootsie, and most memorably, he was the creative mind behind...
- Thinking Blog Award
Aspazia tapped me with this meme that's been circulating -- the Thinking Blog Award. I usually don't do these, but I do think there are some smart lesser known blogs I would love to see get a wider readership. (hint: it also helps to get someone...
- Bah Humbug..."a Christmal Carol" [1910]
Wikipedia... A Christmas Carol, is a 1910 silent film directed by J. Searle Dawley for Edison. It runs 10 minutes and is one of the earliest film adaptations of Charles Dickens' famous 1843 novella. It featured Marc McDermott as Ebenezer Scrooge...
- Tuesday, February 2nd Gobbler's Knob In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania
Tomorrow is the big day...a short or extended winter based on a groundhog and his shadow. "Groundhog Day: Any Science Behind The Shadow?" by Erik Maitland February 1st, 2010 FOX Meteorologist On Tuesday, February 2nd Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney,...
- Punxsutawney Phil...the Astronomer
Well, it happened today...Punxsutawney [in Pennsylvania] was host to an annual event...a questionable attempt to disturb a furry bucktoothed rodent and have him become a participant in predicting whether there will be six more weeks of winter. Why not,...
Philosophy
Groundhog Day and the Right to be a Curmudgeon
A very interesting discussion of the movie Groundhog Day by Vince Manapat.
Everyone likes Groundhog Day. But have we really understood this movie for what it is? As a child, I thought I was watching a story about a man who is given an opportunity to fix everything that is wrong with his life. But when I watched this movie again as I an adult I realized that this perennial family favorite was about something entirely different: the total destruction of an individual identity by an unrelenting and insipid petty bourgeois culture.The rest is well worth the read, but the crucial point is that there are differences between the characters of Phil Connors and Ebenezer Scrooge. Groundhog Day is clearly an updated version of A Christmas Carol, but where Scrooge was not merely curmudgeonly, but malicious in his treatment of his employee and those around him, Larry is merely distastefully arrogant and blunt.
In the beginning of the movie, we see a man (Phil Conners) who grants no quarter to all that is phony and spurious in the people around him. For instance, he thinks Larry, his driver, is unintelligent and beneath him, but rather than pretend that he cares for Larry he treats him in such a way that reveals his true feeling. Indeed, this could be said about all of his interactions with other characters: the way he treats people corresponds to the way he feels about them (a cardinal sin in middle class American life). It is harsh but it is also honest. He is intensely critical of other people and he has little enthusiasm for the things that make common people happy. This is how Phil has chosen to live, and his adherence to this way of life is an endorsement of it. It is a legitimate and even laudable way to live one?s life, but alas, it cannot always survive in environments hostile to it.
Vince's question can be re-asked as do we have a right to be a curmudgeon? Sure, it's nice to be sunny and helpful, but do we have to be? he was not much fun to be around, but he wasn't harming anyone? It wasn't a crime of behavior of of will, he did not wish well for others. But do we have to?
- Rip Larry Gelbart
My Fellow Comedists, We lost a good one this week. Larry Gelbart died. Amember of Sid Caesar's legendary writing team, he went on to give us A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Tootsie, and most memorably, he was the creative mind behind...
- Thinking Blog Award
Aspazia tapped me with this meme that's been circulating -- the Thinking Blog Award. I usually don't do these, but I do think there are some smart lesser known blogs I would love to see get a wider readership. (hint: it also helps to get someone...
- Bah Humbug..."a Christmal Carol" [1910]
Wikipedia... A Christmas Carol, is a 1910 silent film directed by J. Searle Dawley for Edison. It runs 10 minutes and is one of the earliest film adaptations of Charles Dickens' famous 1843 novella. It featured Marc McDermott as Ebenezer Scrooge...
- Tuesday, February 2nd Gobbler's Knob In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania
Tomorrow is the big day...a short or extended winter based on a groundhog and his shadow. "Groundhog Day: Any Science Behind The Shadow?" by Erik Maitland February 1st, 2010 FOX Meteorologist On Tuesday, February 2nd Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney,...
- Punxsutawney Phil...the Astronomer
Well, it happened today...Punxsutawney [in Pennsylvania] was host to an annual event...a questionable attempt to disturb a furry bucktoothed rodent and have him become a participant in predicting whether there will be six more weeks of winter. Why not,...