# Groundhog's Day - what's really happening? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 21, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549 "2011-08-21T17:52:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/21 "2011-08-21T20:23:05Z")
The long-running thread “[How many Groundhog Days in the movie?](http://209.104.5.198/sdmb/showthread.php?p=3579072)” covers some of this ground. As I mention in that thread, I am quite fond of the theory that Ned Ryerson, the obnoxious insurance salesman, is also in a repeating time loop (the theory being based on incidents in the film, not just plucked out of thin air). [edit: \*\*Satchmo \*\*beat me to it by a minute. Although, in my preferred version, they are in separate, non-intersecting time loops and have no reason to know that the other one is also in a loop.] ---
**Author:** ![charmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@charmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/charmstr)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/22 "2011-08-21T20:42:48Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > BTW, the movie was believed to have been inspired (influenced) by the novel, [Replay](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92131281) which is a fine read. In the novel, instead of a 24 hour loop, the protag experiences decades long loops. If you are any kind of a fan of GD or time travel stories in general, you should read this novel. I loved that book. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/23 "2011-08-21T20:46:34Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > He’s caught in a time loop. Happens all the time to me. I told/am telling/will till you tomorrow to leave my equipment alone. I could help you out here, but I have no sympathy whatsodamnever. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/24 "2011-08-21T21:07:07Z")
It’s all in his mind. Bill Murray’s character is having a nightmare where he is trying to change the horrible decision he made in that town. Try as he might to escape the horrible truth, he is unable to. Instead the dream switches course and is reconstructed in a way to give him the impression that the decision isn’t a mistake, but a conscious choice. Something he had to work hard for, and that paradoxically changes the horror in some absurd ways into something positive. So when he wakes up, he might not feel so bad about sleeping with Andie MacDowell. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/25 "2011-08-21T21:07:29Z")
> [@charmstr](#): > > I loved that book. Me too. There’s supposed to be a movie in the works. Hope they don’t screw it up. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/26 "2011-08-21T22:30:22Z")
I just figured it was “magical realism”. No explanation needed. ---
**Author:** ![Feyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/fbc32d/32.png) [@Feyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feyrat)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/27 "2011-08-21T22:45:51Z")
> [@nivlac](#): > > For some reason, I can watch the movie over and over again and not get tired of it! 😉 Me too! My mother and I make it a point to watch it several times a year. My father **hates** the movie, and thinks we’re loons to re-watch it. His opinion is that, having seen it once he’s already seen it several times, so why would he need to re-watch it. Obviously, mom and I think he’s the loon. > [@Balance](#): > > **Claire** ’s dismissive sniffing notwithstanding, it is possible to “get” the movie and still have fun speculating about it. Wild speculation is entertaining in its own right; it doesn’t mean we think the movie would be better with an “explanation”. Exactly this 🙂 > [@Balance](#): > > Here’s one off the cuff: > > A time traveler inadvertently interfered with Phil Connors’ childhood by somehow humiliating the boy, setting in motion a chain of events that produced Phil-the-jerk. Without this interference, Phil would have grown up to be a nice guy and a natural match for Rita. They would have fallen in love on Groundhog Day–the first day they actually spent a lot of time together. They would have married, had children, and one of their descendents would have been the time traveler. > > Groundhog Day is the last possible time to correct history and avoid the paradox. The looping is actually the paradox “resetting” each time events cause the time traveler to have never existed. Phil remembers the loops because he interacted directly with the time traveler, causing his personal timeline to be offset slightly from the natural course of history. > > Phil’s doesn’t just save himself through his redemption. He saves the _universe_. Nice! > [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > Could you explain the ‘Bartender Did It’ theory? Well, my personal theory doesn’t have anything to do with the whole “Magical Negro” trope, actually. It has to do with the smug/amused/knowing looks the bartender gives the entire affair. Phil ends up in the bar every time, and whenever they cut to the bartender, it just seems like he knows what’s going on. There’s no _reason_ to cut to him the way they do, either, it just makes him seem significant. My personal theory has always been that the bartender is a passing, mischievous Amberite who’s taking a break in this version of earth and having a little fun/doing a little experiment to see how long the average human jackass takes to redeem himself. No, there’s absolutely no “canon” for this, it just amuses me to think so. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/28 "2011-08-21T23:42:54Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > It’s all in his mind. Bill Murray’s character is having a nightmare where he is trying to change the horrible decision he made in that town. Try as he might to escape the horrible truth, he is unable to. Instead the dream switches course and is reconstructed in a way to give him the impression that the decision isn’t a mistake, but a conscious choice. Something he had to work hard for, and that paradoxically changes the horror in some absurd ways into something positive. > > So when he wakes up, he might not feel so bad about sleeping with Andie MacDowell. I like this answer, and also the time traveling descendant explanation from **Balance**. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/29 "2011-08-22T00:27:38Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > He’s caught in a time loop. Happens all the time to me. Nobody fucks with Paul Lazzaro! ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/30 "2011-08-22T00:54:28Z")
Off to post about the groundhog? ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/31 "2011-08-22T02:51:48Z")
It’s a metaphor. A jerk had a moment of clarity and endeavored to stop being a jerk. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/32 "2011-08-22T03:30:44Z")
What is this, Miami Beach? ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/33 "2011-08-22T03:40:17Z")
Not hardly. ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/34 "2011-08-22T03:40:46Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > It isn’t important why it happens Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/35 "2011-08-22T03:45:40Z")
And we’ve already addressed that nobody cares if it’s important or not why it happens. The point is that it’s fun to speculate. ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/36 "2011-08-22T03:52:30Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > And we’ve already addressed that nobody cares if it’s important or not why it happens. The point is that it’s fun to speculate. No it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/37 "2011-08-22T14:25:05Z")
> [@Docta\_G](#): > > No it isn’t. The lavatory is down the hall and on the left. If you don’t find speculating fun, why post in the thread in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/38 "2011-08-22T14:43:58Z")
All of you are wrong wrong wrong! Haven’t you ever owned a magical clock radio before? ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/39 "2011-08-22T14:53:32Z")
Phil is actually a helicopter pilot whose last tour of duty was in Afghanistan… ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549/40 "2011-08-22T15:35:31Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > If you don’t find speculating fun, why post in the thread in the first place? He’s just a little jaded. You would be too, if you had to relive this thread \*over \*and \*over \*and _over_… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/groundhogs-day-whats-really-happening/593549.md?page=3)