15) Groundhog Day Five Stages of Grief

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In the philosophical comedy film of Groundhog Day directed by Harold Ramis, Phil Connors is a TV meteorologist who discovers that he is reliving February 2. Groundhog Day is about a selfish man forced to spend his time in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania because of a freakish blizzard. The day goes on exactly as it did before with only Phil aware of the endless time loop he is in. At first, he takes full advantage of the situation with no fear of the consequences. Eventually, he gets desperate and tries everything to end the time loop such as giving an offensive reports on the festival and having a police chase. He even tries to kill both himself and the town's groundhog. At the end, Phil accepts his fate and spends the day helping people like the homeless guy on the street. He wakes the next morning to find out that the time loop is broken. According to Kubler-Ross, people who suffers from terminal illness or any form of catastrophically will experience the five stages of grief. In the midst of losing his freedom to escape Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Phil went through the five stages of grief.

The five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Phil Connors goes through the five stages in Groundhog Day. After he realizes that he is stuck in the same day, he perceives there are no consequences to his actions. When Phil starts to relive the same day, he is in the denial stage. Phil thinks he is having a deja vu and asks Rita to slap him in the face to wake him up. But denying it isn't going to do anything so then he goes to the next stage which is anger. He realizes that he is actually reliving the same day and he starts to get mad. He punches the guy on the street and start doing crimes. He takes advantage of the women like Nancy. Then he gets to the next stage, bargaining. He starts to get tired of the day and just wants to leave it or get rid of it. Since Punxsutawney Phil is the main figure of Groundhog Day, he tries kidnapping it in hope that the time loop will end but unfortunately it does not. After he realizing that he couldn't get Rita, he starts to enter the depression stage. Phil He can’t take advantage of Rita because he has feelings about her and he doesn't want to hurt her. He tries committing suicide several times from electrocuting himself in the bathroom to jumping off a building. Finally, Phil enters the acceptance stage. He accepts his fate and decides to live the day like it never happened and just being normal. Phil begins to wonder how he might use his time in the town to serve others and make a better person of himself.