Groundhog Day: Finding an invincible summer in the deepest Punxsutawney winter

Fields, Paul (2017) Groundhog Day: Finding an invincible summer in the deepest Punxsutawney winter. Journal of Camus Studies, 2016, 1–22.

Record type: Article

Abstract

Camus’s fictional writing is often considered as an illustration of his philosophical writing. A recurrent pairing is The Myth of Sisyphus, in which Camus lays out his philosophy of the absurd, and his novel The Stranger. While some have rejected this connection, it is generally accepted that if The Myth of Sisyphus explains the philosophy, or the notion, of the absurd, then The Stranger provides an example, or the feeling, of the absurd.

At the same time, the 1993 film Groundhog Day, in which a misanthropic weatherman is forced to repeat the same day over and over, has frequently been connected with the absurd, and in particular with Camus’s use of Sisyphus to illuminate the absurd. Both works’ shared themes of routine, precise repetition, and purposelessness is primarily what drives this connection. However, most connections between the two are brief and inadequately scholarly.

My essay addresses the connections between these texts, with particular attention on what I term the ‘catalysts’ of the feeling of the absurd, and on Camus’s two responses to the absurd: physical and philosophical suicide. I reflect on whether Groundhog Day affects the absurd, if it underlines or weakens it, and whether the film alters our conception of the absurd.

I argue that little is added to the fundamental idea of the absurd in Groundhog Day, however its uniquely supernatural world enables it to strengthen both the things that signify to us that the world is absurd, and the reasons for rejecting those things that tempt us to pretend it is not.

This record has no associated files available for download.