Groundhog Day with Bill Murray

 The characters Phil runs into each morning are a great representation of the kind of people you meet in life and Phil treats them how we often do.

The guy he meets in the hallway are the people we see that are only able to exchange pleasantries with. They talk about the weather or sports when you don’t like sports. We tolerate them but with snide thoughts that Phil says out loud.

Mrs. Lancaster, the owner of the bed and breakfast, is older.  Phil wants an espresso and makes fun of her, but she doesn’t quite get it.  She represents your parents when they get older. I love my parents, but elderly people have their way of doing things and you have to do it their way.

Phil then sees a bum.  In life, we may not even pay much attention to them.  They need our help but we do not to get involved. Phil is annoyed by the mere sight of him.

Then he runs into his old high school friend, Ned.  Now Ned is annoying. So it is hard to have sympathy for him. But we know that Phil went to high school with him and has always picked on him.  Ned was picked on. As the film progresses we can see that there is more to Ned. To many times like Phil we want to pass judgement and move on.

He runs into the mud puddle. He keeps making the same mistake.

Then he meets his coworkers. He does not think much of them. They are the professional ones but I think people often see themselves as much more valuable as their coworkers.

Phil treats them with disdain.  He makes fun of them, but he still follows the social conventions.

After Phil sees that he is trapped and is frustrated by his life, we will see how he reacts. At first, he is rude. Once he has no hope, we all react with anger. We take it out on the people around us.

We see that what the people do does not change. The only thing that changes is Phil’s ability to cope.