Groundhogs Cave

When you look at the message that the cave is trying to portray, and compare it to the movie Groundhogs Day, you will see a series of similarities. Simply because at the beginning of the movie you see how Phil is a cocky, self-centered jerk that only thought of himself. Only to disregard what other people think or feel. But once the first day passed, Phil began to experience Déjà vu, but in a different way. It was not like a psychological experience but rather him experiencing it every day. At first he began to do what he wanted, and get what he wanted without consequence. Like the time when he drove drunk after drinking at a bowling alley. As he took off he began to drive reckless and run from the cops, because he knew that there would be no consequence for his actions. But as the days went by he only began to study people in more than many ways. He began to find out information about people so that the next day he would have something in common with them, only to be able to seduce them. Which is not a bad thing, I guess. But in a way it only shows that he is trying to fulfill all of his inner most desires, to make himself feel better about having to re-live the same day over and over. So it’s a way to try and escape the misery of having to wake up to the same song at six in the morning every day. One person that he really tries to study though is Rita his producer. When he spends the whole day with her only to find out what she likes, which he only uses it against her to make himself sound like a better man than what he really is. But Rita was no dummy, she could see past him every night as he always managed to say the wrong thing, only to suffer the consequence of being slapped every time. Just like in the Cave, although, you try so hard to get out of the darkness, if you don’t do it right then you will just get brought right back to the bottom. As it shows in the movie, when he finally gets so depressed that he kidnaps Groundhog “Phil” to only go to a cliff and drive off it, killing both of them. But he is not successful as he keeps waking up every day. This only shows that his pain will still be there until he decides to change his life and better himself. Like the saying goes, you must hit the bottom, before you can make it to the top.


So from that day forward Phil decided to change his perspective on this dark place and started to treat people with more respect. He started to give the homeless man all his money, bring coffee and pastries to Rita and Larry, ask people about their lives, change a tire for some old ladies when they got a flat, rescue a kid from falling off a tree, learns how to play the piano, and even tries to revive an old man from dying. He started to do so much that he began to think less of himself, but rather more of others. Finally everyone began to love him, where he ultimately starts to love himself. Once he discovers himself, then Rita begins to fall in love with him. Where he finally sees the light, to where he wakes up the next day next to Rita in bed. With Phil stating that “Anything different is good”, which is so true. Because if you look at it as being stuck in the cave which is dark place, like depression. Then it’s a process to get yourself out, but it’s doable. This ultimately builds you as a character to be able to withstand tough situations, and become a better person.