Groundhog Day Directed by Harold

¶ … Groundhog Day directed by Harold Ramis [...] stress and how the main character copes with stress and stressors. The film "Groundhog Day," starring Bill Murray, is a funny look at what would happen if a person had to relive life over and over again, replaying the same day until he got it "right." At first glance it is a humorous film with an underlying message that a person can change and become a better person under stress. However, there is much more to the film than that. Murray's character, Phil Connors, is a selfish and quite unlikable weatherman who travels to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities for his television station. A snowstorm leaves him stranded another night, and when he wakes up in the morning, it is Groundhog Day all over again, including the same conversations with the same people, the same situations, and the same actions. This happens again and again, until Murray is unable to cope with being stuck in this little "tiny hamlet" with all these "hicks" and "morons." His mind begins to go, and he begins to show the signs of great stress. The film shows how he copes with the stress and how he has to become a better person to break the circle. He has to change his life to make the time go ahead again, and he has to think about someone besides himself. It is very important to the story line that no one else knows what is happening to Phil. He is alone in his situation, and he cannot share it with anyone else, because they do not believe him and do not understand him. He is isolated, and so he has to depend only on himself to get himself out of the situation.

The causes of Phil's stressors are out of his control, and yet they are not. Phil is caught is a time warp, where the same day keeps recurring until he does something so radically different that it breaks the "spell." He has no control over what is happening, and yet, when he changes enough and becomes a better person, the cycle finally ends. Phil thinks he has no control over what is happening to him, but ultimately he has totally control over the stressors. It just takes him a long time to figure that out and make things change.

Phil does not show a lot of physiological symptoms, especially at first. However, after a while he becomes depressed and he starts doing things like not bathing, letting his beard grow, not getting dressed - all these are signs of depression. Experts note these are some of the signs of depression, "sad mood or loss of pleasure, with at least four other symptoms such as sleep disturbance, appetite or weight changes, psychomotor agitation or retardation, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, diminished ability to think or concentrate, and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide (Field et al. ix). Phil exhibits many of these signs. He does not comb his hair, eats too much, and things like that. Many experts note that negative events can lead to stress and depression. These authors note, "That there is a relation between exposure to negative events and depression is well established" (Blaney 89). At first, he acts terrified, too, and shows his fear openly, which makes other people suspicious of him.

Phil uses several primary and secondary defense mechanisms throughout the film to deal with his situation and his stress. At first, he is in denial about the entire situation. He does not believe this is happening to him, and he has to prove it to himself. Later he uses the secondary mechanisms of isolation and then reaction formation. First, when he becomes depressed because Rita rejects him, he becomes depressed and even tries to commit suicide numerous times. He isolates himself, and thinks only about his own problems. Later, he reacts to what is happening and uses reaction formation to recreate his life and thereby change the outcome of each Groundhog Day. He goes through several stages, and uses defense mechanisms to cope with each stage as he makes it through to the next stage.

One of the coping mechanisms Phil used was suicide as a way out of his problem. That did not work so he had to find another way to deal with his dilemma and his stress. He also uses manipulation as he tries to get to know Rita and make her fall in love with him. He manipulates her day after day to learn everything about her and become the "perfect" man for her. However, he finds that finally this does not work anyway, and he becomes the perfect man by altering his own personality and his own way of thinking. He has adapted to a bad situation and tried to make it better, which seems to be a problem-focused strategy. He has confronted the problem and adapted to it, and only then has his life gotten back to "normal."

Phil uses quite a bit of social support after he gets over his feelings of isolation. He engages his friends (Rita and Larry), and people he meets in the town. He really does not have very many friends, but he makes friends in the town during his long stay, and because of that, he suddenly develops a support group who all appreciate him and care about him. He has become a good person by being stuck in time, and the people around him helped him, whether he first recognizes that or not.