GROUNDHOG DAY: EVALUATING THE SHADOWS

Before the sun sets on this most significant of holidays that take place during the first week of February (and there are so very many), it’s my pleasure to point you to a superb piece by fellow blogger and SLIFR reader Ali Arikan. Ali’s Cerebral Mastication, over which he presides all the way from the country of Turkey, is one of the highlights of the blogosphere, and his new piece, “Imagining Sisyphus Happy: A Groundhog Day Retrospective” is, like the brilliant Harold Ramis-directed comedy which it revisits, both specific and universal, a—yes-- cerebral and joyous examination of one man’s discovery of how best to live a life that has been, up till his moment of self-awareness, been wasted on bitterness and cynical self-satisfaction. In many ways, Ali’s piece, in addition to being an evocative re-viewing of a terrific movie, made me think of how this mind-bending picture works in tandem with Mike Leigh’s decidedly not-metaphysical-at all Happy-Go-Lucky to address how, in grim economic times as these, a positive outlook is not simply a harbinger of sticking one’s head in the sand, but instead a viable way of engaging with the tough winds and dark shadows that buffet and blanket us daily, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Here’s a taste:

“For 16 years, Groundhog Day has been hailed as a meditation on self-redemption. But to pigeonhole it into one overarching theme would be an insult to the layered precision, and perfection, of Harold Ramis’s 1993 masterpiece, which ventures into the heart of darkness and despair to ultimately emerge unharmed, but not unmarked. This story of a man doomed to relive the same day over and over again is not concerned about tomorrow. A true absurdist triumph, it cares not what the destination might be, for it knows that the pursuit of meaning is itself meaningful whether or not that pursuit is eventually rewarded. Life might very well lack purpose, and it might very well be a struggle. But that doesn’t mean you have to be an asshole about it.

Do yourself a favor: if you’re already one of Ali’s regular readers, get thee hence to Cerebral Mastication and make him a habit, and while you’re there rummaging through all of Ali’s archives you can also link up to his excellent piece over at The House Next Door.

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