美国国家公共电台 NPR How To Understand The Philosophy Of 'Groundhog Day' And Live Life By Its Message

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GROUNDHOG DAY")

BILL MURRAY: (As Phil) It's February 2, Groundhog Day.

SHAPIRO: Today is not just the day that Punxsutawney Phil looks for his shadow. This year is also the 25th anniversary of the movie "Groundhog Day."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GROUNDHOG DAY")

MURRAY: (As Phil) A thousand people freezing their butts¹ off, waiting to worship a rat.

SHAPIRO: The Bill Murray comedy about a weatherman who lives the same day over and over has had staying power. Philosophy classes include "Groundhog Day" in their syllabus². There was even a Broadway adaptation - "Groundhog Day: The Musical."

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL, "GROUNDHOG DAY: THE MUSICAL")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters, singing) If I had my time again, I'd open all the doors I never looked behind before and...

SHAPIRO: Mary Elizabeth Williams has written about why this movie struck a chord, and she has a new article about it in Salon³. Welcome.

MARY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS: Thank you for having me.

SHAPIRO: Rough plot outline - in this movie, Bill Murray's character starts out as kind of an awful person. And as he lives the same day over and over and over again, he eventually becomes a more selfless person. What's the secret sauce here?

WILLIAMS: I think it has such amazing durability⁴ for a couple of reasons. It's very clear that it does somehow tap into so many of the themes of philosophy, of faith, of religion that I think can be so neatly⁵ applied⁶ to so many different kinds of belief systems. But I've also found that you can watch it at different times in your life and see different things in it.

SHAPIRO: When you first watched it you were, like, in your 20s.

WILLIAMS: Yeah. And now, 25 years later - it's half a lifetime later, and it feels like such a different story to me now because it really is about this character who's closer in age to now where I am who has made a lot of mistakes and is learning and keeps learning.

SHAPIRO: And is the lesson that you take away when you watch it now that, well, if you could live every day over again you'd be able to perfect it, but since you can't you're kind of stuck? Or is the lesson that we all have an opportunity - I mean, like, what do you get out of it?

WILLIAMS: I feel it's so resonant⁷ right now because I look around me and everything I see or read seems to be about maximizing your time and maximizing your efficiency.

SHAPIRO: Right.

WILLIAMS: And this is really a story about the incredible, painstaking⁸, patience-testing process of learning and failing. And it's certainly not about building skill sets in terms of doing card tricks or learning how to play the piano...

SHAPIRO: Which are things that he does over the course of the movie.

WILLIAMS: Exactly. But what ultimately gets him to that next level of transcendence or however you want to apply your belief system to it is by kindness, is by community, is by becoming a part of something and starting to work not for benefiting himself, but benefiting other people.

SHAPIRO: We actually have a clip of the director, Harold Ramis, who was famous for "Ghostbusters" and "Caddyshack" and other legendary⁹ comedies that were maybe a little less profound. And this was almost a decade ago. Before he died, he told the Hudson Union Society that almost as soon as the movie came out he started to hear from Catholic priests and Jewish scholars and psychoanalysts. And they all said this movie was clearly a metaphor¹⁰ for the teachings that their group subscribes¹¹ to.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HAROLD RAMIS: My mother-in-law lived for 35 years in a Zen Buddhist¹² meditation¹³ center. I called her right away on the weekend, and she said they saw it, they - the abbots and the senior monks¹⁴. She said they loved it. They thought it expresses a fundamental Buddhist concept.

SHAPIRO: I mean, it's pretty remarkable¹⁵ - right? - that all these different groups each saw their own teachings in this kind of screwball comedy.

WILLIAMS: Well, I think it's pretty great because it implies that there is something beyond the teachings of any one particular faith or philosophy, that this is a deeply humane¹⁶ film, that this is really a story of humanity and the story of the big questions we ask about what we're doing with our time. It's perfect because what is "Groundhog Day"? It's this, you know, completely kind of random¹⁷, silly, superstitious¹⁸ thing that's about, how much more time are we going to have to wait until we get to something better?

SHAPIRO: You had an experience in your own life that I imagine was pretty profound. You survived stage 4 cancer. And when we think about how much time we have left on this earth, I would imagine that a fatal illness kind of gives you a different perspective on that.

WILLIAMS: It does. It's both profound and there's something really reassuring¹⁹ about knowing that on some level you're going to be the same goofy time waster you ever were. I had metastatic cancer and I still spend way too much time looking at Instagram. It's not like I go out and plant trees every day. But it definitely changed my relationship with time. Whether you have a little bit of time or a lot of time, kind of the only thing that really matters is how much you can give to other people. That's what I learned in having a little bit of time, and that's what I think Phil learns in having a lot of time.

SHAPIRO: Mary Elizabeth Williams speaking with us about the 25th anniversary of the movie "Groundhog Day." It's been a pleasure. Thank you.

WILLIAMS: Thank you so much. Happy Groundhog Day and every day after.

(SOUNDBITE OF MANFRED MANN'S "I GOT YOU BABE")

SHAPIRO: Stop me if you've heard this one before.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GROUNDHOG DAY")

MURRAY: (As Phil) It's February 2, Groundhog Day.

SHAPIRO: Just kidding.

(SOUNDBITE OF MANFRED MANN'S "I GOT YOU BABE")

1 butts   

笑柄( butt的名词复数 )； （武器或工具的）粗大的一端； 屁股； 烟蒂

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。
• The house butts to a cemetery. 这所房子和墓地相连。

2 syllabus   

n.教学大纲，课程大纲

参考例句：

• Have you got next year's syllabus?你拿到明年的教学大纲了吗？
• We must try to diversify the syllabus to attract more students.我们应该使教学大纲内容多样化，可以多吸引学生。

3 salon   

n.[法]沙龙；客厅；营业性的高级服务室

参考例句：

• Do you go to the hairdresser or beauty salon more than twice a week?你每周去美容院或美容沙龙多过两次吗？
• You can hear a lot of dirt at a salon.你在沙龙上会听到很多流言蜚语。

4 durability   

n.经久性，耐用性

参考例句：

• Nylons have the virtue of durability.尼龙丝袜有耐穿的优点。

5 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

6 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

7 resonant   

adj.(声音)洪亮的，共鸣的

参考例句：

• She has a resonant voice.她的嗓子真亮。
• He responded with a resonant laugh.他报以洪亮的笑声。

8 painstaking   

adj.苦干的；艰苦的，费力的，刻苦的

参考例句：

• She is not very clever but she is painstaking.她并不很聪明，但肯下苦功夫。
• Through years of our painstaking efforts,we have at last achieved what we have today.大家经过多少年的努力，才取得今天的成绩。

9 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

10 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

11 subscribes   

v.捐助( subscribe的第三人称单数 )；签署，题词；订阅；同意

参考例句：

• The library subscribes to 40 magazines. 这个图书馆订购四十种杂志。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He subscribes to a number of journals concerning his subject. 他订阅了许多与他的学科有关的杂志。 来自辞典例句

12 Buddhist   

adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒

参考例句：

• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。
• In the eye of the Buddhist,every worldly affair is vain.在佛教徒的眼里，人世上一切事情都是空的。

13 meditation   

n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录

参考例句：

• This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation.这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation.很抱歉，我打断了你的沉思。

14 monks   

n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The monks lived a very ascetic life. 僧侣过着很清苦的生活。
• He had been trained rigorously by the monks. 他接受过修道士的严格训练。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

16 humane   

adj.人道的，富有同情心的

参考例句：

• Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗？
• Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。

17 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

18 superstitious   

adj.迷信的

参考例句：

• They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。
• These superstitious practices should be abolished as soon as possible.这些迷信做法应尽早取消。

19 reassuring   

a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的

参考例句：

• He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 他轻拍了一下她的肩膀让她放心。
• With a reassuring pat on her arm, he left. 他鼓励地拍了拍她的手臂就离开了。