Joshua Booth- Seventh Seal

I honestly thought that the movie Seventh Seal was boring. I thought that the movie had a couple of ideas and thoughts that he wanted to express, but I feel as if the movie dragged on to portray these symbolic images of transcendence. First, I don't understand why Block, whom was a courageous knight, never tries to physically get to death. I know that he is playing the game of chess with him but never once does he try to get to the death guy by hands instead of by the game. I look up to Block in the form of he was so curious about death that he had no worries about talking and playing with him, although it would actually mean he is playing the game for his life, and also the lives of others. He was on the look for knowledge and truth and I believe he found both within himself. There is only one other character who can even see death and once he does he takes his wife and child and immediately leaves. At least there is one person who knows the situation is not good and knows when to leave. You would think that Block might want to do the same thing, but since he is so persistent on knowing he sticks around to find out. I did like how the producer used the death march in the film to show that there was a group that could make the choice to live or to die. I liked how the water was symbolically used in the film and also the black and white added to underlying theme of the film, life and death. I don't know if Block got his ultimate question answered. I am sure he now knows there is a devil but do you think Block believes that there is also a GOD?

Joshua Booth Groundhog Day

I have seen the movie Groundhog Day before but never really looked into the movie as far as sacred and profane time are concerned. I originally thought that he was just being punished for being such an asshole and that GOD or some other higher power wanted him to suffer by living Feb. 2 over and over again until he realized what he was actually doing with his life and how he was treating others. Phil was the type of character that only cared about himself and had no respect for others or their feelings. Well, this all changed when he was assigned to report at the annually Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney PA. Phil gets stuck in time and must relive Feb. 2 over and over again although he can choose to make gradually changes each day. "His orientation leads him to view the yearly celebration of the groundhogs emergence as a sign that there is really no tomorrow." At first the egocentric Phil could not be more joyed knowing that he can manipulate people to get what he wants. He avoids a high school friend Ned, tricks a girl into sleeping with him, steals money from a truck, goes out to drink with a few guys and tries to kill himself as well as them, and he even attempts suicide several times unsuccessfully. Well after a while Phil realizes that the things or people he wanted are now absolute considering he will be living in profane time. Phil thinks," he can gain true fulfillment by manipulating others or proving their superiority by surpassing others." He realizes after a while that his way of living is not making him happy anymore, its actually starting to take its toll on Phil. He then wisely takes a turn for the better. He uses his day to help others rather than indulge in himself. he gives money to bum, then a meal, and later on in the movie he gives the old man CPR in an attempt to rescue his life. He helps a man choking at a restaurant, helps several elderly women with their car, and even learns how to play the piano. Then Phil is loved by all and hated by none. He becomes a town hero overnight and also gets the girl he tried so hard to manipulate. For some people like Phil it takes the worst of something in order to "wake them up" to what is really important in life.
Do you think it was a divine being that allowed Phil to live the same day over and over again so that he would make positive changes? Do you think this divine could have been allowing him to do this so that Phil could make life altering choices?

Lindsay Conrad - Seven Seals in REvelation

When watching the Seventh Seal, I wondered what the Seals were in Revelation. Upon reading them, I looked back to the movie to see what the comparison is or the symbolism is in the other seals. I have identified each as follows:
1: The horseman is a crowned conquerer. This could be seen as Block as he has come back from the crusades. He is crowned as a victor, as he did not perish in the crusades, but still he comes back empty.
2: The horseman is red with a sword used for slaughter. This could be the witch on the stake to be crucfied and burned alive. The idea was to take peace from the earth, and her struggle and pain is easily seen in the movie.
3: The horseman has balance seal. This character can be Jans as he brings peace and rule in the land. He calmed the people in the bar when the jester was being ridiculed, and "saved" the woman at the well. He is steady-handed and steady-minded throughout.
4: The homseman has a green horse signifying death. This is Death himself. He is coming to bring plague and take home those who don't deserve life anymore.
5: Souls slaighteres for testifying are given white robes. I think these people are Jof and Mary as Block saves them from the impending doom and death that is coming upon him. They were saved by their simply faith that Block just couldn't seemt o understand.
6: Storms, wind,and earthquake. This seal is the storm that happened right before the "calm" in the end of the movie. The tumoil manifested itself in a mighty storm to show the soul shaking of so many individuals.
7: Silence in HEaven for 1/2 hour. This it the point where all is lost for Block, when he cries out to the nobody who owns the skies and cannot save his soul or his friends. Death took advantage of the unfaithful.

Elizabeth Henderson Groundhog Day

Throughout the film, my main character was struggling with monotony, he was not willing to deal with the same thing year after year. However, a majority of the movie was based on the same day occurring over and over again. It took the main character a few days to get the idea that his life was going to be different and for him to be stuck in time relining the same day! The main character finally realizes that he must make the best of what he has, must live in the situation that he was put into. He knows that he is not able to change what has happened nor can he change the future, he is not GOD. What I do not understand is why he was so willing to hurt those around him just so he could have transcendent emotions of the flesh. Even though he knew that they cared about him, he was still only willing to give his time to those who would fulfill those emotions of the flesh. This is portrayed the most when he finds a woman in the diner and finds out stuff about her, and then the next day wanted to sleep with her. When he found a woman that he could have true feelings for then he just treated her like she was only there for physical needs. It takes him a very long time to have real feelings for the people around him.

Elissa Wilcox- The Seventh Seal

One of the things that I liked the most about this film was the symbolism between light and dark. Death is portrayed in a dark cape that covers him from head to toe and wraps him in mystery and the unknown. The actors have bright clothing which symbolizes them living in the light and having simple faith of children. Throughout the film the shadows are significant as well as the changes in light, showing the progression of Block's understanding of God. Whenever he interacts with the family of actors there is an abundance of light and when he plays chess with the Devil darkness surrounds them. The last scene of the film shows the small family of actors standing in a field covered in light and looking off into the distance where Block, the squire, Block's wife and the woman they found at the well are dancing the dance of Death with Death as their leader and the sky is dark behind them. The contrast between the light surrounding those of innocent faith (the actor family) is extreme compared to the darkness surrounding death.

Eric Saxon (work cited for blog)

Stuck in Time: Kairos, Chronos, and the Flesh in Groundhog Day

Eric Saxon. Saturday January 16th. "Chronos and Kairos"

Chronos is described as being "linear time," or time having no meaning (Jewett). Kairos is described as being "significant time or fulfilled time." People indulge in certain activities because they either fulfill a desire or simply makes them feel good. However, with the exception of helping someone to make you feel good, these desires only benefit the person undertaking them. This, in a way can be described as chronos, living your life day by day only pursuing your own desires. As humans, we are the most civilized living organisms on earth. We like to think that we have morals, but that sadly is not always the case. Yes, there are many truly good people out there, but as we have seen throughout history, there are also some very bad ones. In order to achieve kairos, we must try to live our lives to the fullest, helping others without expecting or demanding anything in return. Imagine a world where every person went out of his or her way to help someone else. A world where we worked together to improve our environment and the lives of every human. I realize not every person on earth will do this, but putting it in your mind to help at least one person with something everyday, no matter how large or small it is, will slowly make our world a better place. I believe true kairos is knowing that when you are old and not sure how much time you have left on earth, that you can look back and say that you helped make the lives of many people better. Even if you think you only helped someone in a small way, you helping that person more than likely made his or her life much better.

Kevin Dessimoz- Groundhog Day

The film begins with Phil Connors expressing his disdain at the monotony of his life as a weatherman in Pittsburgh. He is sick of doing the same things every year and treats people with little respect due to his own personal problems in his life. I believe that he gets stuck repeating Groundhog Day as a punishment but also as a saving grace by God. By repeating the same day over and over again Phil eventually realizes that life is not based on material things and exploiting people. Through the majority of the film he exploits people, like Nancy, for his personal gains and does not cherish anything in life but himself. Like Paul had written, Phil is in a struggle with "the flesh" but needs to capture "the spirit." The "flesh" would be Phil's corrupt behavior upon realizing that there are no consequences for his actions. Things like stealing money from the armored car or kidnapping and killing Punxsutawney Phil due to his hatred for the town and the holiday. Phil finally captures the spirit in life when he begins committing selfless acts for the benefit of the people in the town. Things like saving the old man, or catching the child who falls from the tree but never says, "Thank you." Phil finally breaks through with Rita and is genuine about it which breaks the cycle. Phil finally won the struggle and captured the "spirit" that Paul refers to allowing him to wake up on February 3rd.

Groundhog Day (Elizabeth Roy)

Groundhog Day extra thoughts
Choice blog
Elizabeth Roy

During class, several people agreed that an important turning point for Phil was when he began to take an interest in learning the piano and reading poetry. Based on research on the benefits of altruism, cognitive psychology, and my own personal experience, I entirely disagree. Recent research in the field of positive psychology has compared the effects of altruism versus other pleasures. Pleasures such as success and the so-called 'pleasures of the flesh' give temporary fulfillment and limited physical benefits. In short, they are transitory. Alternatively, purely altruistic acts such as Phil rescuing the boy who falls out of a tree give pleasure that lasts much, much longer and provides significant physical benefits.

Based on cognitive psychology research, we know that intelligence is not gained and then kept forever. Rather, intelligence that is not used is lost and is often replaced by new information (which is the basis of the regrettably popular show, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? most people do not use information such as the layers of the earth on a regular basis, and lose their memory of the information). In short, knowledge such as Phil's new poetry will probably be lost eventually unless he recites the poetry and practices his French rather often. It is transitory.

Lastly, for myself at least, the pleasures of knowledge are often more immediately enjoyable than pleasures such as eating or drinking, although they are usually temporary (I couldn't tell you the plots of all the books I skipped lunch in high school to read).

For these reasons, I would place Phil's new interest in learning as more a part of his pleasures of the flesh than his sacred pleasures, and therefore not the most significant turning point.

Last semester, I took a class entitled "Social Change." One of our more important topics was the importance of adversity, including failure. This, I believe, is the source of Phil's transformation. It is only when he fails that he begins to change: when he fails to seduce Rita and when he fails to save the life of the old man. There are many possible reasons these could be so important to him, such as making him realize that he is not perfect nor omnipotent, but regardless, I think that his failures are the basis for his transformation.

[The article on adversity is from "The Happiness Hypothesis" by Jonathan Haidt. I highly recommend it]

Luke McDade: The Deus Behind Groundhog Day 1-12-10

The discussion arose in class as to whether Phil Connors was truly changed at the end of the film Groundhog Day. The argument was posited that he simply found another way to manipulate everyone into liking him, instead of finding the true transcendent happiness implied at the end of the film. What, I believe, fails to be recognized is the background architect behind Phil's loop in time. Who, or what, is orchestrating this great repetition? If it is God, then He would be aware if Phil was simply cheating the system or if he had truly changed his life perspective. Therefore, Phil would have been unable to break the cycle of chronos unless he truly felt the transcendent reality. There had to have been a background architect behind Phil's experience in order for the cycle to be broken without Phil's conscious effort or knowledge. Phil is clearly surprised when he wakes up on Feb 3 and he looks upon the new day as a blessing. God, as it were, allowed Phil to come upon the realization of the sacred (to excuse the pun) in his own time. Why is Phil apparently unaware of this background architect? He even states in the film, "I am a God." The only glimpse the audience gets of Phil's acknowledgment of a higher being is in the scene wherein the Old Man dies in the alleyway. He tries CPR, but finally stops and simply looks upward as if asking, "Is this your will God?" I ask the class, what is the Deus behind Groundhog Day? Is it Phil's own mind/soul? Is it God? Is it the balance that must exist between sacred and profane time in everyone?