11 Comments
Feb 27Liked by Sarah Ditum

Groundhog Day is a romantic comedy, of sorts. Although, by today’s standards, could possibly be classed as a little creepy. I still watch it each time it’s on though!

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It's great! And I think it skirts the creepiness factor (in a way that Murray's character in Ghostbusters (also not sci-fi even tho it has lasers) absolutely doesn't) because Murray's character is punished so hard for his attempted manipulations. He has to pass through "tricking his love object into liking him" to reach the stage of "actually being likable" before he's freed. Really it's about performing until the performance becomes the truth.

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Aye, there is that redemptive quality to his daily journey! I meant to respond to your piece where you mentioned Col Blimp; I was sure I’d seen it. But when I read your article, I realised that I was confusing it with Oh What a Lovely War. So, must seek Blimp out!

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I always think that Groundhog Day is "how to become an adult man". He goes through self-absorption, indifference, self-importance, and trickery (to try to Get The Girl) before discovering that it's about just being a good person: someone who people are happy to have around, who brings pleasure into their lives. *That's* what is attractive, and that's what finally works to stop him being stuck.

I'm always so glad they removed the part that was in earlier script drafts explaining how he gets trapped in the loop. (None was satisfactory, which is part of why they took it out.) That makes it universal, rather than a puzzle.

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Feb 27Liked by Sarah Ditum

I'm a snake 'pervert' too, and that article is truly horrific. It's like they forgot they were dealing with living creatures. Very depressing.

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The bit where the breeder describes them as "just so packaged". Horrible horrible.

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do you mean, Soviet sci-fi films? they were not Russian per se.

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Yeah, I mean Tarkovsky, so I don't think "Russian" is fully off-beam, but take your point!

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Takrovsky is absolutely oversold. (hate him with passion -- as pretty much the entirety of the russian culture)

there have been several actually good sci-fi movies and really good adult animation (adult meaning about adult topics, not porn) made in the USSR but I have no idea if any of them were distributed in the US / UK for English speaking audiences.

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Feb 28Liked by Sarah Ditum

*Glances at almost entirely intact shed grass snake skin that he found on a dog walk and put in a little glass case on the wall like a holy relic

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What an incredible find!

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