After watching Phil Connors' ordeal of living each day in repetition, it became apparent how a once narcissistic man turned more "giving". I enjoyed the movie because it implied that with time human nature can be changed given certain circumstances. If one were to gain the experience of living a life over and over again, sure enough one would want to do things differently than from before. In Phil Connors' case, reliving one day over again allowed him to take risks without any consequences. I liked how the movie transitioned from him living each repeated day without any care to him living each day with a purpose. I believe that he became enlightened once he realized that although he would create certain scenarios to get what he wanted (in the beginning it was to sleep with Rita) he would never reach his desired result. Eventually he became tired of having to repeat each day and therefore refused to deal with it by trying to kill himself.
In my personal experience, I've gone through struggles of stepping on the path toward enlightenment. Like Phil, I used to be the type of person who would take things for granted. I wouldn't say that I'm narcissistic, but I do focus on myself a lot and my personal goals instead of the bigger picture. Phil's transition resonates with me because he stopped thinking about his own needs and began to care for others by noticing their needs. In essence, he began to place others before himself. That is what I believe turned him from being self-centered to becoming a humanist. I thought that Rita's character had a huge impact on him because she is the polar opposite of what he was. I believe that because Rita is so positive, her character began to influence Phil's outlook on life. When he starts acting as a good samaritan, it's as if he begins to emotionally grow.
This is the same case for many movies that deal with a character who once was selfish that turns good over time. I believe Phil's enlightenment came in the form of him turning "good". It was a step by step process in the movie, and I believe that it correlates to how one becomes enlightened in real life. I've had to cross over many barriers and fight against my limitations, but once I did I was able to mature as a person. I found that there is so much more to life than just living it. I have limitless options on how to further improve myself and make each day more meaningful. I think that Phil became a good samaritan because the good things he did for others had more meaning to him than what he could do for himself. He learned this because he had time to figure it out. In essence, enlightenment is a learning process that can only be achieved with an open mind, experience, and time.
I enjoyed reading your blog regarding Phil Connors, such has his change throughout the movie from an egocentric man to a humanist. Phil's personality, especially in the beginning of the movie, is like us. Some of us tend to only care about ourselves and not about the lives of others. I will admit, I did have moments when I was like Phil, such as times when I didn't care about other people's success or if I didn't have what others had. But as I learned about others' lives, whether its in the media, through my parents, friends, or any other source, I found that there are others around me who are as important as I am. In addition, I learned to be happy for the things that I have, even right now. Sometimes I feel that I want to take time out of my life to help others, such as through community service or maybe simple stuff like helping my peers out with any school work.
ReplyDeleteIn Phil's case, I bet some of us (yes that's myself included) wish that we can live the same day over and over, correct our mistakes, help others, not worry about consequences, and learn something that we are not able to learn in our lives due to the limited time we have.
Although the movie is fictional, it addresses how each person has the power and the opportunity to change for the better. At the same time, as I said on my blog, the movie conveys that even if one has "infinite tries" to get it right, they can never reach the level of perfection, like the scene with the homeless man dying. We all live in this world to learn about ourselves, as well as the lives of others.
America Ruacho
ReplyDeleteSeptember 13, 2010
English 414.05
Morris
Just Being Human
Being humanistic is being able to focus on the well being of humans and being able to value a human life. However, I believe it is in our nature to be greedy at times. When we are babies we focus on our own needs, if we are hungry we will cry until our bellies are full. We do not care or even aware that we woke up our mother or father in the middle of the night so that they could feed us.
Although born with greedy personalities, the beauty of human character is that we have the potential for caring for others. We have the ability to care for one another. It is up to the person itself to decide how they deal with people. For example Phil Connor did not care about others, he was a self absorbed person who only care for himself. You would have thought he was incapable to care for anyone except for himself. But by the end of the movie he was able to show compassion and love.
Just like you say you have had moments in your life when you only cared about yourself and you could care less about other people. Most people now these days have this mentality about if it does not concern me or affect me I do not really care what happens. An example will be homeless people it is a sad thing to see but we walk by and show no care. Some people will be nice enough to leave change while other people hold on tight to their wallets. Yet, we are still able to show care when Katrina Hurricane occurred and the bombing of the Twin Towers. There were many people who showed compassion and went out of their ways to help other in such a great disaster. So you see as human we can either be greedy or be caring and give a helping hand.