I
Home comes
before the
get home pick
The concept of the time loop within narrative.
Cinema and television is heavily influenced by the medium of computer gaming.
Flying by
The time loop and computer gaming.
Both share characteristics of failure and repetition elements that are
incorporated within each medium in order to progress,
entertain and strive towards a conclusion.
I wish I was a forest of trees that not hide.
I wish I was a clear secret. Left and thigh
Failure and repetition are central to the experience of gaming.
They are the obstacles that the player must overcome by failing learning and
then retting in gaming.
The pleasure of this repetition lies in the player's agency in film and
television.
The pleasure is in the apparent omnipotence of the central character.
What the hell will you think?
3, 3, 4, 4 5.
In the journal article, live, die.
Repeat the time loop as a narrative and game mechanic.
Linda Lard and Pira highlights that avatars are not usually aware of the looping
cycle, not like the way characters are in film,
but as games have developed and have become more film-like there has been
exceptions to this rule.
How? How can that be? I was in the bathroom.
He shot that poor girl famously called film. I held up my hand
and then I was back here as he
Likely was. S**t. Can you give me an example of a photographer?
He cannot believe this.
You captured the human condition
In black and white.
Okay. If I'm crazy, I might as well go all the way. Bueller,
can I actually reverse time? Go Victoria.
In games like Life is Strange and Prince of Persia,
the time loop mechanic is presented as a special clock rewind ability
that the avatar is aware of and can utilize to their advantage to
progress forward.
Perfectly captured human
Machine.
Can I buy you a drink
In Time Loop films, a similar sort of special ability is presented,
but progress is transient for you.
Ms. Sweet
Vermouth and the rocks With a twist, please.
Can I buy you a drink?
Okay.
Uh, sweet vermouth rocks with a twist. Please for
You Miss
The same. That's my favorite drink. Well,
what should we drink to,
To
The groundhog.
I always drink to world peace.
But what should we drink to,
I like to say a prayer and drink to world peace.
To world peace.
World peace. Amen.
Well, I'm not the first to do it.
The temporal deformity of the time loop was widely popularized by Harold Ram's
1993 Comedy Groundhog Day.
A film in which a cynical TV weatherman is trapped in time destined to
relive the same 24 hours until he gets it right and become a better person.
Well, do you like the way
This day is turning out?
I like it very much. It's a perfect day.
I couldn't have planned a day like this.
Well, you can. It just takes an awful lot of work. Something,
something terrible has happened to the whole world. The whole universe.
You see it's like, it's like we're stuck. You know,
like a, like a needle on a scratch record.
It all starts at 1201 and everything goes along fine until
one o'clock and then bam, the whole world snaps back to 1201 again.
Like the whole hour never happened and everything goes back to the way it was.
Everything. So that each hour seems new,
the fifth time or the 5000000th time, except to me, my memory's not erased.
I'm the only one that knows he's repeating the same hour. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry I didn't. I scared you. I'm sorry.
But I'll tell you, you know what the worst part is.
Well, that's all starting to seem normal to me now.
The 1990 short film 1201 directed by Jonathan Heap
tells the story of a man reliving the same hour again and again.
1201 predates Groundhog Day and was an adaptation of the short story of the
same name by Richard Lupoff published in 1973.
It was also adapted into a TV film in 1993 directed by Jack Shoulder,
but often falls into obscurity.
In contrast to the much more commercial Groundhog Day,
which the 1201 writers and producers have claimed Harold Dre's film stole
from an accusation that becomes difficult to prove given that time
loops can be traced back as early as 1947 with Alfred Workers'
film repeat performance
In that moment, time stopped for Sheila. Time ran backwards.
She made a wish,
a tragic one at a magic time when the new year was beginning.
Now that wish is coming true.
She's going to live the old year all over again.
Sheila doesn't know that. Not yet,
but she will very soon.
The Time Loop has been incorporated across a range of genres from
melodrama to horror as seen in Christopher Smith's 2009
Film Triangle.
This country's largest Lake Chapala is located near the city of Guadalajara.
What is Mexico? Leslie, what is
Mexico? Correct Lakes and Rivers 400.
But perhaps the reason why Harold Dreams' film stands the test of time and is so
widely known in contemporary culture is because of the way it embraces the
playfulness of the time loop situation.
2023 marks the film's 30 year anniversary a milestone,
which I felt compelled to not only re-watch Groundhog Day,
but experience it in a new and playful way.
This led to the Groundhog Diary,
which I set up across free social media spaces where I posted a chronological
clip each day to mark a specific repeated day of the film.
The clips were a various lengths,
some lasting up to 10 minutes with others just under a second.
I was keen to see how many days were represented on screen,
to which my answer came out at 36.
I of course appreciate the widely debated offscreen time,
perhaps years that it might take the protagonist to learn to play the piano or
even I sculpt.
But this experiment was purely to consider the onscreen days within the film.
The project was inspired by Will de Grave's Rio Bravo diary,
a video essay project that cut and shared Howard Hawke's famous film into
365 clips shared daily across Twitter,
now X over the course of one year.
The process of editing and sharing the ground top diary was a playful way of
re-experiencing the film through the repetition of daily cuts and uploads,
which allowed me to see it in a new way, some of which became quite unsettling.
Apart from some of the more obvious moments of uncomfortableness from suicide
and sexual coercion,
the other problematic thing that stood out was the lack of black or ethnic
minority representation. Within the film's casting,
there are only two black performance in Groundhog Day.
John M. Watson who plays the bartender,
a character who I remember from my very first viewing of the film I had hoped
would be another time Looper because of the way he seemingly recognizes the
insincerity of the protagonist. However, this never comes to fruition.
The other actor is Diane B Sure who plays a nurse but ultimately comes
across as something of a cold and indifferent hindrance towards the protagonist
when he turns his attention towards helping an elderly homeless man.
What did he die of?
He was just old. It was just his time.
I wanna see his chart. Excuse me.
Uh, sir, sir, you can't come in here, sir.
This is a restricted area.
Where's the chart?
Sometimes people just die.
Not today.
This got me thinking about time loop films in general and how the character
experience in the cycle was first of all, usually white and secondly,
often in a position to use the time loop as a progression towards betterment.
As such, it made me wonder if the time loop is a racially biased structure,
particularly when we consider the normality of this time loop pattern.
In Rolf PA's article titled Being Normal Not Being Normal,
Groundhog Day is used as an example to measure normality in the time loop genre
Par achieves this by defining normality as a bandwidth between two boundaries in
which a character adjusts their behavior time and time again creating the
concept of flexible normalism According to par,
Groundhog Day incorporates the Gau board structure to argue that the binomial
distribution of beans is similar to the repeating days that protagonist Phil
Connor's experiences.
Certain days fall into the extreme outliers of negative or positive behavior
such as suicide or guardianship.
But overall the normality of Phil lies in the bell-shaped middle of the Galton
board structure, which viewers are subliminally reminded of.
In the final image of the film
by following PA's argument, the reader can conclude.
The Groundhog Day is a typically normal structure of the time loop genre and the
white male heterosexual protagonists are,
or rather were predominantly and problematically the main character type
of in this style of film.
So what happens when time loop films are structured around black protagonists?
Oh,
I'm freaking out. I'm butt ass naked.
I'm 20 blocks from the hotel and I keep repeating the same hour over and over
again.
What you
Naked in public? Yes.
This is the worst day of my life and I can't get it To end.
The 2017 comedy Naked incorporates the time loop
structure to show a character performed by Marlon Wayans obstructed in
getting to his wedding.
His frustrated experience of the time loop is supplemented with humiliation
in which each reset causes the character to resp born unclothed,
which as the title suggests,
is a frequent occurrence although played for laughs.
This specific rule of the time loop structure is unjust compared with other
loopers who get to keep their clothes and dignity at the start of a new cycle.
The 2020 short film Two Distant Strangers is a much more extreme
and distressing example of the time loops, apparent racism,
written and directed by Travon free and Martin Desmond's row.
The film is a direct response to the murder of George Floyd and uses the time
loop structure to portray the ongoing and cruel cycle of abuse that black
people have and continue to face on a daily basis.
Oh, come on dude.
I did. I totally did not see you. Sure Jesus. Listen, let, let me pay for it.
You got a problem here.
Nah sir. No problem man. I'm just offering pay. You got a cigarette?
Yes it is.
Don't smell like no cigarette.
The film is centered around a young successful graphic designer trying to make
his way home after spending the night with a woman he has met. Yet,
every time he walks outside he's mercilessly and senselessly killed by a white
police officer.
Minute man.
Sir.
Sir,
Do me a favor sir. Why you?
What the, why you talking
The bag down step against the wall for me.
What? I'm good actually man.
I'm not good. Listen man. So gimme a bag. Get against the wall. This
Is my personal property man. Get the
Bag and step against the wall.
I ain't do nothing bro.
Gimme the bag for what? Alright cuff guys, get off me.
You did do anything.
Whoa. Careful man. It's a new
Shirt. My bad bro. Bad. So good.
No harm, no foul,
No doubt. Nice shirt though man.
Everything all right here fellas?
Yes sir. Everything is just fine. Homeless buddies
Got a cigarette?
Yes it is.
Wait, don't smell like no cigarette.
Hey,
hey
Open. Get up.
I'm with the police. Turn around please. What me? Yes,
you hands behind your back. Let's go. Hold still sir.
Hey sir, you're hurting me. Come on sir. Come
Now. You hands behind your back please. What is going on? Please don't move me.
Will you come help me? Come on.
The film shares similarities to the time loop computer game.
12 minutes in which a sadistic police officer intrudes the privacy
of a couple's home killing or assaulting them both over the course of 12 minutes
within the game.
Each loop allows the player an opportunity to do things differently and to
figure out what is happening as a way to plan towards an intervention.
The ability for the white avatar to turn the tables on the sadistic assailant in
the game comes from the experience and omnipotence built up from
previous loops. Something which is clearly denied in two distant strangers.
When the protagonist puts this to the test,
This is the part where I open up my bag.
You see that lot of cash and you say it's a lot of money for a guy with a not so
cigarette smelling cigarette. You legally search my s**t. I won't let you.
We fight. I'm dead.
That's enough circus tricks. Gimme the bag. Step against the wall.
Q couple about to kiss. Boom. Yoga girl.
About to take a selfie.
Scared the kid right there watching me S**t in three,
Two son of a b***h.
So if I shoot you now we gonna do it all over again?
Yeah dude, I'm just trying to get home to my dog.
Well if you passed, there's any sign of your future.
I get the outta here.
In a similar vein to how Groundhog Day was accused of plagiarizing,
12 0 1 2 distant strangers has also been accused of coffee in the Cynthia
Cows. 2016 short film Groundhog Day for a black man.
You got a broken taillight back there. Can I see some id?
Oh,
What are you reaching for?
Uh, my id.
Alright. Okay. What are you reaching for? The thing you asked me for?
Damn,
you didn't use your turn signal back there. Lemme see some Id.
Yes sir.
I am going to reach down now very
slowly. Don't be
Stupid. Don't be stupid.
Groundhog Day for a black man and two distant strangers are films that both
address racism and prejudice from law enforcement to black civilians.
However, cow's film does this for a comedic style. You
Have a fire Monty today, sir?
Uh, this is an open carry state, sir. And there is a firearm in the glove box.
Alright, lemme see it. Okay.
Ah, you got me.
Do you have a firearm on you today?
No, sir. Just a book. Yep.
You holding a firearm? Are you holding a firearm
Right now?
Yet? Despite the difference in tone,
both films highlight the inevitability of the time loop and each protagonist's
preparedness to face it as often as necessary to affirm their existence in the
flawed and unjust world.
While white characters are often portrayed as inevitably overcome in the loop
with the power to do so.
Groundhog Day for a black man and two distant strangers are films that appear to
embrace the movement of the loop in order to highlight the incapability of
systemic violence and to show the importance of resisting the violent loop no
matter how many times it is repeated.
A point which is illustrated in Claudine Rankins 2014 book, long poem,
citizen,
I don't know how to end what doesn't have an ending.
This non-ending appears typical for black characters in time loop narratives.
Unlike the majority of white characters from the time loop genre who eventually
escaped their cycles for a happy conclusion,
there appears to be no ending for black characters who remain stuck in their
loop in two distant strangers.
The time loop is aggressively against a protagonist,
which culminates in the realization that the police officer is also aware of the
time loop and is sadistically active in the cycle of abuse.
Consequentially, there is no reward,
betterment or happy ending for Carter the protagonist in two distant
strangers. But if there is something positive to consider,
it is the sheer determination of Carter who reminds people to never lose hope
and always confront racism and discrimination.
Look,
I realize now it don't matter what I say or what I do or how I try to do it,
this dude just want you just wanna kill me.
So what Now You just let him keep killing you forever.
Hell no Smarter than him. Faster than him. S**t,
I probably got more money than he do.
Definitely more handsome than he's So I'm gonna figure something out.
As such,
the film shows us how the time loop can be more than just a narrative device or
a game mechanic.
It can also be a political message to show strength and resilience in
the often unjust cycle of life.
'cause it don't matter how long it takes or how many times it takes,
one way or another,
I'm getting home to my,
Hey, hold up.
Hey, all we can do is live brother.