Aristotle Change In Groundhog Day

The movie Groundhog Day is used to analyze how a character can change from a bad to a good person by the end of the movie. We are able to analyze this change through the lens of Plato and Aristotle. I must argue that it is indeed possible for a character to change from bad to good by the end of a movie. At the beginning of the movie, Phil was not a good person because he was full of himself, sarcastic, and did not value people or work. Phil seems like he would be an easy person to get along with; however, Phil makes it extremely difficult for anyone to get along with him. When Phil realizes that there are no consequences to any of his actions he does not care if he makes the relationships worse with others. Phil slips to an all-time low when he tries to seduce Rita because all he wants from her is sex. He ends up insulting her and even says ‘I love you’ to try to win her over. When Phil goes …show more content…
Aristotle discusses that there is a spectrum when it comes to virtues. On either side of the virtues, there are vices. Phil displays a good amount of vices at the beginning of the movie including, cowardliness, insensible, and intemperance. He is not friendly to others and is unwilling to help. An example is the homeless man would ask for money every day and Phil would not give any to him. Aristotle would argue that Phil is not a good man. However, towards the end of the movie Phil moves towards the middle of the spectrum portraying more virtues than vices. Some examples include generosity and mildness. The only reason he was able to achieve these virtues is through practice. To add, happiness to Aristotle is an activity of the soul in accordance with (complete) virtue. In order to be happy, there must be virtue. Aristotle would argue that since Phil is a virtuous man he also has happiness in his