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  • The Atlantic

    <em>Groundhog Day</em> Was a Horror Movie All Along

    The 1993 existential comedy has become a meme and a metaphor for this moment. But that’s only partly because of its exploration of monotony.
    by Megan Garber Apr 30, 2020 6 minutes
    Source: Everett Collection / Alamy / The Atlantic

    In February, during the Super Bowl, Jeep ran an ad doing what Super Bowl ads so often will: It converted a beloved cultural product into a marketing message. This time around, the alchemy on offer involved the 1993 film Groundhog Day. Cheerfully soundtracked with the film’s most memorable song, Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe,” the spot featured Bill Murray reprising the role of Phil Connors, the misanthropic weatherman who relives the same day (and relives it, and relives it, and relives it). Instead of the existential agony posited in the original film, however, the commercial Murray delighted in the repetition. Because this time around, he faced his monotonous eternity as the owner of a Jeep.

    A lot has changed since February. This month, acknowledging the shift, Jeep came out with . In place of scenes of Murray joyfully navigating Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, in a candy-colored four-wheel drive, this version begins with a black screen and sober text: “We understand that every day is starting to seem the same,” it reads,

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