Groundhog Day is a weirdly effective narrative pattern for TV/movies. I don’t think it works in text media. Watching a character repeatedly live through a loop that others forget, including dying/suffering, until they puzzle their way out, packs a big punch.
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Besides Groundhog Day, there’s a Doctor Who episode (S9.11) and a Librarians episode (S2.8). Also the recent Palm Springs. A big punch comes when the character convinced others they’re in a loop, and is finally “seen” by another, only to be forgotten again next time.
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I wonder what sort of life situation it’s an allegory for. I guess when you’re changing/growing in ways that are invisible to others in a very stable, unchanging environment. Every day is the same for everybody, but only you care.
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Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Matt Wensing 🐙
Oh yeah, Russian Doll. I watched the whole first season but didn’t quite like it. It gets too literary and dilutes the punchiness of what is a very archetypal story that needs stick-figure characters. Arguably stereotypical New Yorkers are almost archetypes, but not quite.https://twitter.com/mattwensing/status/1304907788179714048 …
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Librarians episode was well-done surprise in an otherwise lazy show. What makes it extra effective is that loop lead is Ezequiel Jones (why that name for an Asian-Australian character I don’t know), who is otherwise a 2d character with no inner life.https://www.tvinsider.com/59696/the-librarians-john-kim-talks-time-loop-episode/ …
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Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Jason
Spoiler: in the librarians version they eventually figure out its a video game rather than a time loop. They play the difference for some good payoffs.https://twitter.com/peregrine/status/1304909880889729024 …
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Venkatesh Rao Retweeted
Haven’t seen this one https://twitter.com/CrimsonKimblee/status/1304911348325851138 …
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Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Venkatesh Rao
Venkatesh Rao added,
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Venkatesh Rao Retweeted
Don’t remember this one though I must have watched it https://twitter.com/crunchy999/status/1304912006533844992 …
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Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Zhan Li 🇪🇺 🇬🇧
Zhan found the tvtropes black holehttps://twitter.com/thezhanly/status/1304911743811047431 …
Venkatesh Rao added,
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More refs in replies. There’s an element of time-loop to pandemic time. Though of course it’s much more messy and real life. 2020 feels like new insanity every week, but also a loop insanity we can’t break. Most explicitly in the reopen/fail/shut-down-again pattern. N=2 so far.
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