Eternal Recurrence

I had never heard the term until Sexson went over it in class. Then I realized how many films and stories retell this idea. There's Groundhog Day, of course, because Bill Murray has to relive February 2nd countless times until finally he wakes up and it's a new day. Not before he discovers he can exploit the fact, like killing himself, stealing, drinking or eating as much as he wants without the consequences. Ussually the character must have an epiphany of some sort before the cycle can finally end.

Also in the film Memento eternal recurrence is definitely the plot device, which works almost in the reverse as Groundhog Day. The hero has no short-term memory, due to a head injury. Everyone around him remembers what has occurred, but he must figure it out constantly. He can remember who he his and everything up until the accident, but after that, anything that occurred about fifteen minutes ago is forgotten. Tattoos adorn his body, information gathered to help him solve his wife's murder. Across his chest reads, "John G. raped and murdered my wife". He collects evidence and has to build up trust with everyone over and over again.

Even this movie that recently came out called "Moon", seems to contain elements of eternal recurrance. It is about a guy who works alone on the moon in a space station, and has two weeks left of his 3 year shift. Major plot spoilers follow, etc. One day he goes out in his rover and has a crash and dies. The next shot shows him getting suited up, going out again and finding the overturned rover. It turns out that he has been cloned every three years instead of being returned home. When he finds the cargo hold where the bodies are stored, the room stretches out beyond what the eye can see. That he figured it out now, after countless times repeating this cycle, brings to mind many questions. One almost wonders if he can remember his past as the previous clones, as if they aren't completely a different minds. Like the Jungian concept of a collective unconscious.

Which is why the Misfit looks familiar to the Grandmother in "A Good Man is Hard to Find", and not only because it dawns on her that the Misfit's her son. And why Arnold Friend tells Connie "Sure you saw me before, you just don't remember."

It is like the scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey, where the you watch the ape messing around in a pile of bones. He stops and stares at one, scrutinizing it for a fragile moment, then scoots toward it. There has been generations of his species and he is the one who picks up the bone and starts whacking it triumphantly on the ground.