Everyone knows of movies or books similar to Ground Hog Day where one person has to relive the same day over and over again. Some of us may have even fantasized about this occurrence happening to ourselves, but then soon after dismissing it, because it could never happen in real life. How could it? Well I'm here to tell you that it is possible though highly, highly improbable. Our readings from this week were about memory and one sickness that stems from memory loss is amnesia. Amnesia comes in two forms, retrograde amnesia and anterograde amnesia. Retrograde amnesia is the form used by Hollywood the most; it's when a person loses some or all of their memories of the past. Anterograde amnesia is when we lose the capacity to form new memories, and this is the form of amnesia that could produce our ability to relive a day over and over again. Now for this to happen it would take a world plague of some sort that attacks all or most of people's hippocampuses so that they suffer from anterograde amnesia. Though for some reason, the virus doesn't work on you. Now everyone, everyday is thinking it's the same day that the plague occurred, let's pretend it was ground hog day, except for you, your able to form new memories still and so know that it is not still ground hog day. This could very well be the cause of being able to live the same day over and over again. Truthfully, have you ever even considered this being able to happen in the real world? Well now you know it could happen, though the chances of it ever happening are astronomical.
Ground Hog Day (The Movie) I've figured it out!
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I agree with govek002, I don't think that this could play out in modern society, but in a remote agrarian area without any commercial businesses or other functions that couldn't operate under these conditions, I could see the possibility of someone re-living near the same day over and over again. Everyday everyone else in the area would tend to their crops as they always do they would just become slightly more and more shocked at the rapid growth of their crops over night until the day where they realize that they grew so much over night that they are ready to harvest. By this time they would probably realize that something is up as the days get shorter heading into winter but they wouldn't remember this realization and have to go through it every day. Again, at this time the days wouldn't be the same as the environment changes with time and so would people's reactions to it, but it would generally be like living the same day over and over again. Very interesting take on a real possibility of a Groundhog Day experience through anterograde amnesia; great movie.
Your entry immediately makes me think of the movie "50 First Dates" with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, where Barrymore suffers amnesia and is forced to live the same day over and over, while Adam is trying to form a relationship with her. Barrymore's brother and dad would go to great lengths not to make her aware of her condition, fearing it would upset her. They even refill her shampoo bottle each night so she never realizes she is running out! I agree with the previous two comments, however, explaining that there are so many outside differences from day to day, that it would be impossible for a community, let alone an individual, to believe that one particular day kept repeating itself. The reason this idea is portrayed in Hollywood movies is because it is such an outrageous concept, so unlikely to ever happen, that the mere idea of it fascinates people.
I read a book recently that the main character had a rock climbing accident and he ended up not being able to remember the first 25 years of his life. He literally had to relearn everything from reading and writing, to talking, to how to interact with people, all things we learned when we were growing up and some that are taught since birth through interaction. When asked about his past, he didn't have the slightest idea, he didn't remember his childhood or his parents and sister. I can't even imagine what it would be like to wake up from an accident and not be able to remember anything from your past, not even your own name. Or even wake up and the last thing you remembered was from years ago and not have a clue what has happened to you recently.
I could not imagine suffering from amnesia. After reading your blog entry, I thought of Finding Nemo. Poor Dory suffers from anterograde amnesia, where she cannot remember new things, such as Nemo's dad's name. While anterograde and retrograde amnesia are easy to turn into a good movie plot, in real life they are much more difficult. Depending on the impact of the brain from the accident, people would most likely recognize things such as their hair being longer, the gas going down in their tank, etc. In movies, these effects are much easier to show because movies are not always 100% accurate. So yes, the motion picture business can use these forms of amnesia in their story lines, but real life stories of amnesia vary greatly.
I think that you do bring up a good point that applies well to the chapter about memory and psychology but even if everyone's hippocampuses were damaged so they suffered from anterograde amnesia, this concept would still be unlikely because of other factors such the weather or the amount of physical materials present. If the main character (Bill Murray in this case) still had a functioning hypocampus he would soon realize that physical things such as the amount of gas in his car would diminish over a few days. He would remember the fact that he had more gas the day before and realize that he was not living the same day over and over. The movie Ground Hog's Day is simply a fun movie that could not happen in the real world.