Pathos, Ethos, Logos in Groundhog Day

Pathos, Ethos, Logos in Groundhog Day

What would it feel like to be trapped in the same day over and over again? In the movie Groundhog Day, a passionate weatherman named Phil Connors finds himself trapped in the same day over and over on Groundhogs day. He uses this time loop to find money and learn what it takes for women to sleep with him. However, the woman he actually loves, Rita, doesn't fall in to his obvious trick. Phil Connors fails numerous times before finally succeeding to find happiness with Rita by using ethos, trying to be someone he isn't, through pathos, getting answers from her and manipulating her without her knowing, and logos, by providing reasoning to convince Rita.

In this story Phil Connors uses ethos to succeed in finding happiness with Rita after many days stuck in the time loop he is in. When Rita is explaining her perfect man to Phil, he listens and acts as though he completely agree with her. Even though he may not agree he puts a front on to impress her and hopefully get one-step closer to finding true love and happiness. His next step was to attempt to memorize all the traits and actions her perfect man has, and each day he would present himself as close as he could to her definition of a "perfect man". However, he made mistakes while acting as the "perfect man", so he had to try again day after day until he got it perfect. Eventually, Connors succeeded to find happiness with Rita by learning what she values and what she looks for in a man. Although, Connors may not be a spot on match for Rita, knowing someone's values, character traits and respecting their thoughts and opinions is very helpful in developing a better relationship with them. Although he failed many times at this, he started to use the time loop he was stuck in to perfect it as the days went on. Though in the end, he was surprised to realize that all his effort paid off in a way he didn't expect it to.

In addition to Connors use of ethos in the story he finally succeeds in finding happiness with Rita by using pathos. The first day he went on a date with Rita, he learned what she was interested in and enjoyed. After listening and observing all the things she did and said he would use these things to further his connection with her. The next day, he then connected those things with everything he did in hopes of impressing her. For example, she told him that she studied French poetry in college. In the diner the next day when she told him that she studied French poetry, he began quoting a poem in French. Although, his attempts of acting as someone he is not didn't work at first, Connors succeeded in finding happiness with Rita by learning more about her personality and what she enjoys most in everyday life. He learned the little things about her, which he could later use to his advantage later. Plus, by learning more about someone will always strengthen the