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by justathrow2k 3884 days ago
I think you could describe Groundhog Day as the sum of a few of those plots listed.
1 comments

Yeah. Keeping in mind that this is the list of basic plots. Most stories will involve some combination of these, perhaps without a strong overarching basic plot to use as its primary category.
I'd go with for Groundhog Day:

- (3) A miracle of god

- (5) Love's obstacles

- (14) Pursuit

- (23) Struggle against god

"God" being the situation he find himself in (both the miracle of it, and the struggle), pursuit being his overall progress, and of course the "main" love plot.

Depends how literally you take "god" for if those fit or not.

Definition of "conflict with a god" from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thirty-Six_Dramatic_Situat... , the source of the list in OP:

    - a Mortal; an Immortal
    - The Mortal and the Immortal enter a conflict.
There's no way to make Groundhog Day fit this. Love's obstacles doesn't fit either:

    28. Obstacles to love
       - two Lovers; an Obstacle
       - Two Lovers face an Obstacle together.
Here's "pursuit":

    5. Pursuit
      - punishment; a fugitive
      - the fugitive flees punishment for a misunderstood conflict. Example: Les Misérables
"A miracle of God" is the only plot Hill didn't lift from Polti, so I guess it could be anything.
a Mortal; an Immortal

That looks like it. The world around him is "immortal", and he was a "mortal" trapped in the "immortal" world. In the movie that is metaphorically represented by the day repeating, seemingly forever. The more the "mortal" tries to fight things, the further he is away from freedom. It was only by cooperating with the world he was finally free.