Merge Groundhog Day Loop and Groundhog Peggy Sue

"Groundhog Day" Loop Groundhog Peggy Sue

Are these really different? A "Groundhog Day" Loop is mentioned to often be exactly one day long, but doesn't rule out any length. The Groundhog Peggy Sue seems to try to claim "a character is forced to re-live a significant portion of his life over and over again" as the distinction to make it worth a subtrope. Is this just The Same But More?

The only other possible distinction offered is that in a Groundhog Peggy Sue, making a change can allow the character to be "instantly transported to the "present" to see what their actions had changed". I'd feel this wasn't much to make a distinction over anyway, but none of the examples on the page even seem to follow this, and they all appear to just be examples that would fit on the "Groundhog Day" Loop page.

Peggy Sue is purposely going back to a specific time in your life, on a single occasion, with knowledge of what will happen.

"Groundhog Day" Loop is going back to a certain time, on multiple occasions, against your will until you enact a certain consequence. Subtle, but there.

Groundhog Peggy Sue is the combination. You relive your life over and over until you correct something.

Anything other than that is misuse, and should be placed in the right place.

edited 20th Dec '10 5:30:53 PM by SalFishFin

You seem to be confused about what I said. I don't object to the Peggy Sue trope at all, and I can certainly see that it's separate from "Groundhog Day" Loop.

It's the distinction between "Groundhog Day" Loop and Groundhog Peggy Sue that is eluding me, and your explanation doesn't help me, I'm afraid. As far as I can see they're identical - you even list the same traits for each. Go back to a certain time in your life, relive it over and over until you correct something. What's the difference?

Like the man said, Groundhog Peggy Sue is the combination of the "Groundhog Day" Loop and Peggy Sue tropes.

edited 20th Dec '10 6:25:16 PM by SeanMurrayI

That doesn't actually explain how they're different though.

There are similarities and differences between the Peggy Sue trope and the "Groundhog Day" Loop trope, but when you add them together the resulting trope (Groundhog Peggy Sue) is identical to "Groundhog Day" Loop. You can't just use "it's a combination of the two" as an explanation. What's the actual difference between them?

edited 20th Dec '10 6:36:33 PM by Valentine

Groundhog Peggy Sue is explicitly specified as a "Groundhog Day" Loop subtrope which involves the character reliving a past memory from one's life, as opposed to a moment from a character's present, which is the main trope.

So, instead of reliving yesterday until you get it right, you find yourself reliving a day from five years ago until you get it right?

@Sean Murray: I went and reread "Groundhog Day" Loop. I don't see anything that specifies it as reliving the present. Unless I'm missing something dreadfully obvious, it also involves reliving the past over and over.

edited 20th Dec '10 7:04:12 PM by Valentine

The difference is in how time period looped is determined. A "Groundhog Day" Loop loops a (generally short) predefined period of time - "repeat this day until it is perfect" or something similar. A Groundhog Peggy Sue is more fluid - you go back to 5 years ago to Significant Point In Time X to Get It Right this time, like in a Peggy Sue. But you don't actually get whatever it is right this time either, so you keep going for a while and after some trigger (often death) go back to that point again. A Groundhog Peggy Sue with a sensitive trigger can look a lot like a regular "Groundhog Day" Loop until a longer run happens.

EDIT: To put it another way, a "Groundhog Day" Loop defines the time period which the person loops. A Groundhog Peggy Sue defines the point in time the person begins their loops from.

edited 20th Dec '10 7:43:52 PM by Glidergun