It happens once in awhile. You’re halfway through shucking a fresh lot of littleneck clams and then, suddenly and without warning, you’re paralyzed with the feeling that you’ve already gutted these delicious maritime appetizers once over. In fact, you could have sworn that elephant just asked you if you had the time, but here he is asking you again, wearing the same treyf lumberjack trapper hat and clashing mauve rain slick. What’s more, you’re overcome with the notion that you know what’s coming: a unicycle rights parade. And then, faster than you can hum the theme song from “The Twilight Zone,” there they are, a gaggle of unicycle-borne marchers cycling resplendently and slightly erratically as they campaign for the right to join in civil matrimony. And you could have sworn you knew they were coming.

Confident the worst has abated, you strut down to the local cinema house, withstand the temptations of the five or so excruciatingly similar animated anthropomorphized animal numbers you could have sworn were released but a year ago, and choose a winner … or so you think. Halfway through this Tony Scott blockbuster, you swear you’ve seen this movie before. And it’s not just because it stars Denzel Washington as the brooding, but ultimately chivalric protagonist. Shouldn’t Bill Murray be falling out of a window now?

Here comes the unicycle parade again.

It is uncanny, but not really. D√É.√©j√É.√† vu, as the French have convinced us, is the psychological principle which conveniently explains our unsettling bouts of existentialism. It is perhaps too convenient for Hollywood bigwigs however, who are known to abuse obscure French philosophical precepts for their own gain. Remember the Statue of Liberty? We made them build it. Don’t be fooled. How would you feel if you read an article that was really only half-written, and the writer just manipulated the idea of d√É.√©j√É.√† vu to fill in the gaps?

It happens once in awhile. You’re halfway through shucking a fresh bushel of corn and then, suddenly and without warning, you’re paralyzed with the feeling that you’ve already stripped this delicious farmstead produce once over. In fact, you could have sworn you just watched this true to form film/primetime television endeavor. It feels like d√É.√©j√É.√† vu, but don’t be fooled. This influx of d√É.√©j√É.√† vu stylized media is what the French call “le cop out.” It’s a pretty sweet deal when you think about it — like going to the moon — you only have to go halfway and gravity does the rest.

This unholy union between physics and philosophy has manifested itself in at least two entertainment outlets this fall: that Denzel movie you’re pretty sure you’ve seen four times, but are afraid to defy Jerry Bruckheimer about (this version succinctly and aptly titled “D√É.√©j√É.√† Vu”), and an eerily similar ABC drama starring that delightful Taye Diggs.

That series — “Day Break” — seems to be a portmanteau of a decade’s worth of pop culture. There is a little “X-Files” and a smidgen of “Star Trek” (both series which aired episodes of a strikingly like-minded theme), a dabbling in the “Choose Your Own Adventure” book series, and perhaps a tad too much creative impotence. Let us not forget “Groundhog Day,” that wary testament to the dangers of insular stagnation and social ignorance. It is somewhat ironic, really, that Harold Ramis’ message has not been received outside of its proven entertainment value. Notwithstanding, I did enjoy Mark Collie’s “In Time” playing in the background of “Day Break’s” latest promotional spot. I liked it the first time when it was written and performed by Collie in 2004’s “The Punisher,” as well.

Thus, d√É.√©j√É.√† vu has become less of a sacred taboo and more of an idea bank from which the originality-declined freely glom their next idea and your time (which, if I may digress, is yet further irony on the idea). As convenient and lucrative as the mimetic approach may be, Hollywood’s ersatz assembly line of finished products don’t fool anyone for long. And, after all, it was the immortal Murray of “Groundhog” who said “anything different is good.”

It is uncanny, but not really. D√É.√©j√É.√† vu, as the French have convinced us, is the psychological principle which conveniently explains out intermittent bouts of existentialism. It is perhaps too convenient for Hollywood bigwigs however, who are known to abuse obscure French philosophical precepts for their own gain. Remember the Statue of Liberty? We made them build it. Don’t be fooled. How would you feel if you read an article that was really only half-written, and the writer just manipulated the idea of d√É.√©j√É.√† vu to fill in the gaps?

Max Lakin is a junior English and rhetoric major. He is a junior English and rhetoric major.