WATCH CHARLIE CHAPLIN’S MODERN TIMES ONLINE (FOR FREE) – THEN JOIN RETIREE COLLEAGUES AND FRIENDS FOR A ZOOM DISCUSSION ON MARCH 15.
Here’s a chance to share a cultural experience with fellow retirees.
Modern Times (1936) is one of the unique films preserved by The Library of Congress in its National Film registry with the designation “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Directed and written by Chaplin, it is the last film in which Chaplin plays his classic “tramp,” but his first with a soundtrack (although Charlie is largely silent).
In its most famous scene, the opening, Chaplin, a master of physical comedy struggles to keep up with a sped-up conveyor belt on an assembly line. From there, we follow Charlie’s tramp on a series of adventures across the political, cultural and economic landscapes of depression era (1930s) America. Film critics have debated whether this is simply entertaining comedy at its best – or a deeper more somber political and social commentary about alienation in modern, industrial America.
Watch the film at your convenience for free on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gLa4wAia9g
Then join us at 1 pm on Monday, March 15, 1 pm for discussion, comradery, fun and debate. Our esteemed colleague, Jonathan Buchsbaum, a professor of media studies at Queens College and curator of the PSC’s “Labor Goes to the Movies” program, will lead a discussion after a short talk on Modern Times.
Register for this event:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYsdemprz4jGtbX8nInuJffLVukqX-KDUiN
Friends and family welcome to join us.
(NOTE: Here is a link to an article on Modern Times by Lawrence Howe, suggestd by Prof. Buchsbaum, that viewers might find useful.)
