Three faculty participating in screening, discussion of “1984”

Three Salve Regina faculty members will participate in a film screening and discussion of Michael Radford’s “1984,” based on George Orwell’s dystopian novel of the same name. Radford will also participate via a taped video introduction and post-screening conversation about the film.

Hosted by the Jane Pickens Theater, located at 49 Touro St. in Newport, the screening and discussion will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 4. Tickets are $10 and may be purchased in advance.

Following Radford’s presentation, Dr. Matthew Ramsey, associate professor in the Department of English and Communications, will moderate a discussion of the film by Dr. Dean de la Motte, professor in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, and Dr. Craig Condella, associate professor in the Department of Philosophy.

“The relevance of ‘1984’ can’t be overstated,” Ramsey said. “When Trump spokesperson Kellyanne Conway appeared on ‘Meet the Press’ and defended the term “alternative facts,” within three days sales of Orwell’s novel spiked. Any time the American people encounter the specter of government overreach, surveillance, or the use of tangled bureaucratic language to mask truth, they turn to ‘1984’ as cautionary tale.”

“Philosophers, from Socrates to the present day, have been concerned with the discovery of truth and the freedom of thought that allows for such discovery,” Condella added. “In ‘1984,’ George Orwell presents us with a world in which free thought is severely compromised and in which truth becomes a relativized expression of power. Some 30 years after the posited date, we find ourselves facing challenges that are in some ways reminiscent of Orwell’s dystopia, yet in other ways importantly new.”