Neil Harris
Neil Harris is Preston and Sterling Morton Professor Emeritus of History and Art History, The University of Chicago. Among his books are The Artist in American Society; Humbug: The Art of P. T. Barnum; Cultural Excursions; and Capital Culture. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a former Guggenheim Fellow, and a Getty Scholar.
Running through The Clock like an untamed river is the presence of death. Indeed, death is a major focus in ten of the fourteen (!) films that occupy the one minute between 4:00 and 4:01 p.m. And it asserts its prominence throughout the hour, sometimes directly, and sometimes in disguise. At 4:05 p.m., and again at 4:32 p.m., an uneasy father attempts to placate his daughters with modest bribes of food and entertainment.
