Inherit the Wind

    I think the movie did a good job showing what the trial was really about. Overall, the trial was about the Modernists rejecting fundamentalist religious thinking. The movie made this message abundantly clear as Brady states that he is a fundamentalist and his entire character revolves around his faith. Victory for the fundamentalists meant that evolution would not be taught in school and eventually no sciences would be taught. Victory for the Modernists would mean a greater separation of religion and education. 

    There were a few lines from the movie that caught my attention because of how they relate to modern issues. During the dinner party scene Brady claims his opposition is a small minority that happens to control the press. We have seen this sort of rhetoric in the modern day as the press has been demonized by some political candidates. We have recently seen politicians shrug off counter arguments and bad press by claiming the press is corrupt or biased. After the dinner party, when Brady and Drummond are talking Drummond manages to get Brady to say that God and religion are for the poor to give them false hope. Personally, I have heard this used as an argument against religion. Brady’s admission gets at the other idea posed in this movie. The people of Hillsboro are consistently called simple folk who lead simple lives. I believe this characterization was used to accentuate the movie’s point that people’s fear of change is ultimately what the trial was about.

Comments

  1. Catherine BolzendahlFebruary 18, 2023 at 11:15 AM

    I like the way you tied this into some large scale theoretical debates as well as recent day issus

    ReplyDelete

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