Inherit the Wind

Andrew Webster

English Comp.

Tue/Thurs 12:30pm

April 12, 2011

Inherit the Wind

This film depicts the fictional trial of Bertram Cates who is charged with teaching ideas that go against the word of the bible. The events are based off the Scopes Monkey Trial, a landmark case in which a teacher was charged with teaching evolution to his class, an act that went against the Butler Act in Tennessee. The film presents a number of important issues such as religion, fanaticism, ignorance, morality, justice, science, the progression of mankind, and the freedom to think.

The main conflict at hand in this film is the clash between creationism and evolutionism. The conflict not only occurs at face value, but also on an abstract level. The whole of the town, save Cates, consists of Christian men and women whose minds are closed to any form of scientific or technological advancements that go against the word of God. The townspeople are so fanatically possessed by their beliefs that threaten those who stand against them with death and damnation. They hide behind the notion that ignorance is bliss, and insist that they are better off without any notion of the descent of man.

This clash also represents the abstract conflict between human progression and conservative standards. Change provokes fear in the townspeople, while to outsiders such as Drummond it inspires and demonstrates the greatness achieved by the human mind. As Drummond stated in the courtroom, “An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of man’s knowledge is more of a miracle than any sticks turned to snakes, or the parting of waters!” This quote represents the big city or northern ideals held by Drummond and Cates.

Perhaps the most interesting segments of this film is when Drummond calls Brady to the stand and uses the bible to prove his points and to sway the audience in the court room in his favor. This ironic act is ultimately the turning point in the case and in the film....