July 31, 2006
Inherit the Wind, Continued Posted by Ellen Feldman at 01:30 PM EST Fred Smoler's excellent piece on Inherit the Wind makes me hang my head in shame. He is quite right that even if Darrow and Scopes were not the flawless heroes portrayed in the movie, they did wear the white hats in this particular battle. He is also correct that Darrow makes clear Bryan's former greatness, and I think that aspect of the script does a good job of showing how complicated this towering figure was.
Perhaps what I was bemoaning was my own naiveté. Inherit the Wind was one of my favorite movies of my youth. I still love it. And I think I felt betrayed when I discovered that the trial was, not a publicity stunt—I think that's too harsh—but a calculated undertaking by organized forces. I say this with admiration, not condemnation. The play and the movie appeared at a time when the American public was still willing to view leaders as heroes. Their private lives were, well, private. The organized efforts of a group of people working for a cause were viewed as less admirable, for some reason, than one man’s, or in this case two men’s, fight against ignorance. Or perhaps the truth is simply less dramatic. An interesting question is, if the movie were made today, with all our supposed cynicism, would it be shot any differently?
Smoler is entirely correct that any play or movie that depicted actual trial testimony would send viewers running to the exits in droves. (Having just finished reading 800 pages of testimony from one of the Scottsboro trials, I can attest to that fact.) And I certainly never meant to suggest that Inherit the Wind was alternate history. I think it’s a stirring portrayal of a critical moment in our past. It has probably reached millions of people who would never have opened a book on the Scopes trial. If it taught the story in primary colors rather than subtle shades of gray, that’s a small price to pay. Thanks to Fred Smoler, I remember that I find much more to love in the play and movie than to censure.
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