A Fictionalized Version of the Scopes Trial, Indeed

Comparing the plot summary of Inherit the Wind with the historical synopsis I provided earlier should make the numerous historical inaccuracies of the play readily apparent. And perhaps that would be altogether fine--as already observed, the authors' intent was to criticize McCarthyism and not necessarily to promote Darwinism--if the play and the movie had not taken on a life of their own in the public mind.

The real theme of the play is the modernist understanding of freedom. An enlightened society should throw off the shackles of restrictive, authoritarian forms of thought. Human reason should be unfettered, to follow the facts wherever they lead. Lawrence and Lee identified conservative Christianity (or their caricature of it) that retains a regard for the Bible as an accurate historical record with the McCarthyism of their own era.

But the accuracy of the events depicted in the play and movie hardly matter. To most who have seen either this is the way they think of the Scopes Trial and how the two sides were constituted. It illustrates well the power of the microphone--those who control the means of communication (demonstrated just as well in the 1920s as now) control the debate. The way the controversy is cast by the media largely determines the shape of the debate. So long as the Darwinists and their journalistic allies control the microphone, opposing views will have very little success getting a fair hearing.