{"id":145260,"date":"2025-03-20T07:39:59","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T07:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/american-history\/americanstudies-march-20-2025-scopesstudying-three-plays\/"},"modified":"2025-03-20T07:39:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T07:39:59","slug":"americanstudies-march-20-2025-scopesstudying-three-plays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=145260","title":{"rendered":"AmericanStudies: March 20, 2025: ScopesStudying: Three Plays"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

[100 years
\nago this month, the Tennessee General Assembly passed the Butler
\nAct<\/a>, prohibiting public school teachers from teaching evolution. So
\nthis week I\u2019ll AmericanStudy that law and the famous
\ntrial<\/a> it produced, leading up to a weekend post on current attacks on
\neducators.]<\/p>\n

How three
\nstage adaptations of the trial reflect the fraught relationship between art and
\nhistory.<\/span><\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Inherit
\nthe Wind<\/a><\/span><\/i> (1955): Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee\u2019s play, which has
\nbeen itself adapted
\ninto multiple films<\/a> for both screen and TV, is in many ways the most
\nwell-known representation of the Scopes trial. Which is quite ironic, since in
\ntheir \u201cPlaywrights\u2019
\nNote<\/a>\u201d before the text Lawrence and Lee explicitly argue that the play \u201cis
\nnot history,\u201d that \u201cit is not 1925,\u201d and that \u201cthe stage directions set the
\ntime as \u2018Not long ago.\u2019 It might have been yesterday. It could be tomorrow.\u201d To
\nmy mind both the play and the 1960 film adaptation are profoundly focused on
\ncontexts and questions from the
\nage of McCarthy<\/a>, making Inherit<\/i> very much a counterpart to The
\nCrucible<\/a><\/i> (1953) and far more interesting as a 1950s text than a portrayal
\nof the 1920s. <\/span><\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Inherit the Truth<\/a><\/span><\/i> (1987):
\nAs that article traces at length, Dayton
\nplaywright\u2019s Gale Johnson\u2019s<\/a> 1980s play was overtly and entirely intended as
\na rebuttal to Inherit the Wind<\/i>, but not so much in terms of historical inaccuracies
\nabout the trial per se. Instead, Johnson believed that the prior play had badly
\nmisrepresented both William Jennings Bryan and the town of Dayton, and sought to
\ncorrect those errors with a play that is hugely laudatory toward both the man
\nand the community (or at least its conservative Christians). I haven\u2019t read
\nJohnson\u2019s play so I can\u2019t speak to its specifics, and in any case it\u2019s important
\nto note that her goals are no more (or less) problematic than those of any
\nplaywright. But I\u2019d say her use of the word \u201cTruth\u201d in her title is deeply problematic,
\nand indeed extends Bryan\u2019s embrace of mythic patriotism about which I wrote in
\nyesterday\u2019s post. <\/span><\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>The Great
\nTennessee Monkey Trial<\/a><\/span><\/i> (1993): Whatever its flaws, though, Johnson\u2019s
\nplay seems to have had at least one important positive effect: it helped
\nencourage playwright Peter
\nGoodchild to write a play<\/a> based far more explicitly on the trial\u2019s
\ntranscripts and histories than either of the Inherits<\/i> had been. In
\nawarding Goodchild\u2019s play its Earphones Award, Audiofile magazine noted<\/span><\/a><\/i> that, \u201cBecause there
\nare no recordings of the actual trial, this production is certainly the next
\nbest thing.\u201d I hear that, and using transcripts is definitely a way to guarantee
\na significant degree of historical accuracy. But at the same time, any actor
\nwho performs Goodchild\u2019s roles is an actor who\u2019s performing, not (for example)
\nBryan or Darrow themselves. So the relationship of art and history remains at
\nleast a bit complicated here, if certainly distinct than with either of those
\nprior stage adaptations. <\/span><\/p>\n

Last
\nScopes context tomorrow,<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben<\/span><\/p>\n

PS. What
\ndo you think? <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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