“A Religious Orgy in Tennessee”: the (Mis)representation of the Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial in Lawrence and Lee’s Inherit the Wind and Its Cinematic Adaptations

The aim of my paper is to explore the extent to which the popular representations of the Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial (1925) in the media of the day, in the play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, Inherit the Wind (1955) and its subsequent cinematic adaptations have altered the American public’s perc...

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Main Author: Raluca Andreescu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Bucharest University Press 2015-12-01
Series:University of Bucharest Review. Literary and Cultural Studies Series
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.ubr.rev.unibuc.ro/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/RalucaAndreescu-1.pdf
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author Raluca Andreescu
author_facet Raluca Andreescu
author_sort Raluca Andreescu
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description The aim of my paper is to explore the extent to which the popular representations of the Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial (1925) in the media of the day, in the play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, Inherit the Wind (1955) and its subsequent cinematic adaptations have altered the American public’s perception about what came to be known as ‘the trial of the century’. I discuss the manner in which starting from one teacher’s violation of an act which made it unlawful to “teach any theory that denies the story of Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals”, the trial’s coverage in the media and its later literary and cinematic renditions were used to manipulate and fuel a war between religion and science, as well as provide a critique of the American society at large.
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spelling doaj.art-5dc28633c4724fc2ab654137999a16c82023-11-02T05:05:30ZengBucharest University PressUniversity of Bucharest Review. Literary and Cultural Studies Series2734-59632015-12-01V/201526370“A Religious Orgy in Tennessee”: the (Mis)representation of the Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial in Lawrence and Lee’s Inherit the Wind and Its Cinematic AdaptationsRaluca Andreescu0University of Bucharest; Romania.The aim of my paper is to explore the extent to which the popular representations of the Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial (1925) in the media of the day, in the play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, Inherit the Wind (1955) and its subsequent cinematic adaptations have altered the American public’s perception about what came to be known as ‘the trial of the century’. I discuss the manner in which starting from one teacher’s violation of an act which made it unlawful to “teach any theory that denies the story of Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals”, the trial’s coverage in the media and its later literary and cinematic renditions were used to manipulate and fuel a war between religion and science, as well as provide a critique of the American society at large.http://www.ubr.rev.unibuc.ro/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/RalucaAndreescu-1.pdfheory of evolution/darwinismreligious fundamentalismmedia extravaganzaliterary/cinematic (mis)representations
spellingShingle Raluca Andreescu
“A Religious Orgy in Tennessee”: the (Mis)representation of the Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial in Lawrence and Lee’s Inherit the Wind and Its Cinematic Adaptations
University of Bucharest Review. Literary and Cultural Studies Series
heory of evolution/darwinism
religious fundamentalism
media extravaganza
literary/cinematic (mis)representations
title “A Religious Orgy in Tennessee”: the (Mis)representation of the Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial in Lawrence and Lee’s Inherit the Wind and Its Cinematic Adaptations
title_full “A Religious Orgy in Tennessee”: the (Mis)representation of the Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial in Lawrence and Lee’s Inherit the Wind and Its Cinematic Adaptations
title_fullStr “A Religious Orgy in Tennessee”: the (Mis)representation of the Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial in Lawrence and Lee’s Inherit the Wind and Its Cinematic Adaptations
title_full_unstemmed “A Religious Orgy in Tennessee”: the (Mis)representation of the Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial in Lawrence and Lee’s Inherit the Wind and Its Cinematic Adaptations
title_short “A Religious Orgy in Tennessee”: the (Mis)representation of the Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial in Lawrence and Lee’s Inherit the Wind and Its Cinematic Adaptations
title_sort a religious orgy in tennessee the mis representation of the scopes monkey trial in lawrence and lee s inherit the wind and its cinematic adaptations
topic heory of evolution/darwinism
religious fundamentalism
media extravaganza
literary/cinematic (mis)representations
url http://www.ubr.rev.unibuc.ro/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/RalucaAndreescu-1.pdf
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