Politics in the South: Inherit the Wind and All the King's Men - The 92nd Street Y, New York

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92NY Humanities Audio Collection

Lens on America: Political Perspectives (Film Criticism)

Politics in the South: Inherit the Wind and All the King's Men

Jul 29, 1982


Michael Webb hosts a screening of two films about politics in the South, followed by a discussion with Charles Morgan, Jr., former regional director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Atlanta, GA and someone who Webb cites as an expert on “the South as it is, the South as it has been portrayed, and the issue of politics and justice in the South.” This is the final event of a series about politics in film. The first film, Inherit the Wind (1960), centers on a dramatized version of the 1925 Scopes trial, the legal case resulting from a high school teacher’s teaching of human evolution in violation of the Tennessee Butler Act. The second film, All the King’s Men (1949), is a fictitious depiction of the rise and fall of politician Willie Stark, who represents Louisiana governor Huey Long. Following the screening, Morgan and Webb discuss the tendency of the film industry to portray the South negatively and compare the first film shown in this series, All the President’s Men, with the two films shown at this event. As Webb and Morgan answer questions from the audience, they also explore the struggle between Fundamentalism and progress in the United States, and the still-distinct way of Southern living.

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