Inherit the Wind - How to Give a Character Depth

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]I find myself thinking about the 1960 film Inherit the Wind often these days.

[00:00:05]This is primarily because it is one of the most relevant pieces of media on the subject of book banning despite not actually being about book banning. The many parallels it has with the modern rise of book challenging and banning is the subject for a future video. The movie itself is based on the Scopes trial, often referred to as the Monkey Trial, in which a high school teacher was accused of violating the law by teaching evolution in school. There are many great scenes in the movie, but the one I'd like to discuss today is great in a different sense. It is not a rousing defense for intellectual freedom, nor is it a scathing indictment of un-Christian-like behavior by those claiming the faith. It is a subdued and brutally honest conversation calling out a flawed lifestyle and philosophy. It's easy to fall into the trap of seeing witty characters and wishing we were that quick. Characters like Rick Sanchez from Rick and Morty or Dr. House from the show House and so on.

[00:00:56]They always seem to have a snappy response. Even characters like Saul Goodman rarely find themselves backed into a conversational corner because of their quick wit. This understandable desire overlooks two important factors.

[00:01:09]First is that these characters have a team of screenwriters writing their off-the-cuff remarks. There are very few people who are that quick in real life.

[00:01:15]Second, and this gets to the crux of the matter, they are often miserable. The equation of intelligence and misery is an interesting trope. With intelligent characters portraying them as either extreme can be potentially detrimental to the viewer. If you portray the life of an intelligent person as perfectly happy, then you run the risk of unrealistic expectations, victim mentality, and an unhealthy pining.

[00:01:38]I'm unhappy because I'm not smart enough. If only I was smarter, then I'd be happy, and so on. Do the opposite, and what's the point of continual learning? Why bother trying to increase one's knowledge if it may worsen one's mood, outlook, and life?

[00:01:51]Obviously, the solution here is trying to avoid either extreme unless it's a fundamental aspect of the character.

[00:01:57]Somewhere in the middle is both more nuanced and realistic, but enough preamble, on to the subject at hand. At the end of the trial, no spoilers, Henry Drummond, played by Spencer Tracy, who was the lawyer for the defense, is packing up his belongings in the courtroom and musing on both life and the outcome of the case.

[00:02:15]The only other character present is E.K.

[00:02:17]Hornbeck, played by Gene Kelly, a snarky journalist who is patterned after the real-life journalist H.L. Mencken. As the scene begins, Hornbeck is trying to contact the newspaper he writes for and is asking if he can quote Drummond as Drummond muses aloud. Drummond appears wistful and genuinely saddened by the death of another character despite their strong differences of opinion. Hornbeck continues to deride the deceased with dismissive remarks. After everything that has happened, all Hornbeck can see is the story angle, nothing more.

[00:02:46]They go back and forth on how much respect, if any, the deceased deserves, revolving mainly around the deceased's beliefs and how that influenced their actions.

[00:02:56]The two have a brief conversation and eventually Hornbeck calls Drummond out saying, "Quote, you hypocrite.

[00:03:02]You fraud. The atheist who believes in God."

[00:03:06]Drummond turns the argument around on him saying, "Quote, everything is grist for your mill, isn't it? Well, go ahead, grind it up.

[00:03:14]My God, don't you understand the meaning of what happened here today?

[00:03:17]What happened here today has no meaning." Hornbeck replies.

[00:03:21]Drummond continues, "You have no meaning. You're like a ghost pointing an empty sleeve and smirking at everything people feel or want or struggle for.

[00:03:31]I pity you."

[00:03:33]"You pity me?

[00:03:34]Isn't there anything what touches you? What warms you? Every man has a dream. What do you dream about? What do you need?"

[00:03:43]Hornbeck pauses and is uncharacteristically at a loss for words.

[00:03:47]"You don't need anything, do you?

[00:03:49]People, love, an idea just to cling to, you poor slob. You're all alone. When you go to your grave, there won't be anyone to pull the grass up over your head. Nobody to mourn you. You're all alone, Drummond says.

[00:04:06]You're wrong, Henry.

[00:04:08]You'll be there, Hornbeck says with a smirk. You're the type.

[00:04:12]Who else would defend my right to be lonely?

[00:04:15]Hornbeck then dons his hat and walks out of the courtroom.

[00:04:18]One thing I really appreciate here is depth.

[00:04:21]It would be easy to write Hornbeck as a more flat and stereotypical character. A fancy educated elitist coming to laugh at the petty squabbles of the unelightened common folk. To a degree, that's what he is, but this scene reveals a glaring shortcoming of such an approach to life.

[00:04:36]His philosophy seems to be a blend of cynicism and nihilism.

[00:04:40]I'm reminded of the phrase fiddling while Rome burns. In this social issue of academic and intellectual freedom, as well as the separation of church and state, Hornbeck is a bemused observer.

[00:04:52]He neither fuels nor fights the fire.

[00:04:54]It's all just entertainment. Another important nuance is intelligence isn't portrayed as the sole cause of Hornbeck's misery here.

[00:05:03]Sure, it's likely a contributing factor, but there's more to it than that.

[00:05:07]For example, Drummond himself is fiercely intelligent, but even at the end of the movie, having faced some poor examples of human decency and empathy, he still seems to hold out some amount of hope that humanity can and will do better.

[00:05:20]It's impressive that this of this too cool-for-school, aloof, indifferent type of persona happened many years before the unflappable cool guy became a more common character trope. Characters like Archer come to mind, although I think that show pulls it off reasonably well.

[00:05:34]I wouldn't go as far as to say that this scene argues that the worst thing you can do is be indifferent. I think that'd be an overly broad or far-reaching interpretation. Also, arguing the degree of wrongness of indifference versus trying to use education to enforce and spread one's personal beliefs is perhaps missing the point. I'm not sure I've seen many other works of media calling out this persona type before. I suppose I have, but none come to mind at the moment. It's easier with TV shows having the benefit of more time to flush out characters and fully explore the over-it-all, doesn't-care type character. It would be easy to have Hornbeck as the H.L. Mencken stand-in, occasional comic relief, and nothing more. And yet, in a matter of minutes, Hornbeck is given more depth such that during subsequent rewatches, it adds a tinge of bittersweetness to his snarky quips throughout the movie.

[00:06:22]Something I'd argue that is equally important to the depth of character here is the exploration of an arguably unhealthy or unhelpful mentality or worldview. Caring about nothing saves you from getting hurt, at least directly, but it hardly seems like living. There's nothing inherently uncool about caring about things.

[00:06:39]Obviously, what you care about and what you do with that matters a great deal, and that's a theme explored throughout the movie. Perhaps I'm projecting some of my own irritation with this sort of attitude, but the scene's seems pretty clear.

[00:06:52]Another admittedly overused quote that bears relevance here is the one by Alfred Tennyson, "Tis better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all." Sure, you don't suffer the pain of loss by loving nothing, but is that worth the loss of the many benefits of love? I don't think so.

[00:07:07]So, go out there, carpe that DM, care about things, and fight for what you believe in. Leaving the sidelines doesn't mean you're guaranteed to win, but at least you'll know you tried.

[00:07:16]At time of writing, Inherit the Wind is currently available for free on Tubi, not sponsored, by the way. I highly recommend you give it a watch.

[00:07:24]Thanks for watching.