History Film / Expelled

* EvilutionaryBiologist: But the film argues that academic "Darwinist" biologists are [[TheConspiracy willfully conspiring]] to suppress the evidence for Intelligent Design, and connects Darwinism to eugenics and Nazism.

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* DavidVersusGoliath: There's a very staged scene that attempts to portray an Intelligent Design organization as a David standing against the Goliath of evolutionary science. Stein wanders around a street, supposedly having difficulty finding the huge building where he expects the organization to be housed. When he's finally pointed to the building, he announces his assumption that the organization surely takes up the entire building. Lo and behold, the organization is quite small and takes up only one office!

* BiggerBad: Although Charles Darwin is dead and not affiliated with the current struggle over school curriculum, he is the source of evolutionary science. The film blames him for Nazism and other atrocities.

* DocumentaryOfLies:
** To illustrate the point of the evils of evolutionary theory, the movie includes a passage from Darwin's ''The Descent of Man'' that seemingly favors eugenics and culling the infirm and insane, but cuts Darwin praising doctors and lawmakers for their care of and concern for the weak and the poor. These portions of the text are in the middle of the quote, making their exclusion an intentional lie by omission. The following paragraph of the book, omitted in its entirety, has Darwin unambiguously state as evil the very views the film ascribes to him. This is called [[QuoteMine quote mining]], a very common tactic which has also been used against UsefulNotes/RichardDawkins in the same way. Except, in the portion of the movie interviewing Dawkins, Ben Stein tries to twist or quote mine several things Dawkins says, while leaving in the original content that reveals Stein's dishonesty.
** Both Richard Dawkins and PZ Myers were interviewed under the claim that it was a documentary ''about'' the controversy of evolution vs. creationism or intelligent design, rather than pushing one idea over the other in a blatantly one-sided way.

* BigBad: Creator/RichardDawkins. Ben Stein thinks Dawkins is ''the'' [[UsefulNotes/{{Atheism}} atheist]] to beat if atheism is indeed correct. He treats his confrontation with Dawkins as the FinalBoss of the movie. (See [[Funny/{{Expelled}} the Funny page for this work]] for an incident that's doubly amusing in light of this.)

** To illustrate the point of the evils of evolutionary theory, the movie includes a passage from Darwin's ''The Descent of Man'' that seemingly favors eugenics and culling the infirm and insane, but cuts Darwin praising doctors and lawmakers for their care of and concern for the weak and the poor. These portions of the text are in the middle of the quote, making their exclusion an intentional lie by omission. The following paragraph of the book, omitted in its entirety, has Darwin unambiguously state as evil the very views the film ascribes to him. This is called [[QuoteMine quote mining]], a very common tactic which has also been used against Creator/RichardDawkins in the same way. Except, in the portion of the movie interviewing Dawkins, Ben Stein tries to twist or quote mine several things Dawkins says, while leaving in the original content that reveals Stein's dishonesty.

* HitlerAteSugar: The documentary goes some ways to tie [[UsefulNotes/CharlesDarwin Darwin]] and his work to eugenics and, ultimately, to the Nazis. It becomes all the more obvious as it progresses.

* PlayingtheVictimCard: The main thrust of the film is portraying Intelligent Design proponents as an abused minority that is being unfairly silenced by a tyrannical "Dariwnist" conspiracy. Whether you buy that argument is up to you.

* PlayingtheVictimCard: All the professors and teachers who lost their jobs. What makes them unsympathetic is the fact that they were eschewing the work they were getting paid to do in favour of expressing their beliefs.

* BiggerBad: Charles Darwin is treated almost like the founder of an EvilCult. Stein visits a Darwin museum while his narration overtly blames Darwin for some of the atrocities of the 20th century.

* DavidVersusGoliath: There's a very staged scene that attempts to portray an Intelligent Design organization as a David standing against the Goliath of evolutionary science. Stein wanders around a street, supposedly having difficulty finding the huge building where he expects the organization to be housed. When he's finally pointed to the building, he announces that the organization surely takes up the entire building. Lo and behold, the organization is quite small and takes up only one office!

''Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed'' is a documentary film conducted by Ben Stein [[InTheStyleOf in the style of]] documentaries of the 2000s.

The substance? It's on "Darwinist" evolutionists and how they try to suppress the views of anyone in favor of "Intelligent Design". Depending on whom you ask and how they're feeling on the day you ask, Intelligent Design is either a form of creationism, or a form of evolution which nonetheless contains the tenet that certain things cannot have evolved without outside help. It also argues that "Darwinism" creates atheism and moral corruption.

* BigBad: Creator/RichardDawkins. Ben Stein thinks Dawkins is ''the'' [[{{Atheism}} atheist]] to beat if atheism is indeed correct. He treats his confrontation with Dawkins as the FinalBoss of the movie. (See [[Funny/{{Expelled}} the Funny page for this work]] for an incident that's doubly amusing in light of this.)

* DavidVersusGoliath: There's a very staged scene that attempts to portray an Intelligent Design organization as a David standing against the Goliath of evolutionary science. Stein wanders around a street, supposedly having difficulty finding the huge building where he expects the organization to be housed. When he's finally pointed to the building, he announces that the organization surely takes up the entire building. Lo and behold, the organization is quite small and takes up only one office!

** To illustrate the point of the evils of evolutionary theory, the movie includes a passage from Darwin's ''The Descent of Man'' that seemingly favors eugenics and culling the infirm and insane, but cuts Darwin praising doctors and lawmakers for their care of and concern for the weak and the poor. These portions of the text are in the middle of the quote, making their exclusion an intentional lie by omission. The following paragraph of the book, omitted in its entirety, has Darwin unambiguously state as evil the very views the film ascribes to him. This is called [[QuoteMine quote mining]], a very common tactic which has also been used against Creator/RichardDawkins the same way. Except, in the portion of the movie interviewing Dawkins, Ben Stein tries to twist or quote mine several things Dawkins says, while leaving in the original content that reveals Stein's dishonesty.
** Both RichardDawkins and PZ Myers were interviewed under the claim that it was a documentary ''about'' the controversy of evolution vs. creationism or intelligent design, rather than pushing one idea over the other in a blatantly one-sided way.

* HitlerAteSugar: The documentary goes some ways to tie Darwin and his work to eugenics and ultimately to the Nazis. It becomes all the more obvious as it progresses.

* QuoteMine: The film is infamous for its deliberate twisting of quotes to suit the agenda of its creators. For instance, Richard Dawkins's interview is cut to grossly misrepresent what he actually said, as well as make him seem slightly insane.

* BigBad: Creator/RichardDawkins. Ben Stein thinks Dawkins is ''the'' [[{{Atheism}} atheist]] to beat if atheism is indeed correct. He treats his confrontation with Dawkins as the FinalBoss of the movie.

* Arbitrary Skepticism: If you're going to argue that Intelligent Design is a real possibility and doesn't require belief in God, then panspermia should not be offensive to you, as it's pretty much the only other option.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Well, distributor meddling. The film originally used "Imagine" by Music/JohnLennon as background music to what sort of civilization would be created by a society that had shoved religion aside. The footage it backed was of Soviet Russia. Music/YokoOno disapproved of this use of John's music and sued for infringement. It was ultimately declared {{fair use}}, but the video distributor cut the offending footage from the DVD, anyway.

!! '''Tropes''':

* BigBad: RichardDawkins. Ben Stein thinks Dawkins is THE [[{{Atheism}} atheist]] to beat if atheism is indeed correct. He treats his confrontation with Dawkins as the FinalBoss of the movie.

* DocumentaryOfLies
** For instance, to illustrate the point of the evils of evolutionary theory, the movie includes a passage from Darwin's ''The Descent of Man'' that seemingly favors eugenics and culling the infirm and insane, but cuts Darwin praising doctors and lawmakers for their care of and concern for the weak and the poor. These portions of the text are in the middle of the quote, making their exclusion an intentional lie by omission. The following paragraph of the book, omitted in its entirety, has Darwin unambiguously state as evil the very views the film ascribes to him.\\
\\
This is called [[QuoteMine quote mining]], a very common tactic which has also been used against RichardDawkins the same way. Except, in the portion of the movie interviewing Dawkins, Ben Stein tries to twist or quote mine several things Dawkins says, while leaving in the original content that reveals Stein's dishonesty.
** Moreover, both RichardDawkins and PZ Myers were interviewed under the claim that it was a documentary ''about'' the controversy of evolution vs. creationism or intelligent design, rather than pushing one idea over the other in a blatantly one-sided way.
* ExecutiveMeddling: Well, distributor meddling. The film originally used "Imagine" by JohnLennon as background music to what sort of civilization would be created by a society that had shoved religion aside. The footage it backed was of Soviet Russia. YokoOno disapproved of this use of John's music and sued for infringement. It was ultimately declared {{fair use}}, but the video distributor cut the offending footage from the DVD, anyway.

* [[GodwinsLaw Godwin's Law]]: Fast and hard. A fair portion of the movie towards the end involves trying to directly link acceptance of evolution and the Holocaust. Naturally, people were quite outraged that Stein, who is Jewish, would try to pull this card.

* InsaneTrollLogic: Hooboy.
* InTheStyleOf
* QuoteMine: A common (and probably not unfounded) complaint levied against the film by critics. (See Documentary of Lies above.)

]]

* DocumentaryOfLies: For instance, to illustrate the point of the evils of evolutionary theory, the movie includes a passage from Darwin's ''The Descent of Man'' that seemingly favors eugenics and culling the infirm and insane, but cuts Darwin praising doctors and lawmakers for their care of and concern for the weak and the poor. These portions of the text are in the middle of the quote, making their exclusion an intentional lie by omission. The following paragraph of the book, omitted in its entirety, has Darwin unambiguously state as evil the very views the film ascribes to him.
** This is called [[QuoteMine quote mining]], a very common tactic which has also been used against RichardDawkins the same way. Except, in the portion of the movie interviewing Dawkins, Ben Stein tries to twist or quote mine several things Dawkins says, while leaving in the original content that reveals Stein's dishonesty.

** This is called [[QuoteMine quote mining]], a very common tactic which has also been used against RichardDawkins the same way. Except, in the portion of the movie interviewing Dawkins, Ben Stein tries to twist or quote mine several things Dawkins says, while leaving in the original content that reveals Steins dishonesty.

* BigBad: RichardDawkins. Ben Stein thinks Dawkins is THE [[{{Atheism}} atheist]] to beat if atheism is indeed correct. He treats his confrontation with Dawkins as the FinalBoss of the movie. See the [[Funny/{{Expelled}} Funny Moment page]] for an incident which makes this fact ''hilarious''.

* BigBad: RichardDawkins. Ben Stein thinks Dawkins is THE [[{{Atheism}} atheist]] to beat if atheism is indeed correct. He treats his confrontation with Dawkins as the FinalBoss of the movie. See the [[Funny/{{Expelled}} Funny Moment page]] for an incident which makes this fact ''hilarious''.

* DocumentaryOfLies: For instance, to illustrate the point of the evils of evolutionary theory, the movie includes a passage from Darwin's ''The Descent of Man'' that seemingly favors eugenics and culling the infirm and insane, but cuts Darwin praising doctors and lawmakers for their care of and concern for the weak and the poor. These portions of the text are in the middle of the quote, making their exclusion an intentional lie by omission. The following paragraph of the book, omitted in its entirety, has Darwin unambiguously state as evil the very views the film ascribes to him.
** This is called [[QuoteMine quote mining]], a very common tactic which has also been used against RichardDawkins the same way. Except, in the portion of the movie interviewing Dawkins, Ben Stein tries to twist or quote mine several things Dawkins says, while leaving in the original content that reveals Steins dishonesty.
** Moreover, both RichardDawkins and PZ Myers were interviewed under the claim that it was a documentary ''about'' the controversy of evolution vs. creationism or intelligent design, rather than pushing one idea over the other in a blatantly one-sided way.

* [[GodwinsLaw Godwin's Law]]: Fast and hard. A fair portion of the movie towards the end involves trying to directly link acceptance of evolution and the Holocaust. Naturally, people were quite outraged that Stein, who is Jewish, would try to pull this card.
* HitlerAteSugar: The documentary goes some ways to tie Darwin and his work to eugenics and ultimately to the Nazis. It becomes all the more obvious as it progresses.
* InsaneTrollLogic: Hooboy.
* InTheStyleOf
* QuoteMine: A common (and probably not unfounded) complaint levied against the film by critics. (See Documentary of Lies above.)

You can imagine how well the ''existence'' of such a film went over. Critics hated it before they saw it.

It did surprisingly well In America, considering it was an independent film (financed by intelligent design proponents). Naturally, it got help from church groups. It might have done even better, except YokoOno noticed that JohnLennon's music was being used in the film to suggest a position that Lennon would never have supported (maybe even two of them), and the film was pulled out of theaters so the copyright issue could be settled.

* BigBad: RichardDawkins. Ben Stein thinks Dawkins is THE [[{{Atheism}} atheist]] to beat if atheism is indeed correct. He treats his confrontation with Dawkins as the FinalBoss of the movie.
** See the [[Funny/{{Expelled}} Funny Moment page]] for an incident which makes this fact ''hilarious''.

You can imagine how well the ''existence'' of such a film went over. Critics hated it before they saw it, and not entirely without reason.

* ArbitrarySkepticism: If you're going to argue that Intelligent Design is a real possibility ''and'' doesn't require belief in God, then panspermia should not be offensive to you, as it's pretty much the only other option.

* DocumentaryOfLies: For instance, to illustrate the point of the evils of evolutionary theory, the movie includes a passage from Darwin's ''The Descent of Man'' that seemingly favors eugenics and culling the infirm and insane, but cuts Darwin praising doctors and lawmakers for their care of and concern for the weak and the poor. These portions of the text are in the middle of the quote, making their exclusion an intentional lie by omission. The following paragraph of the book, omitted in its entirety, has Darwin unambiguously state as evil the very views the film ascribes to him.
** This is called [[QuoteMine quote mining]], a very common tactic which has also been used against RichardDawkins the same way. Except, in the portion of the movie interviewing Dawkins, Ben Stein tries to twist or quote mine several things Dawkins says, while leaving in the original content that reveals Steins dishonesty.
** Moreover, both RichardDawkins and PZ Myers were interviewed under the claim that it was a documentary ''about'' the controversy of evolution vs. creationism or intelligent design, rather than pushing one idea over the other in a blatantly one-sided way.

* [[GodwinsLaw Godwin's Law]]: Fast and hard. A fair portion of the movie towards the end involves trying to directly link acceptance of evolution and the Holocaust. Naturally, people were quite outraged that Stein, who is Jewish, would try to pull this card.
* HitlerAteSugar: The documentary goes some ways to tie Darwin and his work to eugenics and ultimately to the Nazis. It becomes all the more obvious as it progresses.
* InsaneTrollLogic: Hooboy.

* QuoteMine: A common (and probably not unfounded) complaint levied against the film by critics. (See Documentary of Lies above.)