War of the Worlds: Blog tasks

Media Factsheet

Read Media Factsheet #176: CSP Radio - War of the Worlds. You'll need your Greenford Google login to download it. Then answer the following questions:

1) What is the history and narrative behind War of the Worlds?

Orson Welles’ 1938 radio play is an adaption of H.G. Wells’ novel of the same name, first published in 1898. It tells the story of an alien invasion and the ensuing conflict between mankind and an extra-terrestrial race from Mars. The text has been frequently interpreted as a commentary on British Imperialism and Victorian fear and prejudice. The book has been adapted for both radio and (several) films, including the 2005 version starring Tom Cruise. It was also famously turned into a best-selling musical album by Jeff Wayne in 1978 (recently updated by Gary Barlow as a touring stage musical)

2) When was it first broadcast and what is the popular myth regarding the reaction from the audience?

Broadcast live on 30th October 1938, popular myth has it that thousand of New Yorkers fled their homes in panic, and all across America people crowded the streets to witness for themselves the real space battle between earth and the Martians. The Trenton Police Department (close to the site of the fictional invasion) received over 2000 calls in less than two hours, while the New York Times switchboard received 875 calls from concerned listeners wanting to know where they would be safe. Such hysteria was caused by Welles’ clever adaption of the story, reporting on the events through faux newscasts, and presenting the narrative in a way that has been described as “too realistic and frightening.” 

3) How did the New York Times report the reaction the next day?

MANY FLEE HOMES TO ESCAPE ‘GAS RAID FROM MARS’ – PHONE CALLS SWAMP POLICE AT BROADCAST OF WELLES FANTASY 

4) How did author Brad Schwartz describe the the broadcast and its reaction?

Author Brad Schwartz in his 2015 book ‘Broadcast Hysteria: Orson Welles’s War of the Worlds and the Art of Fake News’ suggests that hysteria it caused was not entirely a myth. “Instead it was something decades ahead of its time: history’s first viral-media phenomenon.” He argues that “the stories of those whom the show frightened offer a fascinating window onto how users engage with media content, spreading and reinterpreting it to suit their own world views.

5) Why did Orson Welles use hybrid genres and pastiche and what effect might it have had on the audience?

By borrowing the conventions of the radio newscast, he is able to create real moments of shock and awe, which almost certainly account for the strong reaction it received. By creating a hybrid form – mixing conventional storytelling with news conventions – Welles blurred the boundaries between fact and fiction in a way that audiences had never experienced.

6) How did world events in 1938 affect the way audiences interpreted the show?

Germany had already annex Austria and also a month prior had annex the Sudetenland form Czechoslovakia. Everybody knew that another war was imminent. 

7) Which company broadcast War of the Worlds in 1938?

CBS Radio Network

8) Why might the newspaper industry have deliberately exaggerated the response to the broadcast?

Radio was new competitionn to them so they made it lokk even worse to create negative imagery around radio.

9) Does War of the Worlds provide evidence to support the Frankfurt School's Hypodermic Needle theory?

Orson Welles’ broadcast is frequently cited as an example to support passive audience theories, such as the Frankfurt School’s ‘Hypodermic Syringe Theory’. This states that audiences consume and respond to media texts in an unquestioning way, believing what they read, see or hear. This might be true of the audiences of the 1930s, unfamiliar with new media forms like radio, but in the modern age it carries less weight. It is questionable as to how far most of the audience were actually duped by the broadcast. As has been noted, those who ‘bought into’ the idea of an invasion, may well have been influenced by external factors such as the social and political context of the time. It was not impossible to believe that a foreign power was invading American soil in 1938.

10) How might Gerbner's cultivation theory be applied to the broadcast?

Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory might offer a more accurate explanation of the audience’s behaviour in response to the radio broadcast since it emphasises the longer-term effects that media texts have upon audiences. Based on his research into television viewing, cultivation theory states that high frequency viewers of television are more susceptible to media messages and the belief that they are real. Heavy viewers of TV are thought to be ‘cultivating’ attitudes that seem to believe that the world created by television is an accurate depiction of the real world. Applied to War of the Worlds it could be argued that an audience familiar with the frequent interruptions to radio shows over the weeks leading up to the broadcast did not question the faux invasion broadcasts during Welles’ production.

11) Applying Hall's Reception Theory, what could be the preferred and oppositional readings of the original broadcast?

Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory is useful when considering how the audience for War of the Worlds interpreted the text (as either fact or fiction). He argues that audiences might read a media text in different ways. The dominant or preferred reading by the audience is the one intended by the creator of the text. However, a person might read it in an oppositional way depending upon factors such as their age, gender or background. For example, a young male is likely to ‘read’ page three of The Sun as a bit of harmless fun (the preferred reading), whereas a female might regard it as offensive. Hall also suggests that readings of a media text might be negotiated. This is an acceptance of the preferred reading but modified in a way that reflects the audience’s own position, experiences and interests.

12) Do media products still retain the ability to fool audiences as it is suggested War of the Worlds did in 1938? Has the digital media landscape changed this?

Yes and no. With AI people can make thing that look very identical to real stuff and easily fool many that are looking for those imperfections that give it away. However, with the internet, information is easily excess able. Propaganda is much harder to implement as people can see things for them self's at anytime.

Media Magazine article on War of the Worlds

Read this excellent article on War of the Worlds in Media Magazine. You can find it in our Media Magazine archive - issue 69, page 10. Answer the following questions:

1) What reasons are provided for why the audience may have been scared by the broadcast in 1938? 

Paranoia from the actions of Germany as well as him using realistic radio conventions such as the story not being told in one go but it was spread through many different segments with the actual radio playing.

2) How did newspapers present the story? 

They presented it like a hoax. They exaggerated the story making it seam like there was something malicious happening.

3) How does the article describe the rise of radio? 

Since it came on the scene commercially in the 1920s, many feared radio would kill off the other main media industries at the time. The radio brought news, music and more into people’s homes in an accessible, realistic and direct way; arguably there was no need to go and buy a newspaper or record if you could just switch on your radio. Plus, listeners would get to hear the real voices of the people making the news and access information more quickly than via a newspaper. Scholars have since acknowledged that this competition between the media forms definitely played a part in the speed and ferocity with which the newspapers attacked TWOTW. 

4) What does the article say about regulation of radio in the 1930s? 

Another industrial context was the regulation of the radio.As a relatively new media form, there was still widespread scepticism about radio’s benefits and a lot of concern about its potential downsides. Just like the introduction of newer media today, older generations feared the corruption of the young by uncensored, unregulated radio content. Furthermore, the radio had a part to play in the rise of Adolf Hitler in Europe, and many were worried about how far radio’s influence could stretch. Suddenly, the newspapers caught wind of a radio play that seemed to have caused panic and disquiet among its listeners and they used that to support their claim that the radio was all-powerful and, ultimately, dangerous.

5) How does the article apply media theories to the WOTW? Give examples.

Stuart Hall, developed a theory of ‘reception’ that helps us understand the diverse ways audiences react. He said people make a judgement on any media text based on their experiences and understanding of the world. Applying this to TWOTW, you might argue that listeners will have come up with their own understanding of the show (and subsequent stories in the papers) as individuals, offering either dominant, negotiated or oppositional readings. This would explain why some loved the show and accepted it instantly as entertainment while others panicked and called the police.

6) Look at the box on page 13 of real newspaper headlines. Pick out two and write them here - you could use these in an exam answer.

Radio Play Terrifies Nation

Fake Radio War Stirs Terror.