SSC Film Studies

In what ways can War Of The Worlds be considered allegorical?

War of the Worlds was first introduced in 1898, a novel set during Victorian London. London being the political and economic centre of the British Empire made it a target.  If anyone were to attack the British Empire, which was the most dominant colonial power in the world, London would have been top of the list. This would have resulted in an,  ‘alien’ invasion.

Furthermore, there was fear of annihilation, fear of the ‘un-known’ and fear for ‘others’. There was a lot of paranoia as there was many concerned about the end of the world. Different ethnicities and cultures started to migrate to Britain and the British society felt that their way of life was under threat.

In 1938 Orson Welles produced a live radio broadcast of War of the Worlds. Since the early 1930’s there was a growing feeling of paranoia as many witnessed a significant rise of the Nazi party.

Therefore Welles production petrified millions leaving them paranoid, waiting for Nazi domination. They also knew that WW11 was going to be ten times worse than the first due to all the new technology which was sure to be used as weapons.