SSC Film Studies

War of the Worlds

The original War of the Worlds was a novel written by H.G.Wells in 1898 and it contains the themes of paranoia, fear of 'others' and fear of annihilation. This version of the story uses many connotations, for example fear of cultural destruction and the fear of immigrants. People also feared the end of the world and this novel was good to show peoples reactions and how they were feeling. The fear of 'others' is used to connote the immigrants that came over to the UK, people thought that they would come over and change their way of living, hence the fear of other. The aliens were used in the novel to portray immigrants because they felt threatened by the increase of foreigners. People saw them as a threat to the British culture and cultural ideologies. This then ties into the fear of annihilation and how people feared the collapse of the British Empire and the fear of immigration. All these themes can be cannoned in the novel and the immigrants were branded as aliens taking over and changing their way of life.

The second War of the Worlds was a radio drama in 1938. The themes of paranoia, fear of 'others' and fear of annihilation still stand in this version of the novel but with different connotations. It connoted peoples paranoia at the rise of the Nazi party in fascism Europe. People feared a fascism society because it opposed a capitalist society. The fear of 'others' was the far of fascism, Nazis, the fear of foreign nations and the fear of ideological changes. In the version of the story the aliens represent fascism and the rise of the Nazi party. In the story people fear getting annihilated by the aliens and the world coming to an end, this connotes how people really feared the Nazis, World War II and the emergence of nuclear technology.

The third War of the Worlds came out in film form in 1953 and again still used the themes of paranoia, fear of 'others' and fear of annihilation.