War of the Worlds

“In what ways can War of the Worlds be considered Allegorical?”

The War of the World’s story has been reinterpreted during many different times of conflict, heightened paranoia and used to comment on social issues at the time of production.

The original Novel of war of the Worlds, written in 1898 by H G Wells reflects a fear of annihilation, outsiders and a sense of paranoia, which is allegorical of the end of the World, also known as the turn of the century where people thought the apocalypse was coming, and a fear of a dramatic increase in immigration due to the size of the British Empire.

The fear of annihilation in 1898 was focused around threats of war due to the fact that if anyone were to attack the Empire in order to overpower it, London would be the target as it is the political and economic centre of the Empire, explaining why the book is set in Victorian London. It also is focused around cultural destruction due to immigrants coming into England. Also, this links into the fear of others and how they were worried about the immigrants bringing new ideologies into the British society.

The Radio Drama representation of War of the Worlds by Orson Welles reintroduced the novel to society after America and Europe were left paranoid about the uprise of the Nazi party. Within the fear of war, War of the Worlds is returned and terrified millions. It provoked paranoia and fear towards the Nazis and is allegorical of the fear of domination and another World War. A study by the Radio Project discovered that some who panicked presumed that Germans had invaded, rather than martians.

The first film of War of the Worlds from 1953 is largely allegorical, reflecting the fear of the Russians during the Cold War. Tensions between the USSR and the United States was beginning to grow and each nation feared the others nuclear capabilities. This caused paranoia and fear of others to intensify, and War of the Worlds was brought back in film form. The film was transferred to a modern setting, rather than victorian London like the book, which automatically applied the themes of paranoia and fear of outsiders and annihilation.

The aliens in the 1953 film reflect the Russians, as in this society they are the enemy, therefore the aliens are from 'the Red Planet' which connotes the red of the Russian flag. The film also reflects the feelings of  many Americans in that society and their fear of the USSR's nuclear plans, which could lead to mass destruction. It is also representative of the fear for a World War III, and it also hints at some fear of communist infiltration after the Communist Global revolution. Although War of the Worlds is fiction, it can clearly relate to real life situations.

In 2005, this film was remade and is very allegorical to the terrorist attacks, such as 9/11. There was a mass increase of fear of Islamic terrorists and weapons of mass destruction and many people were paranoid of any future attacks or war outbreaks, it also shows the fear of annihilation by 'alien' cultures coming into America, such as Islam.