War Of The Worlds Allegory Essay

In 1898, H.G Welles published the first and original version of what would become a story retold for years. This story was a reaction to the anxiety caused by British Imperialism, that being the fear of immigration and other cultures trying to attack – a fear caused by anger received from the rest of the world. There was a general feeling of paranoia as people awaited an invasion against the British Empire from migrants.

The story was then rereleased by Orson Welles in the form of a radio show, which included several of the same themes of fear and anxiety, this time created by the fascist regime in place in Germany, and the threat created by the Nazis. This created widespread panic amongst the listeners because of the pre-existing paranoia that this only added to. Therefore, in addition to the prior fear of invasion, there was now also a fear of being annihilated by the forthcoming Nazis.

The first film release based on War Of The Worlds arrived in theatres 1953, which, of course, generated an uproar of anxiety. Similarly to the Orson Welles’ release, the 1953 film was a response to a threat of annihilation, this time from the fear of communism, or ‘the red scare.’ Significantly, Mars is referred to constantly as the ‘red planet’, which further affirmed the audience’s fears that this film was an allegorical text for the threat of attack from communism.

Once again, in 2005, another film version of the story was released, directed by Stephen Speilberg. This was the first version of this story that was able to capture the panic accurately, given the increase of abilities that people had in regards to film making. More technology made for an easier way to present destruction, and, quite literally, annihilation. (This film took place in New York for this very reason.)

The 2005 film aimed to act as an allegorical text for the 9/11 terrorist attacks, this being why the initial response to the arrival of the Martians is “is it the terrorists?” The film aimed to recreate the same sort of panic and hopelessness that people on the ground would have felt on that day, given the use of grey smoke when people are killed. Another visual signifier of the 9/11 attacks would be the entire scene dedicated to showing a plane crash; this taps into the fear that, what used to just be a form of transport is now a weapon of terrorism, which is also applicable to the tripods.