War of the Worlds - Liam Tomkins

Sci-Fi has always been seen as an allegorical genre that allows authors and filmmakers to reflect, comment upon and criticise modern social attitudes and social ideologies.

War of the Worlds began as a novel written by H.G Welles in 1898. War of the Worlds is very allegorical. The novel reflects the paranoia and fear people had at the time. At the time the book was written people were paranoid of destruction of the world and the destruction of their culture due to the large amount of immigrants in Britain. People were fearful of immigrants because they were a threat to British culture and ideologies. A lot of people also feared the collapse of the British Empire because it could have lead to the destruction of Britain through attacks from other countries. People also feared immigration because it could lead to immigrants attempting to take over the country and attempting to change society so it is better for them.

War of the Worlds was then adapted into a live radio drama in 1938. The drama was set in America, who were fearful of the Nazis because it would mean that if the Nazis were to win then fascism would spread, which America was very fearful of at the time. During this time people were paranoid due to the rise of the Nazi party and fascism in Europe. The rise of the Nazi party made it obvious to people that another World War was bound to happen, but everybody was unsure as to when it would. This would leave people paranoid because war is constantly looming over them in their day-to-day life. A rise of fascism worried Americans because it opposed their idea of capitalism. Nuclear technology was also beginning to appear at this point, meaning people were very fearful of what this could mean, as it could lead to annihilation if a war were to break out.

War of the Worlds was then adapted into a film in 1953, during the Cold War. It was set in Los Angeles so it reflected American’s fears and paranoia at this time. LA is the closest large city to Russia and so would be Russia’s first target. At the time Russia had placed nuclear weapons on Cuba, which is very close to the USA, this made people paranoid of destruction because if a war were to break out nuclear missiles could be launched at the USA within minutes. This also made people paranoid of communist infiltration because communism was extremely close to the USA due to Russia putting missiles on Cuba. People were also fearful of a third World War breaking out due to the recent end of the World War II and increased tension due to nuclear weapons and the Cold War. There was a lot of fear towards nuclear annihilation from Russia who posed a serious threat due to them putting missiles on Cuba.

War of the Worlds was then adapted into another film in 2005, four years after 9/11. It was set in New York, where 9/11 happened as well as being America’s finance capital. This would be one of the first cities to be attacked in America if there were to another war or terror attack due to both its size and importance to the country. America was very fearful of terror attacks after 9/11, this is shown in War of the Worlds when everybody assumes that it is terrorists who have caused it. This also shows that the children at the time had been brought up in a world were terrorism was becoming more common so it was their first assumption, whereas the adults did not know what was happening and conspiracies and rumours started to spread. People were also fearful of ‘aliens’, immigrants. The aliens in the film were literal aliens, but still reflected people’s fears of immigrants.