War of the Worlds

The War of the Worlds has numerous adaptions from the book and each of these adaptions are considered allegorical for different events in history.

War of the Worlds was published in 1898 by H.G. Welles. upon its release is was considered and allegory for British Imperialism. The original story from the novel is set in London and reflects the authors own experiences from that time. In the time of 1898 the British Empire was the dominant colonial power , with London as its political and economic centre. There were heightened fears of immigration due to the Empire size, that they were a threat to British culture and cultural ideologies, and this would eventually lead to cultural destruction.Also the fear of the turn of the century ' end of the age'. Many believed this would be when the apocalypse began.

The first adaptation since the novel was War of the Worlds Radio Drama 1938. At the time this was released there was a high level of paranoia due to the Nazi party in Europe and fascism in Europe, this led onto the fear of Word War. Around this time was the emergence of Nuclear technology which triggered the fear of annihilation. When this Radio Drama was aired  it terrified millions as many believed it to be the invasion of the Nazi party.

After the second world war tensions between USSR and the United States began to grow. Each nation feared the others Nuclear capabilities and paranoia and the threat of Nuclear Annihilation intensified. In 1953 there was the release of the first film ,War of the Worlds. The film features 'aliens' in a machine that in ways resembles an aeroplane. This heightened fears due to the use of planes in World War 2 and the use of them for Nuclear Bombs.  There was a fear of communist infiltration and idealogical shifts. At the time the film was released there was a fear of specific others, America were in conflict with Cuba.

In 2005 Steven Spielberg released the film War of the Worlds which featured Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning. 9/11 had happened only 4 years before the film released meaning the fear of terror attacks was still new. The terror attack fears mainly centred on Islamic Terrorists who were considered to be an 'alien culture'. In the film there are key scenes which relate back to 9/11. For example, the first attack from the Tripod. Most of that scene is shot from High angle point view and at some point viewed through a video camera. This is significant as it mirrors how 9/11 was viewed. Fear of others was strong at this point as Weapons of Mass Destruction were a problem to the government. The tripods in the film are more advanced than the first, however they do not give away why they are attacking. The fear of the unknown is strong in this film as a couple of the characters question 'Is it the terrorists?'