War of the Worlds: Blog tasks

Media Factsheet

Read Media Factsheet #176: CSP Radio - War of the Worlds. You'll need your Greenford Google login to download it. Then answer the following questions:

1) What is the history and narrative behind War of the Worlds?

Orson Welles’ 1938 radio play is an adaption of H.G. Wells’ novel of the same

name, first published in 1898. It tells the story of an alien invasion and the ensuing conflict between mankind and an extra-terrestrial race from Mars.

2) When was it first broadcast and what is the popular myth regarding the reaction from the audience?

Broadcast live on 30th October 1938, popular myth has it that thousands of New Yorkers fled their homes in panic, and all across America. It is often highlighted as an early example of mass hysteria caused by the media. People crowded the streets to witness for themselves the real space battle between earth and the Martians.

3) How did the New York Times report the reaction the next day?

MANY FLEE HOMES TO ESCAPE ‘GAS RAID FROM MARS’ – PHONE CALLS SWAMP POLICE AT BROADCAST OF WELLES FANTASY

4) How did author Brad Schwartz describe the the broadcast and its reaction?

 He argues that “the stories of those whom the show frightened offer a fascinating window onto how users engage with media content, spreading and reinterpreting it to suit

their own world views."

5) Why did Orson Welles use hybrid genres and pastiche and what effect might it have had on the audience?

Mixing conventional storytelling with news conventions – Welles blurred the boundaries between fact and fiction in a way that audiences had never experienced.

6) How did world events in 1938 affect the way audiences interpreted the show?

In September 1938, one month prior to the plays broadcast, Hitler signed the Munich Agreement annexing portions of Czechoslovakia and creating the ‘Sudetenland’. Europe’s failed appeasement of Germany was viewed with much concern and for many it seemed that another world war was inevitable.

7) Which company broadcast War of the Worlds in 1938?

CBS RADIO

8) Why might the newspaper industry have deliberately exaggerated the response to the broadcast?

The newspaper and radio industry were competing for audiences, so they did it to defer people.

9) Does War of the Worlds provide evidence to support the Frankfurt School's Hypodermic Needle theory?

Yes, because people were passively believing it's message. 

10) How might Gerbner's cultivation theory be applied to the broadcast?

Applied to War of the Worlds it could be argued that an audience familiar with the frequent interruptions to radio shows over the weeks leading up to the broadcast did not question the faux invasion broadcasts during Welles’ production.

11) Applying Hall's Reception Theory, what could be the preferred and oppositional readings of the original broadcast?

Preferred: To be a immersive sci-fi story that is entirely fictional.

Op-positional: An active, harmful invasion on the US.

12) Do media products still retain the ability to fool audiences as it is suggested War of the Worlds did in 1938? Has the digital media landscape changed this?

No, there are other sources we can use to  confirm the truth. Plus, fake news is not as effective anymore because people don't just accept a message immediately.

Media Magazine article on War of the Worlds

Read this excellent article on War of the Worlds in Media Magazine. You can find it in our Media Magazine archive - issue 69, page 10. Answer the following questions:

1) What reasons are provided for why the audience may have been scared by the broadcast in 1938? 

They were fearing attacks from Germany.

2) How did newspapers present the story? 

They exaggerated the story as well as the responses of people because they believed radio would make them obsolete. "powerful" "dangerous"

3) How does the article describe the rise of radio? 

It is was the only media bringing news and music, whilst being easily accessible.

4) What does the article say about regulation of radio in the 1930s? 

 No regulation - they feared corruption (like Hitler).

5) How does the article apply media theories to the WOTW? Give examples.

Hall - Reception theory - This would explain why some loved the show and accepted

it instantly as entertainment while others panicked and called the police.

6) Look at the box on page 13 of real newspaper headlines. Pick out two and write them here - you could use these in an exam answer.

‘Radio Terror Brings Panic in All

Areas; People Lose All Control’

'Fake Radio War Stirs Terror'