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 extraterrestrial race from Mars. The text has been frequently interpreted as a commentary on British Imperialism and Victorian fear and prejudice.
2) When was it first broadcast and what is the popular myth regarding the reaction from the audience?
Orson Welles’ radio adaption of War of the Worlds has become notable not for the broadcast itself but for the reaction it received, and the subsequent press reporting of the audience’s reaction to the broadcast. It is often highlighted as an early example of mass hysteria caused by the media and used to support various audience theories. Broadcast live on 30th October 1938, popular myth has it that thousands of New Yorkers fled their homes in panic, and all across America
3) How did the New York Times report the reaction the next day?
the press magnified and distorted those reactions, creating a story that terrified the nation all over again to create a negative connotation to the radio so people would stop
4) How did author Brad Schwartz describe the the broadcast and its reaction?
a complex mix of fear, confusion, and media manipulation, rather than a single, unified panic
5) Why did Orson Welles use hybrid genres and pastiche and what effect might it have had on the audience?
to create a sense of realism and immediacy that heightened the audience's emotional response
6) How did world events in 1938 affect the way audiences interpreted the show?
The rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany made it believable and people were constantly being told to be prepared for a gas attack that could happen making people uneasy and making the situation believable.
7) Which company broadcast War of the Worlds in 1938?
Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS
8) Why might the newspaper industry have deliberately exaggerated the response to the broadcast?
he press magnified and distorted those reactions, creating a story that terrified the nation all over again to create a negative connotation to the radio so people would stop
9) Does War of the Worlds provide evidence to support the Frankfurt School's Hypodermic Needle theory?
as people where easily able to believe that they were being attacked by alien's just because they were shown on the radio which had become a reliable all source creating something that was seen as not being positive
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?
the preferred reading would be that people saw this as a Halloween joke and pastiche of the original war of the worlds the oppositional reading was this was done to create chaos and cause problems in America in entertainment.
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?
Are audiences too sophisticated and media-literate to be fooled by a similar stunt as people have a variety of sources to see if something is correct or if this a accurate or real what is being shown
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?
The Great Depression had made food and jobs scarce and tensions in Europe had almost reached boiling
point, but through it all, the radio was a constant source of information, comfort, advice and entertainment. The radio had become a household essential, with four out of five homes owning one. People really trusted what they heard on their radios and, in this context, it is not surprising that some fell for the eerily realistic broadcast, even though the alleged explosions took place on Mars and the invaders were extraterrestrials.
2) How did newspapers present the story?
The papers made a conscious decision to present it as a ‘hoax’, inferring there was something malicious about the intentions of those making and broadcasting it, and were swift to point out the sinister power of the medium of radio itself.
3) How does the article describe the rise of radio?
The radio had become a household essential, with four out of five homes owning one. People really trusted what they heard on their radios and, in this context, it is not surprising that some fell for the eerily realistic broadcast,
4) What does the article say about regulation of radio in the 1930s?
board, in the shape of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which ordered an investigation into the broadcaster, CBS, which, five weeks later, ended having found no wrongdoing.
5) How does the article apply media theories to the WOTW? Give examples.
Stuart Hall, developed a theory of ‘reception’ that helps us understand the diverse ways audiences react. He said people make a judgement on any media text based on their experiences and understanding of the world. Applying this to TWOTW, you might argue that listeners will have come up with their own understanding of the show (and subsequent stories in the papers) as individuals, offering eitherdominant, negotiated or oppositional readings. This would explain why some loved the show and accepted it instantly as entertainment while others panicked and called the police. It would also explain why some
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.
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