War of the Worlds: Blog tasks

 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?

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

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

A wave of mass hysteria seized thousands of radio listeners

between 8:15 and 9:30 o’clock last night when a broadcast

of a dramatization of H. G. Wells’s fantasy, “The War of the

Worlds,” led thousands to believe that an interplanetary conflict

had started with invading Martians spreading wide death and

destruction in New Jersey and New York.

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

Author Brad Schwartz in his 2015

book ‘Broadcast Hysteria: Orson Welles’s War of the Worlds and the

Art of Fake News’ suggests that hysteria it caused was not entirely a

myth. “Instead it was something decades ahead of its time: history’s

first viral-media phenomenon.”

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

Through his use of pastiche. By borrowing

the conventions of the radio newscast, he is able to create real

moments of shock and awe, which almost certainly account for the

strong reaction it received. By creating a hybrid form – 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 september1938, 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. This lead to people reacting differently to the broadcast due to the threats from Germany

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

broadcasted by CBS, Colombian broadcasting system 

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

In order to make the audiences believe that newspapers was the most reliable source for news and decrease audiences trust in radio

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

This might be true of the audiences of the 1930s, unfamiliar

with new media forms like radio they believed the alien invasion and caused panic

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 dominant or preferred reading by the audience is the

one intended by the creator of the text. However, a person might read

it in an oppositional way depending upon factors.

The preferred reading is the audience believed the broadcast and shouldn't believe everything they listen to online and the oppositional is the audiences did not believe the broadcast and thought it was fake news  

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?

It somewhat can fool audiences due to the use of AI in the digital age. However, audiences have became more knowledgeable on fake news because they grew up with internet and social media 

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? 

2) How did newspapers present the story? 

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

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

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

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.