Note: This post contains some science-fiction images, which are used to dramatize the story. Thus, not all of the pictures in this particular blog post are strictly historical; nor are they meant to be taken as such.
This broadcast made people think that a Martian invasion was really happening …
In 1938, there was a radio broadcast about a Martian invasion, based upon the 1898 science-fiction novel by H. G. Wells. The novel “War of the Worlds” was a milestone in the history of science fiction, but the broadcast has since become famous for another reason. That is, this broadcast made people think that this “Martian invasion” was really happening. This is why PBS decided to cover it in this program. As worthy as the history of science fiction might be, it would seldom receive the documentary treatment of PBS. But the 1938 panic was a case study in mass psychology, which showed how suggestible people are – some would say “gullible.” People dispute the extent of the panic, but there were certainly people who believed that it was really happening. This film uses audio from the broadcast, and photographs and real footage from the time. I suspect that it would be nearly impossible to get a CD or a DVD of the full radio program as it was first broadcast – although I have not looked for such discs myself, so I don’t know this for certain. Suffice it to say, though, that this documentary occupies a small niche, and is worth having in and of itself.
Comments on the filmmaking style of this documentary
There are fictional images of the “Martian invasion” in the film, used to dramatize the content of the broadcast. Some of them may come from later artists – although others may actually come from 1938, or even from the illustrations of the original novel itself. I do not know for certain. Whatever they are, their use here is appropriate, and complements the real images used to dramatize the broadcast. And they have actors here dramatizing the eyewitness accounts from the time, from some of those who admitted to thinking that the invasion had been real. Normally, PBS uses these acting dramatizations as voiceovers, but they are here shown in re-enactment footage – albeit footage that has been converted to black-and-white, to complement the other black-and-white images used in this film. The film later acknowledges these to be re-enactments, similar to the dramatizations used by the radio program itself. This disclaimer is honest enough, and helps to save PBS from any charges of “fabrication” on this account. The program was the brainchild of Orson Welles (no relation to H. G. Wells), and was produced by actor John Houseman – both of whom would later become more famous in their own right.
Fictional 1906 illustration of Martians discharging heat-rays in the Thames Valley
How historical context helps us to understand why the panic happened
This PBS program explains the reasons for the psychology of the panic, and helps to put the panic into its historical context. This was during the Great Depression, which was a time of widespread poverty and associated misery. By this time, there was a fascination with life on Mars, and a culture of radio. And it was a time when many terrible things were happening elsewhere in the world. People were used to hearing stories (often on the radio) about the overseas rise of Nazi Germany, and its attempts to re-arm itself in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles. It is small wonder that people were afraid at this time. Obviously, World War II had not yet started in 1938, although the Japanese had already invaded China by that point. But some saw ominous signs that a war with one (or even both) of these superpowers was coming. People also remembered the 1936 Berlin Olympics, held in the capital city of Nazi Germany. And the Munich Agreement had happened that year in 1938 – only a month before the broadcast. Thus, when there was a broadcast about an “invasion from outer space,” it hit a sensitive nerve about fear of foreign aggression. What invasion could be more terrifying than one from “unimaginably advanced” extraterrestrials?
Editorial cartoon by Les Callan of The Toronto Star (February 1939)
The legacy of the radio program, and of the original science-fiction story itself
The broadcast gave disclaimers at the beginning of the program that this was all fictional, which were eventually repeated at the end of the program. But some tuned out of other radio channels during those other channels’ commercial interruptions, and thus arrived in the middle of the “War of the Worlds” program without hearing the earlier disclaimer. Some still had an appropriate amount of skepticism regarding the “invasion,” but others thought the attack in Grovers Mill (a real New Jersey town) to be real. Thus, the broadcasters were initially threatened with legal penalties for inciting panic. But Orson Welles gave a dramatic apology for the press, in which he stressed that he “never intended” for this story to be taken as real. Thus, he was spared from prosecution on this account, and was actually propelled to massive fame as a great storyteller. Some have taken Mr. Welles’ apology to be a little disingenuous. But this program has become famous either way, and helped to launch Orson Welles’ career. The H. G. Wells novel “War of the Worlds” has since been adapted into two films. One was made in 1953, and the other was made by Steven Spielberg in 2005. Thus, the story continues to have a hold on people’s imaginations.
Orson Welles at his press conference – October 31st, 1938 (the day after the broadcast)
Conclusion: Great storytelling about one of the greatest mass panics in American history
Again, some have disputed the extent of the panic involved, although there were definitely people who thought that it was real. But either way, this PBS program is great storytelling, which helps to dramatize one of the greatest mass panics in American history. Again, this film is a case study in mass psychology, and helps one to understand why people were so prepared to accept a science-fiction story as a “true account” of an actual alien invasion. To me, this is far more interesting than the science-fiction story itself, and definitely merits the documentary treatment that it receives here from PBS.
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