Mass Panic 1938: War of the Worlds revisited
January 24th 2007 01:15
Mass Panic 1938: War of the Worlds revisited.
Orson Welles was a giant of an actor even when he was quite young. His voice was like well a strung cello when he spoke, “who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men. The shadow knows.” Cool stuff even today. Yet his voice was perhaps the single most dangerous thing about him when he decided to take on the story of War of the Worlds. Never afraid of the trying things in a new way he wanted to make the invasion from Mars into a contemporary American story. He chose a reporter style to add authenticity and pace where the line of reality would be artistically blurred. The ‘Blair Witch Project’ used a similar mentality with great success when many of the audience were not sure if what they were seeing was fiction. Upon reflection Orson Welles was breaking new ground in every direction.
On a night in 1938 the introduction began stating that people would be hearing play yet somewhere in the next few minutes the introduction was no longer important. In the mind of many people this was now a real story about real events. It was a strange and at first curious story that very quickly became too real. Invaders from Mars had landed and boy were they pissed. In the pre World War 2 days when children were learning about Hitler’s plans in school this story of invasion was just fulfilling people’s fears. Fear of an unseen enemy and ruthless enemy that were waiting to greedily slaughter the innocents of the world. Heat rays were being used to lay waist to bridges and buildings. More and more of these invaders landed and joined the fight to wreak havoc in America. Listeners could hear their finest soldiers being gassed to death over the radio, then without warning the live radio report was cut. Innocently the radio station did the typical ‘we seem to have lost our coverage’, just like BBC does when they lose a signal, and immediately went into reports else where. This makes great dramatic effect in fiction but if some does not know it is fiction, the imagination creates the horrible picture to match. What happened next?
In a short period of time a good proportion on the listeners started to believe that this was actually happening. They were under attack from Mars and soon they would be fighting for their lives. It is still considered to be largest example of ‘mass hysteria’ and ‘mass panic’ in history. National Geographic estimates that up to one million people may have believed that it was real. Police stations were flooded with calls, people started preparations for evacuation. Stories of farmer holding up with loaded shot guns made news headlines the next day. One story came in the claimed a woman tried to drown her self rather than let the horrible invaders get her. Some people were found hiding in cellars fearing the worst. It was truly a night to remember and when it was over people would never look at media in the same innocent way.
What can be learned from this short episode of unintended ‘mass panic’ and self delusion? Orson Welles had no intention of creating such a storm, he just wanted to spruce up a story to make it accessible to a broader audience. Yet the panic over such a story even with benign intent must be viewed with the possibility panic can be driven with malicious intent. Hitler and his propagandist Joseph Goebbels was a master at creating panic and fear then transforming those into hate. Films were commissioned that portrayed the Jews as thugs and devious. Riots were created and edited on film to look like self defense. He even wrote books about the subject and had 19 principals of successful propaganda. Fear drove people listening to fiction year ago but could such a program work today? It is entirely possible that someone could produce a well made drama released nationally that uses the same blurring of reality and fiction. What about actual news that speculates or cherry picks it evidence and transforms it into sensationalism? Are they acting in the best interest of their audience or are trying to build a sense of mass fear and panic? What defense does an unsuspecting public have against the truth being manipulated for an unscrupulous agenda?
In that regard we owe much to Orson Welles and his adaptation of the ‘War of the Worlds’. With a golden voice he innocently and brilliantly showed us how media can easily be manipulated.
Ps: I will be writing more about propaganda on a later date.
Is it real because we believe it to be so?
Orson Welles not H G Wells but just as billiant
Joseph Goebbels - Media manipulation in 19 steps
Why was it so easy to believe the fantastic?
Fear and Panic? Is it over or still going?
Ps: I will be writing more about propaganda on a later date.
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Comment by Cibbuano
20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Great post, Damo!
Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
Have you ever heard the original radio play. It is excellent.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
The legal site for it is here:
or you can down load the whole thing 6meg here
Comment by Adrian
Philosophy Blog
Why wouldn't the aliens thing work today? Well, a bunch of reasons. But one of them is that people have been indoctrinated into believing that aliens don't exist. To that particular story, we come equipped with bullshit shields.
But I also think it's true that people are more careful about the media in general. We've also been indoctrinated into believing that all politicians and jouranlists distort the truth.
Some of us anyway...
Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
Fair comments.
A sizeable number of people I have spoken are certain that aliens exist and are lurking around. We have specials and tee-shirt that say 'I want to believe' expressing that there are aliens about. Whether it is true or not perhaps fear may overcome doubt.
Are you certian that everyone now has a heathy distrust of the media. How many people quote Fox as some kind of Bible or their talk back radio host like they are Yoda? And why just extraterrestrial aliens? There are plenty of other aliens that make people uneasy. If we have no monsters, could we not turn something ordinary into a monster?