War of the Worlds:

War of the Worlds was an episode of an American radio drama series performed as a Halloween special on October 30, 1938 by Orson Welles. The episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells' classic novel The War of the Worlds.



The first half of the 60 minute broadcast was presented as a series of news bulletins, and suggested that a Martian invasion was in progress.The bulletins suggested that Martians were invading America when a huge flaming object had landed in a small village called Grovers Mill. The news bulletin then goes on to describe scenes of chaos. The story tells how the aliens have released poison gas and that the country is now under military law.

The reaction of the now most well known radio production was unprecedented. Millions of people had not listened to the broadcast from the beginning and so missed the announcements that the bulletin was a drama production. Furthermore because of the heightened tensions in the lead up to World War II many simply took the bulletins to be war coverage. Later studies showed how panic swept through the public. Some phoned loved ones to say goodbye, others started praying and preparing for death whilst thousands tried to flee in their cars. People who had run outside to see what was happening, either saw lots of people and believed they were all leaving or saw very little people and believed that nearly everyone had already gone. Furthermore some close to the supposed invasion site, Grovers Mill convinced themselves that they could smell gas or see flashes of light in the sky, some roamed the countryside looking for the martians. It was later estimated that 1 million people were frightened or disturbed by the production.

One of the best studies into this public phenomenon was conducted by Cantril’s study into the psychology of panic . His study looks at panic behaviour inadvertently activated by the mass media.

The broadcast had obviously caused fear in over 1 million of the public and this had then manifested itself into panic that lead to heightened reactions.

One reason why the broadcast had been so successful was that the public trusted the radio and consequently suspended their judgement. Did the broadcast spark anxiety or fear in the public?

There is a distinction between Anxiety and Fear:

Fear: is focused on an identifiable frightening person or dangerous object – referring to an immediate, objective threat.

Anxiety: is less specific, though no less real: a dread, a premonition of doom, but with no specific focus.

In 1938, there was a mixture of Fear and Anxiety:

People believed the threat was actual and imminent, yet they were reacting to a brew of uncertainties.

With fear: people are consciously able to take measures to neutralise or flee from the dangerous object.
With anxiety: there is very little that can consciously be done.

Clearly, it is sometimes in someone’s interest to convert anxiety into fear:

Drugs companies and new-age therapists:
An anxiety over unwellness into a fear of the consequences unless a particular medicine is taken.

Political extremists:
Scapegoating enables a group to convert a general anxiety into a an attack on a specific ‘outsider’ group.

Sometimes, it is useful to convert fear into anxiety:

Anxiety tends to make people withdraw from one another.
Fear is likely to draw people in a community together.