War of the Worlds

H.G. Wells

“We are all . . . children of this universe. Not just Earth, or Mars, or this System, but the whole grand fireworks. And if we are interested in Mars at all, it is only because we wonder over our past and worry terribly about our possible future.” — Ray Bradbury, 'Mars and the Mind of Man,' 1973

In 1877, astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli described“canals” on the surface of Mars. This quickly capturedthe imagination of the public, and as speculation grew,people imagined that the canals were built by intelligentlife forms.

Which led to the question—who built the “canals”?...

20 years later, in 1897, novelist H. G. Wells published the novel, War of the Worlds.

It was the first book to explore the impact of an extraterrestrial invader.

And the invasion came from Mars!

Movies about Mars

John Carter

The War of the Worlds

Mars Attacks

Total Recall

The Martian Chronicles

Capricorn One

Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars

When War of the Worlds was turned into a radio drama and broadcast over the American airways in 1938 by Orson Welles, some of the public audience actually took to the streets thinking that Earth was being invaded—that they were listening to an actual news broadcast.

WotW and British Colonialism

The novel isn’t just good science fiction…it’s an attack on the British government, criticizing the rampant imperialism of Wells’ time.

Connections between the two…

•One of the biggest connections that is made between Wells’ novel and British Imperialism is the force used to take over the foreign territories against the indigenous population’s wishes.

– This is most evident in the initial actions taken by the Martians after they landed on Earth—even after attempts for communications and peace talks were taken by men towards the Martians, they still showed no mercy and massacred the human onlookers

These actions are almost exactly a mirror image of the greed and barbarity displayed by the British in their campaign for world domination

• Wells placed the setting of War of the Worlds in Britain to give the people of his country an idea of the kind of oppression that their own armies were imposing upon the helpless natives of African and Asian countries.

• This is shown through the great devastation and terror that the Martians instill in the British people all throughout their campaign to destroy the human race and claim Earth for themselves.

This is meant to put the British people into the position of the unfortunate native peoples of Africa and Asia, where British ambition had taken precedence over the welfare and rights of the natives

And Some More Connections…And Some More Connections…

• The major pillars of British Colonialism are represented by the curate and the artilleryman: – These two characters represent the two major pillars of

British Colonialism/rule over the colonies: the church spread through missionaries and the military which occupied these territories

– The depictions of the deterioration of both of these characters’ mental and emotional states during the Martian occupation shows how the two major supports of colonial rule were built with false values and senses of power

Characters

• Narrator—represents the common man

• Curate—represents organized religion

• Artilleryman—represents the military

• Narrator’s brother—represents civilization

• The Martians—represent the British imperialists

Setting

The story is set in England, primarily in and around the county of Surrey.

Some chapters follow the Narrator’s brother, who lives in London.

Why is science fiction important?

• "That branch of literature which deals with the response of human beings to changes in science and technology." (Isaac Asimov) – It:

• promotes interest in science• helps us better understand sociology and history• reflects the hopes, fears and goals of our future• creates a sense of wonder about the universe• forces us to think about the future, our impact on

the planet, and the potential of the universe

In 1999, Minority Report (adapted from the book by S.F.writer, Philip K. Dick) featured Tom Cruise’s character interacting with a computer screen through only hand gestures.

Ten years later, in 2010, Microsoft released the Kinect.

If we return to H. G. Wells, when he published‘The First Men in the Moon’ in 1901 people wouldhave disbelieved that man not only reach but also walk on Earth’s only natural satellite.

Only 68 years later, Neil Armstrong was making his “One Small Step” speech.

Science Fiction expands the theories being worked on now and explores what may be possible in the future. Today’s world is more fictional in many ways than any science fiction writer might have possibly imagined before 1950.

Themes• The horrors of war

• The possible submission of men—that

men might become

slaves to machines,

as was feared

during

industrialization.

More themes

• The folly of man

• What happens when we lose rules and order

• Human need for companionship and community

• Contagion of fear

What would readers then have thought about the possibility of the Mars Curiosity Rover, which landed on Mars in 2011 and is investigating the possibility that the planet previously had water and supported life?

NASA has a plan for a manned mission to Mars sometime in the 2030’s…