War of the Worlds Broadcast

In War of the Worlds, the narrator tells of the invasion of Earth within an hour-long commentary on the instances of it happening. The realism of the commentary is astounding considering that the whole thing was simply a prank, but the uses of the scientists switching out to talk about strange events talking about explosions on Mars, and the “proof” made this broadcast much more realistic. The broadcast played on people’s fear of the unknown, despite the advancements in technology, there is still so much unknown. This unknown fear can be seen through the “alien technology” and “heat ray” that was fired at many on comers. The threat and realization that humans may not be the only powers on the planet, frightened people to the extreme, thus their crazed reactions and responses.  Furthermore, the use of radio as the only source of communication made the response much more violent – it had always been considered a reliable source, so why shouldn’t it now? These issues all led to the widespread panic of the War of the Worlds broadcast.