Dieselpunk + Steampunk Culture
War of the Worlds on Radiolab
The radio program "Radiolab" will be covering Orson Welles famous broadcast of War of the Worlds and whether the mass panic that happened due to people believing it was real could happen again.
This is one of the best analysis of the radio program I have ever come across along with being very entertaining. I highly recommend it.
Tags: Orson Welles, War of the Worlds, radio
Views: 70
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dan G. on -
As much as I have enjoyed re-listening to the original broadcast over the years, I think that this is a bit silly. And it seems like somebody tries this about every Halloween. With radio as The Only form of information for the masses at the time, the "panic" was rather understandable. To some extent at least. A rebroadcast ~ on radio ~ today, . . . not even likely. Rework it with CGI and bad cellphone images, pump it through a cable news channel, add a few online news networks and twitters, and you might get something more in kin with the original broadcast of 1938.
Sadly, times have changed. But I just bet you could still give folks a Good Trick for a Treat!
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Permalink Reply by Larry on -
Dan, I don't know if you listened to the whole program but they take a more sophisticated look at the subject. For those who haven't heard it and simply want to hear it first, what's follows are spoilers from the program.
What they do first is show why so many people were fooled back in 1938. It wasn't that this was their only choice, because they had different stations to listen to, but was the result of a combination of factors. Then they give two examples where others updated the same script using modern styles, one case played was as recent as 1968, that got the same result of people, even authorities, believing it. Most recent panic was when some people, even some police authorities, believed that the movie Blair Witch Project was actually a documentary (the movie's writer said he was inspired by Welle's production but knew he couldn't reuse because no one would believe it so he created the movies script instead).
Their conclusion is that the Welles program has now become the template style for modern news and that its used to make us believe fake news every day.
Dan G. said:As much as I have enjoyed re-listening to the original broadcast over the years, I think that this is a bit silly. And it seems like somebody tries this about every Halloween. With radio as The Only form of information for the masses at the time, the "panic" was rather understandable. To some extent at least. A rebroadcast ~ on radio ~ today, . . . not even likely. Rework it with CGI and bad cellphone images, pump it through a cable news channel, add a few online news networks and twitters, and you might get something more in kin with the original broadcast of 1938.
Sadly, times have changed. But I just bet you could still give folks a Good Trick for a Treat!
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Permalink Reply by John Paul Catton on -
I don't know if this could happen again, but the fact that it happened at all is a testament to the genius of Orson Welles. I'm a huge fan of the guy. Critics rave about "Citizen Kane" but people forget that when it came out, not many theaters showed it because Randolph Hearst was trying to run a media blackout. Orson Welles was a solid gold rebel and he knew just how to give the establishment a kick in the ass.
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