War of the Worlds

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Some interesting parallels exist between this H.G. Wells story, and historical events. If you look back on the history of America, it was created primarily from the invasions from European nations, who didn't just occupy the country, but basically brought over their complete lifestyle and culture. This is just like the aliens in the movie. Although they were unsuccessful, they were attempting to take over planet Earth and make it hospitable for themselves, despite an already established race.

Another interesting parallel involves disease. Earthly diseased killed the invading aliens, but in history, it happened the other way around. The Aztecs and Inca tribes were fierce warriors. what brought them down? disease! The invading Spanish brought over foreign germs that the tribes were not immune to.

It makes you think about what we would do if we found and attempted to take over an alien planet. Would we succeed or fail, and why? Would we destroy existing races and cultures like we have done conquoring our own planet? Would foreign diseases destroy us before we even had a chance...or would we destroy the alien race out of or own doing, like we did the central American natives.

I remember reading an artical about this. Wells also apparently predicted (perhaps unintentionally) that Germany would have a ranting Napoleon-like leader that would conquer much of Europe. (Hitler, of course, wound up being a real-world equivalent--and like Napoleon, invading Russia was what crippled him.) I think that was in "War in the Air," actually. That entire series has pretty interesting parellels to real world events.

this is weird. I *just* got back from a play of War of the Worlds. It was freakin awesome. I'm going to write an essay on it and will post it here.

Wells was wonderfully creative but his ideas outside the artistic realm were abominable. He was a fan of Lenin and Mussolini (although Stalin left him disturbed), and a supporter of eugenics (this is seen in his literature as well). Orwell, who didn't have as much fiction published as Wells but was a far better man, said, "Much of what Wells has imagined and worked for is physically there in Nazi Germany."

I prefer Jules Verne.

A couple of years ago I was listening to the original Mercury Theatre broadcast while I was sick with the flu and, as I was listening, it occurred to me that perpetrating a hoax of that scale today would be near-impossible. With all the media/news outlets we have available, it'd be debunked in a matter of hours, if not minutes.
Granted, there'd likely still be gobs n gobs of people that'd believe it, but getting an overwhelming mass of people to buy it... not so sure.

I should note this because is would be unfair to do otherwise that I loved The War of the Worlds Mercury Radio Broadcast. Additionally, I think it's OK to like the works of artists who have questionable views or behaviors. I'm not in favor of blacklisting of anything.

I heard that there was a Scientology-esque spin put on it, creepy.

i remember hearing were the alien spaceship crash landed, it is in mercer county in lawrence in 1938 the area was a farmland and from what i remember hearing was that the aliens were chasing the farmers and people through te woods, the area is called grover's mill and the barn is now a lawn mower parts and service place. i have seen the movie war of the worlds and i have a feeling some of the scenes are of lawrenceville nj, at one time i think last year grovers mill was closed down for filming, there is a plaque or a stature near the bridge and lake that tells the story of the war of the worlds.

sorry if it sounded like a run on or some once upon a time story but that was what i was told.

to find location, go to roadsideamerica.com and it will be in there somewere.

Ok so according to Wikipedia it was the posters that had that element, and that Tom Cruise was using the movie to promote Scientology.

"Press coverage in May and June 2005 leading up to the film's release focused on Tom Cruise's proselytizing for Scientology. Around this time, Cruise had changed publicists, from Pat Kingsley to his sister, Lee Anne DeVette, and spoke to interviewers more frequently about Scientology — and his sudden engagement to actress Katie Holmes — than about the film itself. Some press coverage noted the similarity between the film's promotional poster and the front cover of The Invaders Plan (volume one of Mission Earth) by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology. This similarity is not singular to the film, however, as the image of a hand grasping the Earth is a recurring one in science-fiction: it was used, for example, for the 1975 movie Rollerball. Moreover, the image used to promote the 2005 film is very similar to the image that was often used in advertising Paramount's War of the Worlds TV-series during its first season."

Needless pointless trivia: The War of the Worlds radio broadcast mentioned the town of Phoenixville, which is five minutes away from me. Today, nobody in the United States would have a clue what this town is. But back then it was a major steel production center.