Posted on Oct 30, 2023
'I had no idea I'd become a national event': Orson Welles on the mass hysteria of The War of the...
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On 30 October 85 years ago, the population of the US was – according to Orson Welles – overwhelmed by mass panic, terrified by the all-too-real broadcast of his alien-invasion drama The War of the Worlds. The director recounts his version of events in an interview from the BBC archive.
It's an incident that has been much referenced in popular culture – the broadcast, 85 years ago today, of Orson Welles's radio drama about a Martian invasion of Earth was so realistic, it is said, that it triggered widespread panic in the US. Indeed, the story of mass hysteria has become so ingrained in media folklore that for decades it wasn’t really challenged.
But in recent years historians, such as Professor W Joseph Campbell of the American University in Washington DC, have argued that the supposed panic was always exaggerated, and that the majority of listeners understood that the programme was a work of fictio
It's an incident that has been much referenced in popular culture – the broadcast, 85 years ago today, of Orson Welles's radio drama about a Martian invasion of Earth was so realistic, it is said, that it triggered widespread panic in the US. Indeed, the story of mass hysteria has become so ingrained in media folklore that for decades it wasn’t really challenged.
But in recent years historians, such as Professor W Joseph Campbell of the American University in Washington DC, have argued that the supposed panic was always exaggerated, and that the majority of listeners understood that the programme was a work of fictio
'I had no idea I'd become a national event': Orson Welles on the mass hysteria of The War of the...
Posted from bbc.com
Culture
American History
Radio
Sci-Fi
Posted 7 mo ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..." It's an incident that has been much referenced in popular culture – the broadcast, 85 years ago today, of Orson Welles's radio drama about a Martian invasion of Earth was so realistic, it is said, that it triggered widespread panic in the US. Indeed, the story of mass hysteria has become so ingrained in media folklore that for decades it wasn’t really challenged.
But in recent years historians, such as Professor W Joseph Campbell of the American University in Washington DC, have argued that the supposed panic was always exaggerated, and that the majority of listeners understood that the programme was a work of fiction.
The idea of a nation plunged into hysteria was actively pushed by newspapers at the time, who were keen to characterise radio – then an emerging medium that was a news competitor – as irresponsible and not to be trusted. And Orson Welles burnished the myth himself over countless retellings on talk shows in the years that followed.
But while it is unclear to what extent actual panic was caused, certain facts remain – chiefly, that the broadcast demonstrated the early power and potential of radio."...
..." It's an incident that has been much referenced in popular culture – the broadcast, 85 years ago today, of Orson Welles's radio drama about a Martian invasion of Earth was so realistic, it is said, that it triggered widespread panic in the US. Indeed, the story of mass hysteria has become so ingrained in media folklore that for decades it wasn’t really challenged.
But in recent years historians, such as Professor W Joseph Campbell of the American University in Washington DC, have argued that the supposed panic was always exaggerated, and that the majority of listeners understood that the programme was a work of fiction.
The idea of a nation plunged into hysteria was actively pushed by newspapers at the time, who were keen to characterise radio – then an emerging medium that was a news competitor – as irresponsible and not to be trusted. And Orson Welles burnished the myth himself over countless retellings on talk shows in the years that followed.
But while it is unclear to what extent actual panic was caused, certain facts remain – chiefly, that the broadcast demonstrated the early power and potential of radio."...
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