‘The War of the Worlds’ and Colonialism

This novel contains spoilers for the original War of the Worlds novel. I would also highly recommend viewing ‘War of the Worlds: What Every Adaptation Gets Wrong‘ by Catherine Warr, as this article covers similar topics to hers.

The War of the Worlds by H. G. Lewis is a fantastic tale of Martians coming down to attack Earth in the hope of building a new home for themselves here. Using incredibly powerful fighting machines equipped with heat rays and chemical weapons, the humans have no chance of surviving the onslaught of these devastating blows. Yet with the smallest of chances, the humans manage to survive. The Martians have no resistance against the viruses and parasites of Earth and die off. No human device could kill them, yet they were ‘slain by the putrefactive and disease bacteria against which their systems were unprepared’.

All together, it’s a perfectly fine story. The invasion genre was popular at the time it was made, and it more or less neatly fit in with the rest of them. The only exception to that was its rather obvious parallels to British Colonialism at the time.

Some may say that this is just reading into the story a bit too much. Sure, an overbearing force using weapons of mass destruction on natives who have no chance of defeating them and then those invaders planting seeds and creating a new colony for themselves may suggest colonialism, but is it true? I mean, that’s surely just speculation. And besides, that’s just an interpretation. Surely the original author meant nothing by that, right?

No. Obviously not. This is obvious to anyone who has actually read the novel. And not just through subtext either. Below is a copy of the sixth paragraph in the entire novel:

And before we judge of them too harshly we must remember what ruthless and utter destruction our own species has wrought, not only upon animals, such as the vanished bison and the dodo, but upon its inferior races. The Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness, were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged by European immigrants, in the space of fifty years. Are we such apostles of mercy as to complain if the Martians warred in the same spirit?

So yes, it’s pointing a finger directly at its largely British, largely well versed audience of the time. And yeah, the phrase ‘inferior races’ and ‘human likeness’ certainly hasn’t helped it age well, but it still shows a clear understanding that what this novel is representing is what would happen if an outside force invaded Britain with the same relative level of fire-power those British use on others.

Yet despite this obvious link to colonialism it’s many, many adaptations fail to recognise that. At this point it’s just seen as a classic story about aliens invading the Earth and the people there trying to survive it, only to just scrape through as the Martians all die off. A fun ride for sure, but not really exploring one of the central themes of the original.

That’s not to say that all adaptations need to do that. It’s perfectly fine to just have a fun story of good people surviving in hard times. Yet when no adaptation even mentions it, it comes off as a little strange, right?

So, what can we do about this? First, make it clear to those who wish to adapt this story that colonialism is inherent to it’s plot. Make it so the first thing that someone thinks of when hearing ‘War of the Worlds’ is not the tripods, nor the red weed, nor the awesome Jeff Wayne Musical Version (God that is such a good album), but that it was a response to colonial mindsets at the time.

And if you are adapting War of the Worlds, here’s some things you can do to hint at this. Feel free to copy:

A TV announcement about a war where natives are being killed quickly by a more powerful force
Newspaper headlines about a new colony
A character reflecting on how it is similar to how their country may invade another (like in the book)
The fighting machines design is reminiscent of British or similar colonial forces, using colours or form similar to that period
Show satirical ads for the military throughout the movie with clear hints at how they are just as evil

Or do something else! It is a simple story, you can take it in many directions. Just make sure that if you are going to adapt War of the Worlds, include the part that made it unique and thought provoking, not just the alien lasers.

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