Question

In the radio broadcast War of the Worlds, reporter Carl Phillips interviews Mr. Wilmuth, the owner of the farm where the Martians landed. Each of the two characters uses a different type of language to express himself. One uses formal language and one uses informal language. Analyze the language of this interview and determine which character's language is formal and which is informal. Cite specific evidence to support your claim. Then, explain how the writer's use of both types of language in the same portion of the radio play impacts the meaning of this scene.

Answer 1

Of the countless adaptations made of H.G. Wells’ 1897 science fiction classic The War of the Worlds over the past century, the one that remains most talked and written about to this day was Orson Welles’ live radio broadcast on 30 October 1938. It boasted a distinctly modern twist. Keen on cementing his reputation as a theatrical wunderkind (Welles was on the coverof Time magazine only months earlier), the 23-year-old actor-director reworked the plodding Victorian narrative about a Martian invasion of Earth into a gripping faux newscast with real moments of shock and awe.