The presence of other planets in our solar system has long left humanity asking: “are there other intelligent life forms?” The galaxy’s vastness leads many people to think so, even if they’re millions of light years away. Science fiction’s exploration of the unknown has proposed various scenarios in which aliens make themselves known to us.
In 1895, H.G. Wells began writing his theoretical take on alien contact: The War of the Worlds, a novel about Martians who come to wage war on Earth. Wells established the alien invasion genre through this work, influencing tropes and messages that continue to pop up in alien invasion stories today.
Wells’s alien invasion story and many others can be taken both at face value and as social commentary (depending largely on the time period). Sometimes, these stories also touch on human life and philosophy.
To understand the rich scientific imagination found throughout alien invasion narratives, it is important to look at H.G. Wells’s definitive work alongside 21st century narratives such as Arrival (2016). The development of science and society has allowed alien invasion stories to evolve beyond the late 19th century perspective of Wells.
Through these stories, we are able to explore the unknown variables of alien contact, allegories about humanity, and various other scientific developments.
The following sections include spoilers for both The War of the Worlds (1897) and Arrival (2016).
Where it began: The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds first became serialized in 1897. The story follows an unnamed narrator and his first-person account of Martians waging war on Earth. H.G. Wells was a teacher of science. According to H. G. Wells and the Scientific Imagination by W. Warren Wagar, Wells was heavily inspired by Darwin’s theory of evolution and invasion literature, which imagined foreign powers invading colonial powers such as England. Wells was also compelled by rumors of life on Mars.
These three sources influenced Wells’s Martians, who are described as having “intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic.” They have evolved both physically and emotionally. A stark contrast is shown between the frightful humans and the calculative Martians; while humans are stopped in their tracks due to fear, the Martians are able to wipe them out with no hesitation. This difference between Martians and humans suggests that the abandonment of morals and impulses could lead to heightened intelligence and effectiveness.
Wells takes great care to describe the appearance of his Martians; he rejects anthropocentric expectations of Aliens and illustrates cephalopod-like beings with tentacles. Their physiology is also unique in that they directly consume the blood of their prey instead of digesting them; this is regarded as an evolutionary advantage by the narrator who claims we waste time, energy, and peace of mind through our eating habits. We are also invited to consider the feelings of our own prey as the narrator considers that rabbits must be similarly horrified by humanity’s carnivorous habits.
It is also revealed that “long before this earth ceased to be molten, life upon [Mars’s] surface must have begun its course.” Wells suggests that humanity could also evolve as the Martians have. But, more importantly, he explicitly claims that the environmental degradation of Earth is inevitable: “the secular cooling that must some day overtake our planet has already gone far indeed with our neighbour.” This line has become more relevant than ever before, due to the threat of climate change.
Wells’s scientific imagination shines as he describes in detail how Mars’s freezing temperatures and shrinking oceans have threatened its inhabitants. This is accurate to reports of Mars’s temperature getting as low as -225℉. As 21st century readers, we can speculate whether or not the fictional Martians are also responsible for their own climate change or if they are merely victims of fate.
Outside of predicting the threat of climate change, Wells also predicted various weapons (such as poison gas) and citywide warfare prior to the First World War.
By creating a species that is superior to humanity, Wells’s narrative struck fear in the hearts of English readers. Though the story can be taken at face-value for its theories on alien life, it can also be read as an allegory for British colonialism. The narrative itself even acknowledges this:
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 own 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?
– The War of the Worlds, Chapter the First
However, this passage also highlights the inaccurate notions of race in the 1890s. We know now that race is a social construct created to justify abuses such as slavery, colonialism, and even genocide; there are no “inferior races” amongst humanity. That being said, despite his poor phrasing, Wells invites English readers to put themselves in the shoes of those who they have colonized. How are we to condemn the Martians for waging war on us if we cannot condemn our own actions of colonialism?
Lastly, the means in which the Martians are defeated is very substantial. Despite their intellectual and technological prowess, the Martians (and their red weed crops) were “slain by the putrefactive and disease bacteria against which their systems were unprepared.” This is similar to real-life epidemics where people and plants died due to a lack of exposure to bacteria.
One of the most devastating examples would be the various viruses that wiped out about 90% of Native Americans when Europeans brought them over in the 16th century. Their lack of immunity to smallpox, measles, and the flu caused various epidemics amongst Native populations. Wells’s consideration of bacteria and immunity makes The War of the Worlds very ahead of its time; it was inevitable that either the Martians or the humans would take effect from foreign bacteria they lack immunity to.
With these rich scientific elements, The War of the Worlds defined the alien invasion genre. Throughout the 20th century, various stories followed with their own twist on Martians. One notable example is The Thing from Another Plant (1951), a film adaptation of a short story. In comparison, only one Martian of plant-like structure arrives and its intellectual capabilities are left up for debate. It is also seen as an allegory for communism invading America during the Cold War.
However, now that we’ve had ample time to examine the surface of Mars, we can rule out the existence of Martians. Other technological developments such as communication technology has also changed the nature of alien invasion narratives. 21st century alien invasion narratives continue to follow in Wells’s footsteps, now equipped with more scientific knowledge than ever.
Where we’re at: Arrival
Arrival is a prime example of how alien invasion narratives have evolved to their time period. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, Arrival tells the story of various alien spaceships landing across Earth and the global attempt to decipher their intentions. It focuses on linguist Dr. Louise Banks and her attempt to learn the aliens’ language for this purpose. Unlike the fictional Martians of previous centuries, aliens in Arrival are called “Heptapods.” It is an adaptation of the short story “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang, a writer heavily interested in exploring scientific theories and the concept of time.
Our 21st century understanding of science and society have greatly influenced the nature of alien invasion stories. Made over a decade after H.G. Wells’s genre-defining invasion narrative, Arrival expands upon Wells’s scientific imagination by consulting linguists and physicists to ensure accuracy.
A concise, yet detailed overview of the scientific components of Arrival can be found in Dr. Andy Howell’s video Science Vs. Cinema: ARRIVAL. Howell, an astrophysics professor, interviewed various sources to determine the scientific accuracy of the film. He also gets inside information from Arrival’s lead actors, consultants, and writers.
Through his interviews, Howell learns that Arrival’s crew took great care with its science–so far as allowing their consultants to revise the script. The lead actors, Amy Adams (Dr. Louise Banks) and Jeremy Renner (Ian Donnelly), also did their part by speaking with scientists in their character’s field to better understand their thought processes and daily lives.
The scientific formulas and code that appear throughout the film are more than just placeholder text; real physicists and programmers helped create these visuals. The methods utilized to solve the Heptapod language are also very accurate to real-life methods used to solve unknown languages. Louise’s interaction with the Heptapods would be referred to as monolingual fieldwork, where there is a lack of a contact language. Even the unexplored mysteries of Arrival, such as the Heptapod ship design, could be scientifically backed by Howell and his interviewees.
The most fantastical part of the film, however, is how it explores the concept of time. For the Heptapods, time is nonlinear; once Louise learns their language, she is also able to perceive time in a nonlinear fashion and see the future. Most watchers might brush this off as an unrealistic sci-fi plotpoint, but there’s actually scientific theories that support what occurs to Louise.
One of these is Fermat’s principle of least time, in which “the actual path taken by a light ray between two given points, A and B, is the path that minimises the total travel time.” The theory suggests that, if a ray can determine the path that takes the quickest amount of time, it must be able to see the future. The other is a theory in linguistics, known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which supports the idea that language could influence our perception of reality. However, significant changes akin to what we see in Arrival are not concretely proven; Arrival merely explores the *possible* extremity.
Similar to The War of the Worlds, the physiology of Heptapods were also carefully considered; Arrival’s development team were inspired by deep sea aquatic life. Drawing upon non-human lifeforms enhances the realism of these alien lifeforms. Though H.G. Wells seemingly drew inspiration from octopi and cephalopods, he lacked access to the in-depth information we now have about these beings.
Moving beyond Howell’s research on Arrival, it’s important to also discuss the movie’s sociological interpretation of alien life. Though we’re still lacking a lot of information on the Heptapods, we know that they came to help humanity with their gift of language. This contrasts the warring Martians in The War of the Worlds. However, the Heptapods’ need for humans to help them with an unspecified crisis in 3,000 years suggests that they too were merely acting for the sake of survival. It is possible that they are equally “cool and unsympathetic” as they follow the whims of fate.
Furthermore, The War of the Worlds closes in on Britain while Arrival incorporates the complexities of globalization. This can be credited to the time periods in which each story was written. With the power of our modern communication technology, it’d be unbelievable for an alien invasion to stay contained in one location. In Arrival, global powers strive to work together (not without the risk of conflict) to uncover the intentions of the Heptapods.
Though Arrival lacks a political allegory akin to The War of the Worlds or The Thing from Another Planet, it probes us to think about philosophy surrounding grief. Louise’s glimpses of the future allow her to see the tragedy that befalls her future daughter, Hannah. Despite knowing that Hannah will die of an incurable illness at age 12, Louise decides to give birth to her anyway to experience the joy of their mother-daughter relationship. These emotional scenes stress the importance of human connections and love. Putting oneself in Louise’s shoes, one might ask themselves if they’d trade away the positive memories of their loved ones just to avoid the grief of death. As distressing as death may be, many people would answer “no.”
Conclusion
Despite the gap of over one hundred years between The War of the Worlds and Arrival, the careful considerations of science fiction are present in both. Even though Wells was limited by the knowledge and perspective of his time period, his story continues to be highly scientific and socially relevant. Arrival can be seen as a modern adaptation and expansion upon the groundwork of Wells, while also contributing its own unique ideas of alien life.
Though we have yet to confirm the existence of alien lifeforms, the high possibility of their existence continues to influence the imagination of science fiction writers. By drawing upon real-life science and sociology, the scenarios created are rich in speculation, foresight, and meaning. If aliens ever come to visit Earth, there’s no doubt that the alien invasion genre will give us an edge in considering all the different possibilities awaiting us–whether that be war or the need to learn their language.
