The Time Machine Comparison

First published in 1895, H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine writes to the fears of the Victorian age. Divisions in class between the workers and their employers was a cause for high tension, while the publication of Charles Darwin’s The Descent of Man brought fears of degeneration of the entire human race. They are both addressed and confirmed in H.G. Wells’ dystopia. However, by the 1960s, the dominating fears had changed and consequently, so did The Time Machine. In the 1960 movie adaptation of the novel, the fears center on global warfare and atomic destruction. This most notable in the time machine’s travels and the relationship between the Eloi and the Morlocks. In the novel, the Time Traveler goes straight from his own time to the year 802,701 A.D. There he immediately comes in contact with the Eloi. However, the movie adaptation begins with a jump in time to 1917, WWI. The Time Traveler, given the name George, finds that his friend Filby has been killed in the war. Saddened by this and the waging of war, he travels further into the future, this time stopping on June 19, 1940, WWII. George initially believes it is the same war with Germany until he “realized the truth of the matter. This was a new war.” Disgusted, he decides to continue into the future, away from the bombs falling overhead. However, when he stops in 1966, the whistling of …show more content…
After both world wars, individual country’s internal fears were replaced by fears of outside threats. Divisions in class between the workers and their employers and degeneration of the entire human race, both more individualistic concerns of countries were replaced in the movie by anxieties of global warfare and nuclear annihilation. Overall, this comparison shows the impact of historical context on literature and other forms of art. Without placing works in their historical context, many nuances are