I wanted to spend a little time to address and define what Steampunk is, at least a little.
Steampunk is a movement, sometimes defined as an artistic movement, based on a future that never came to exist. It is a movement that involves literature, fashion, art, science fiction, television, video games, and all around fun. Music is one of the only types of entertainment to be left out of the Steampunk scene, and I am not sure why.
It has no real definition. How you define it depends on what it means to you. If you asked two people what steampunk is, you might get two similar and yet all together different explanations. There would be, of course, places where their descriptions intersected. I have seen steampunk described as “the path of future not taken” and “What the past would look like if the future had happened sooner”.
Imagine, if you can, living before electricity, or right at the time of its invention. The only means of power that you knew of would be clockwork and steam power, and that would reflect on, if you were a writer, your writings. With that in mind, it might be easier to understand the steampunk movement. It draws much of its inspiration from writings of authors such as H.G. Wells and Jules Verne and their science fiction views of how the future could pan out.
Say that Volta had never “discovered” electricity and men like Tesla, Franklin, and Edison had never learned how to harness it. Would we have still developed our technologies? We would not have airplanes or cars as they are now. This is what steampunk is. It is science fiction culture the way it could have been if the tomorrow of yesterday had not turned out the way it is now.
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This might not help much, but it might be important for your paper. I have a few questions about steamspunk which I think you would do well to address in your paper. Considering the various definitions of steampunk, you might want to identify your personal definition, which would be very helpful to know. Also, who hasn't steampunk been seen in music? Is it possible that it has, but it just falls under a different lable? Another question that I have about the liturature of steampunk is does it extend past science fiction? What about utpoian literature such as "A Brave New World", "Fahrenheit 451", or "1984". I think that you have a really intresting topic here, I just dont know much, if anything at all, about it. I guess what I'm trying to get at is before you start exploring the world of steampunk, you might want to give us a firm definition or explaination. Even if everyone doesnt aggree on the same definition, you could at least give yours and then work from that. Either way it sounds really cool.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a good point. I am actually having difficulty defining steampunk for myself. Previously, I only thought of it aesthetically. I had only ever seen the jewlery and the clothes that are related to steampunk. More recently, especially with the research, I have come to realize more of the depth of the "genre". It is interesting to see what it means to some people as compared to others. There is not a huge steampunk culture here in Boise. In fact, I have only ever met one practicing "steampunker" (I just made up that word). I am interested to see what he thinks of the subject.
ReplyDeleteTo me, as of this moment, steampunk is a beautiful, imaginitive look at the way science could have turned out, as well as a creative outlet for those who don't think it is necessary to rely on things of the digital age.
So i'm a little fuzzy on the exact definition of "steampunk", but from your explanation it seems to me it is like the futre that didn't happen or a twist on what we think the future will be like. I can relate to the movie "The League of Extrordinary Gentlemen" because i have seen it, and i can see how that would be steampunk. Like how the ship they are on is like advanced technology for that time. It would be an intersting experience to look deeper into the science fiction views of the future, but at the same time thats all it is...fiction. It doesn't make that much sense to me, but the vague definition doesn't help. Maybe a better explanation of it would help me to understand the concept better.
ReplyDeleteI like your definition of steampunk, it sounds like Utopian science, which would be very interesting to see. Maybe if we got away from cloning sheep and spent more time trying to solve world hunger this world would be a better place. (Is that kinda what you mean?) Anywho, you mentioned jewelry and clothes, what would that consist of? Is it very distinctive, or is it just the way you interpret it?
ReplyDeleteIt is pretty distinctive when it comes to fashion, jewlery, and art. It is kind of interesting to me how this fictional science could impact a definite trend.
ReplyDeleteSo do you have any examples of it or maybe pictures? I am really interested in figuring out what it pertains to. Is it something that you might see out walking around the street or is it more unusual and rare? I'm having a hard time envisioning what it consists of.
ReplyDeleteSomething interesting was mentioned earlier in this thread: the idea that trends/movements go much deeper than you initially expect. That is the essence of research. For example, you could take any contemporary object, maybe something that is "trendy" right now, and trace its roots back quite a ways. No artform exists in a vacuum, separate from other ideas. In a sense, all art is imitation and adaptation. Art reacts to other art and reacts to things going on in other realms of society. It might be interesting to look back at the early nineties and what was going on prior to it to see why steampunk became something that someone felt compelled to express.
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