There are a couple of reasons I like steampunk more than other subcultures, particularly the ones that are based on aesthetics, music and clothing (music was actually a late comer to mainstream steampunk, if there is such a thing, but now with Abney Park and some other bands, there is definitely that force in the subculture). Also, as far as trends based on literature are concerned, it's less horrifying than most. The first is just the cool style and the fun of it, obviously, the fun coming largely from going "hm, how would you power that with steam?"The other is the optimism. Steampunk takes place in a past with a bright future.
In the nineteenth century, there was the feeling that science would ease the labor of mankind, and free us up for pursuits of art and intellect. We will forget for now that the intellectual movements in the nineteenth century led to slaughter on a scale never before imagined. Anyway, that was the feeling, as demonstrated in the Universal Expositions and Worlds Fairs. Good steampunk reflects this - technology makes the world better, not worse. Our ability to imagine and create is a great strength. New worlds of discovery were being opened up all the time. Even though the technology in steampunk is primitive by today's standards, because it is alternate history, it is forward-looking, and it also keeps alive the idea that the things we make should be beautiful (look at an iPod and try to stay awake). Besides, the stories are usually more about people than machines, which is another nice thing about the genre. Not all steampunk is optimistic, however, and I think it suffers.
Some examples of both types:
The original steampunk (no, not Difference Engine, which I haven't read) - I mean, of course, Jules Verne! As a good science fiction writer, he dreamed up all kinds of new technology, as well as better and more useful versions of existing tech, and portrayed them as wondrous. He also had a number of mad scientist characters. Consider "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". Captain Nemo is crazy! He's kind of a bad dude! It's interesting that he is a pacifist and believes that society must be controlled through force to protect all the stupid, dangerous people - did Verne recognize something about 19th c. society and science that others, like Wells, did not? Hold that thought. Anyway, the Nautilus itself, and the underwater paradise that Nemo would like to retreat to when he's not terrorizing the seas, is marvelous and good, and who wouldn't want one? It's how Nemo uses it that's wrong, not the science itself. I think, though this is sort of a generalization, that the technological advancements in the 19th c. were good for the world, while the social science was disastrous. Science can't perfect society, or people, but it is worth pursuing . . . FOR SCIENCE!!!
For another, ultimately frustrating, take on that, let's consider "Steamboy". Now, this film is cool-looking. It has some really neat steam machines, and cool action sequences. The animation is very smooth and expensive. It's fun to watch, for the first half of it. The story is just lame. Basically, this kid's father and grandfather are scientists. They invent a magic steam valve that apparently can concentrate steam at low temperatures . . .or something? Anyway, the experiment blows up in the dad's face, boiling him alive and leaving only a damp skeleton covered in pulp- I mean, causing mild skin irritation. They secretly send the valve to the kid and bad guys come after it, until he gets it back to them at the Crystal Palace Exposition. . . and hilarity ensues. Really boring eye-rolling hilarity, until the explosions start. And don't stop. For like an hour. It is Katsuhiro Otomo, after all.
There's some rubbish about what science should be used for, and the characters, who are just stand-ins for cliched concepts, talk about it for ages. On the one hand, science should never, ever, ever be used for war. On the other hand, when dewy-eyed scientists try to use it for peace, the government, or actually the military, will corrupt it for war. But on the other hand, or C, it's kinda fun, for amusement park rides, and barrel organs, and other sundries. And that's pretty much the conclusion we're left with. Science as an amusing sideshow!?!? What kind of steampunk is this?
I think the steampunk work that best sums up the spirit of the times is Brisco County Junior, from which the title of this post is taken. Brisco is a bounty hunter, drifting around the west, looking for the Coming Thing. He doesn't know what it is, but he can feel it. After all, it's almost a new century. Throughout the show, he and his friends discover many coming things, clever, often hilarious, steampunk versions of all kinds of modern items. Sometimes they are devices the bad guys are using, other times they are made by the good guys and help our heroes out. Usually though, they are just the hard work of regular people that Brisco encounters. He's pleased to see what their dreams are, and how the future is being made. It's the spirit of the west. It's a pretty Shonen Jump-like philosophy for a show that's really just meant to be fun, and is certainly not scientifically rigorous. I guess you could say it's steam-pulp.
They also have the Orb, a magically powerful device that can do many things to advance the plot. It's also kind of like science, and in fact at one point is described simply as "potential". When the bad guys get ahold of it, it is terribly dangerous, and ultimately self-destructive, but it helps the good guys a lot, while tempting and leading astray some of the minor characters. It's not actually deep, per se, it's just a handy plot device, used to reveal things about the characters.
That's my lengthy two cents.
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ReplyDeleteAhem. You're right, now I think about it, Brisco County is pretty Shonen Jump-y, isn't it? Socrates really reminds me of the nerdy kid from Shaman King.
But I must respectfully disagree about the iPod. Maybe I've been writing too much high-tech SF, or maybe I play too much Xenosaga and Halo, but I personally love the look of iThingies. To me they're reminiscent of the second great age of technological optimism, the Space Age—a sort of distillation of Googie/Populuxe and Streamline Moderne, freed from the kitschy baggage those styles carry.
"...a magically powerful device that can do many things to advance the plot..."
ReplyDeleteI love those!
And I really should read Jules Verne...
Actually, yeah, iPods are kind of googie. I do like the sleekness. I'm probably just bitter about the iPad.... grrr.
ReplyDeleteBut things like printers, tvs, scanners, etc are pretty much lame-looking. They are bland, and don't go with most furniture, and mess up the cohesion of your room. Of course, my house was built in 1917, so that's kind of hard to match.
I guess my problem is that many devices now have no styling in particular. It's that whole International Style thing, where Marxists interpreted "form follows function" as a utilitarian statement that form is secondary to function. It really means things should look like what they are, or express the idea of what they are for. Like an iPod looks new! and shiny! That's the point. A printer looks like. . . a box. At least now they come in black instead of just grey. Or beige.
On the other hand, modding, and CD players that look like 1930s radios, and that kind of thing, are just facades. There's no particular reason for them to look like that, except it's nice-looking, and fits into the room better. Or looks like a mad scientist built it. Mwa ha ha.
Now that I think about it, iPods googie-ness reminds me of Raygun Gothic, which is awesome, and not just because it's the future that steampunk would turn into. It, and the similar styles/movements you mentioned, were cool because they were an expression of the ideals of a civilization, like the original Gothic.