using -punk as a suffix is almost always misleading. like steampunk was almost immediately diluted into mismatched victorian garb and random gears that couldn’t possibly serve any purpose. equally not punk.
Gears have a place in steampunk. A society that runs primarily on steam power is going to have a lot of gears. And the victorian garb comes from the narrow era between steam power and electricity, so it’s not surprising that it’s come to be integral to the aesthetic.
It certainly can be done badly. A shallow rendition of steampunk might have useless gears everywhere that aren’t connected to anything. An AI generated steampunk aesthetic might look like that, because it doesn’t understand mechanics and the uses of gears. Cheap etsy costume pieces might look like this because the seller only cares about making a buck. Bullshit pinterest inspo might look like this because the creators only care about reach and engagement.
But that doesn’t make the -punk suffix misleading, it just means they’re doing steampunk poorly.
Ghibli’s Laputa is steampunk. Howl’s Moving Castle has some steampunk elements. Those are pretty well done in my opinion.
Nausica is close to solarpunk, but it’s more like windpunk which I don’t know if has been coined yet.
Cyberpunk generally has a high focus on the punk aspect. I.E, anti-authoritarian, personal freedom, anti-hierarchy.
Steampunk has punk at the end purely because it’s a riff on the word Cyberpunk, not because it retains any inherent anti-authoritarian punk-ness. It’s more so just a label shorthand for an aesthetic and rough technological level. Dieselpunk does the same thing, using punk not to signify actual punk ideals, but instead uses it as shorthand for ‘aesthetic’.
Solarpunk retains the punk aspect of Cyberpunk, but instead of dystopia, imagines a more utopic vision of punks succeeding against the corporations/governments/hierarchies, which is achieved through community building, a DIY ethos, prefiguration, and an appropriate use of technology.
I don’t know, a lot of steampunk seems to have that dystopian aspect where the bad guys are oppressive rulers and the good guys are the rabble. I don’t see how that isn’t punk.
It’s certainly possible to write a punk story in a steampunk setting, but from all the steampunk media I’ve encountered (and I was very much a fan of it years ago, and still enjoy it today), most of the time it’s chosen as an aesthetic choice or as a backdrop for alternate history.
I’d be interested to hear any recommendations you have of steampunk works that focus on the punk angle, though, if you had some in mind.
I swear, i can’t find good steampunk anymore, all the images i find when i search for inspiration when i draw are just bullshit with no-purpose gears glued on everthing 😭
It’s hard when the fetish gets too niche. Like, I want steampunk, but with fantasy. Give me those dwarves who build railways and have guns, give me the elves who feature some crazy, idk, steam-powered tanks, but with flowery inlays or such.
using -punk as a suffix is almost always misleading. like steampunk was almost immediately diluted into mismatched victorian garb and random gears that couldn’t possibly serve any purpose. equally not punk.
I once had a friend tell me that steampunk is what happens when goths discover the color brown and I’ve never been able to get over that.
That’s an awesome way to put it, honestly
Gears have a place in steampunk. A society that runs primarily on steam power is going to have a lot of gears. And the victorian garb comes from the narrow era between steam power and electricity, so it’s not surprising that it’s come to be integral to the aesthetic.
It certainly can be done badly. A shallow rendition of steampunk might have useless gears everywhere that aren’t connected to anything. An AI generated steampunk aesthetic might look like that, because it doesn’t understand mechanics and the uses of gears. Cheap etsy costume pieces might look like this because the seller only cares about making a buck. Bullshit pinterest inspo might look like this because the creators only care about reach and engagement.
But that doesn’t make the -punk suffix misleading, it just means they’re doing steampunk poorly.
Ghibli’s Laputa is steampunk. Howl’s Moving Castle has some steampunk elements. Those are pretty well done in my opinion.
Nausica is close to solarpunk, but it’s more like windpunk which I don’t know if has been coined yet.
Cyberpunk generally has a high focus on the punk aspect. I.E, anti-authoritarian, personal freedom, anti-hierarchy.
Steampunk has punk at the end purely because it’s a riff on the word Cyberpunk, not because it retains any inherent anti-authoritarian punk-ness. It’s more so just a label shorthand for an aesthetic and rough technological level. Dieselpunk does the same thing, using punk not to signify actual punk ideals, but instead uses it as shorthand for ‘aesthetic’.
Solarpunk retains the punk aspect of Cyberpunk, but instead of dystopia, imagines a more utopic vision of punks succeeding against the corporations/governments/hierarchies, which is achieved through community building, a DIY ethos, prefiguration, and an appropriate use of technology.
I don’t know, a lot of steampunk seems to have that dystopian aspect where the bad guys are oppressive rulers and the good guys are the rabble. I don’t see how that isn’t punk.
It’s certainly possible to write a punk story in a steampunk setting, but from all the steampunk media I’ve encountered (and I was very much a fan of it years ago, and still enjoy it today), most of the time it’s chosen as an aesthetic choice or as a backdrop for alternate history.
I’d be interested to hear any recommendations you have of steampunk works that focus on the punk angle, though, if you had some in mind.
"Just glue some gears on it and call it steampunk…"🎶
I swear, i can’t find good steampunk anymore, all the images i find when i search for inspiration when i draw are just bullshit with no-purpose gears glued on everthing 😭
It’s hard when the fetish gets too niche. Like, I want steampunk, but with fantasy. Give me those dwarves who build railways and have guns, give me the elves who feature some crazy, idk, steam-powered tanks, but with flowery inlays or such.
The best I can do is dwarves with blunderbusses
Straight up impossible
Watch Laputa
Thank you! i’il watch it
It had a good run on diy forums until reddit grabbed it after thinkgeek started selling “merch”
electro jazz quirk chungus intensifies