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Steampunk is a
Steampunk is a subgenre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a Category of being, category of literature, ...
of science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
that incorporates retrofuturistic
Retrofuturism (adjective ''retrofuturistic'' or ''retrofuture'') is a movement in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions of the future produced in an earlier era. If futurism is sometimes called a "science" bent on anticipatin ...
technology and aesthetic
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed th ...
s inspired by 19th-century industrial
Industrial may refer to:
Industry
* Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry
* Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems
* Industrial city, a city dominate ...
steam-powered
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be tra ...
machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history
Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, alter ...
of the Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
or the American "Wild West", where steam power remains in mainstream use, or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power.
Steampunk most recognizably features anachronistic
An anachronism (from the Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods. The most common type ...
technologies or retrofuturistic inventions as people in the 19th century might have envisioned them — distinguishing it from Neo-Victorianism — and is likewise rooted in the era's perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, and art. Such technologies may include fictional machines like those found in the works of H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''
Steampunk is influenced by and often adopts the style of the 19th-century
Revised 18 May 2015. ''
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
. Other examples of steampunk contain alternative-history-style presentations of such technology as steam cannon
A steam cannon is a cannon that launches a projectile using only heat and water, or using a ready supply of high-pressure steam from a boiler. The first steam cannon was designed by Archimedes during the Siege of Syracuse. Leonardo da Vinci was al ...
s, lighter-than-air
A lifting gas or lighter-than-air gas is a gas that has a density lower than normal atmospheric gases and rises above them as a result. It is required for aerostats to create buoyancy, particularly in lighter-than-air aircraft, which include fre ...
airship
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air.
In early ...
s, analog computer
An analog computer or analogue computer is a type of computer that uses the continuous variation aspect of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities (''analog signals'') to model the problem being solved. In c ...
s, or such digital mechanical computer
A mechanical computer is a computer built from mechanical components such as levers and gears rather than electronic components. The most common examples are adding machines and mechanical counters, which use the turning of gears to increment outp ...
s as Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer.
Babbage is considered ...
's Analytical Engine
The Analytical Engine was a proposed mechanical general-purpose computer designed by English mathematician and computer pioneer Charles Babbage. It was first described in 1837 as the successor to Babbage's difference engine, which was a des ...
.
Steampunk may also incorporate additional elements from the genres of fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
, horror, historical fiction
Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...
, alternate history, or other branches of speculative fiction
Speculative fiction is a term that has been used with a variety of (sometimes contradictory) meanings. The broadest interpretation is as a category of fiction encompassing genres with elements that do not exist in reality, recorded history, na ...
, making it often a hybrid genre
A hybrid genre is a literary genre that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres. Works in hybrid genres are often referred to as cross-genre, multi-genre, mixed genre, or fusion genre.
Hybrid genres are a longstanding element ...
. As a form of speculative fiction, it explores alternative futures or pasts but can also address real-world social issues. The first known appearance of the term ''steampunk'' was in 1987, though it now retroactively refers to many works of fiction created as far back as the 1950s or earlier A popular subgenre is Japanese steampunk, consisting of steampunk-themed manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
and anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
, with steampunk elements having appeared in mainstream manga since the 1940s.
Steampunk also refers to any of the artistic styles, clothing fashions, or subculture
A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...
s that have developed from the aesthetics of steampunk fiction, Victorian-era fiction, art nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
design, and films from the mid-20th century. Various modern utilitarian objects have been modded by individual artisans into a pseudo-Victorian mechanical "steampunk" style, and a number of visual and musical artists have been described as steampunk.
History
Precursors
Steampunk is influenced by and often adopts the style of the 19th-century scientific romance
Scientific romance is an archaic, mainly British term for the genre of fiction now commonly known as science fiction. The term originated in the 1850s to describe both fiction and elements of scientific writing, but it has since come to refer to ...
s of Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
, H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''
Revised 18 May 2015. ''
Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic fiction, Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of scie ...
, and Edward S. Ellis
Edward Sylvester Ellis (April 11, 1840 – June 20, 1916) was an American author who was born in Ohio and died at Cliff Island, Maine.
Ellis was a teacher, school administrator, journalist, and the author of hundreds of books and magazine ...
's ''The Steam Man of the Prairies
''The Steam Man of the Prairies'' by Edward S. Ellis was the first U.S. science fiction dime novel and archetype of the Frank Reade series. It is one of the earliest examples of the so-called "Edisonade" genre. Ellis was a prolific 19th-century au ...
''. Several more modern works of art and fiction significant to the development of the genre were produced before the genre had a name. ''Titus Alone
''Titus Alone'' is a novel written by Mervyn Peake and first published in 1959. It is the third work in the Gormenghast trilogy. The other works are ''Titus Groan'', and ''Gormenghast''. With the trilogy, a fourth work, the novella '' Boy in ...
'' (1959), by Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Laurence Peake (9 July 1911 – 17 November 1968) was an English writer, artist, poet, and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the '' Gormenghast'' books. The four works were part of what Peake conceived ...
, is widely regarded by scholars as the first novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
in the genre proper, while others point to Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has work ...
's 1971 novel '' The Warlord of the Air'', which was heavily influenced by Peake's work. The film ''Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
'' (1985) was an early cinematic influence, although it can also be considered a precursor to the steampunk offshoot dieselpunk
Dieselpunk is a retrofuturistic subgenre of science fiction similar to steampunk or cyberpunk that combines the aesthetics of the diesel-based technology of the interwar period through to the 1950s with retro-futuristic technology and postmodern ...
. ''The Adventures of Luther Arkwright
''The Adventures of Luther Arkwright'' is a limited series comic book written and drawn by Bryan Talbot. The story is adult in tone, with many mythological, historical and political references, and a little explicit sex.
English writer Warren El ...
'' was an early (1970s) comic version of the Moorcock-style mover between timestream
The timestream or time stream is a metaphorical conception of time as a stream, a flowing body of water. In '' Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction'', the term is more narrowly defined as: "the series of all events from past t ...
s.
In fine art, Remedios Varo
María de los Remedios Alicia Rodriga Varo y Uranga (16 December 1908 – 8 October 1963) was a Spanish-born Mexican surrealist artist working in Spain, France, and Mexico.
Early life
Remedios Varo Uranga was born in Anglès, is a small town ...
's paintings combine elements of Victorian dress, fantasy, and technofantasy imagery. In television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
, one of the earliest manifestations of the steampunk ethos in the mainstream media was the CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
television series ''The Wild Wild West
''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western, espionage, and science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 1969. Two satirical comedy television film sequels w ...
'' (1965–69), which inspired the later film.
Origin of the term
Although many works now considered seminal to the genre were published in the 1960s and 1970s, the term ''steampunk'' originated largely in the 1980s as atongue-in-cheek
The idiom tongue-in-cheek refers to a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner.
History
The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walter Scott ...
variant of ''cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyber ...
''. It was coined by science fiction author K. W. Jeter
Kevin Wayne Jeter (born March 26, 1950) is an American science fiction and horror author known for his literary writing style, dark themes, and paranoid, unsympathetic characters. He has written novels set in the '' Star Trek'' and '' Star Wa ...
, who was trying to find a general term for works by Tim Powers
Timothy Thomas Powers (born February 29, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy fiction, fantasy author. Powers has won the World Fantasy Award twice for his critically acclaimed novels ''Last Call (novel), Last Call'' and ''Declare''. ...
(''The Anubis Gates
''The Anubis Gates'' is a 1983 time travel fantasy novel by American writer Tim Powers. It won the 1983 Philip K. Dick Award and 1984 Science Fiction Chronicle Award.
Plot summary
In 1801 the British have risen to power in Egypt and suppress ...
'', 1983), James Blaylock
James Paul Blaylock (born September 20, 1950) is an American fantasy author. He is noted for a distinctive, humorous style, as well as being one of the pioneers of the steampunk genre of science fiction. Blaylock has cited Jules Verne, H. G. Wel ...
(''Homunculus
A homunculus ( , , ; "little person") is a representation of a small human being, originally depicted as small statues made out of clay. Popularized in sixteenth-century alchemy and nineteenth-century fiction, it has historically referred to the ...
'', 1986), and himself (''Morlock Night
''Morlock Night'' is a science fiction novel by American writer K. W. Jeter. It was published in 1979. In a letter to
'' Locus Magazine'' in April 1987, Jeter coined the word "steampunk" to describe it and other novels by James Blaylock and Tim ...
'', 1979, and '' Infernal Devices'', 1987) — all of which took place in a 19th-century (usually Victorian) setting and imitated conventions of such actual Victorian speculative fiction as H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''
Steampunk used to be confused with
Many of the visualisations of steampunk have their origins with, among others, 
In 2009, for Questacon, artist Tim Wetherell created a large wall piece that represented the concept of the clockwork universe. This steel artwork contains moving gears, a working clock, and a movie of the moon's terminator in action. The 3D moon movie was created by Antony Williams.
Steampunk became a common descriptor for homemade objects sold on the craft network Etsy between 2009 and 2011, though many of the objects and fashions bear little resemblance to earlier established descriptions of steampunk. Thus the craft network may not strike observers as "sufficiently steampunk" to warrant its use of the term. Comedian April Winchell, author of the book ''Regretsy: Where DIY meets WTF'', cataloged some of the most egregious and humorous examples on her website "Regretsy". The blog was popular among steampunks and even inspired a music video that went viral in the community and was acclaimed by steampunk "notables".
From October 2009 through February 2010, the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, hosted the first major exhibition of steampunk art objects, curated and developed by New York artist and designer Art Donovan, who also exhibited his own "electro-futuristic" lighting sculptures, and presented by Dr. Jim Bennett, museum director. From redesigned practical items to fantastical contraptions, this exhibition showcased the work of eighteen steampunk artists from around the globe. The exhibit proved to be the most successful and highly attended in the museum's history and attracted more than eighty thousand visitors. The event was detailed in the official artist's journal ''The Art of Steampunk'', by curator Donovan.
In November 2010, The Libratory Steampunk Art Gallery was opened by Damien McNamara in Oamaru, Oamaru, New Zealand. Created from papier-mâché to resemble a large cave and filled with industrial equipment from yesteryear, rayguns, and general steampunk quirks, its purpose is to provide a place for steampunkers in the region to display artwork for sale all year long. A year later, a more permanent gallery, Steampunk HQ, was opened in the former Meeks Grain Elevator Building across the road from The Woolstore, and has since become a notable tourist attraction for Oamaru.
In 2012, the ''Mobilis in Mobili: An Exhibition of Steampunk Art and Appliance'' made its debut. Originally located at New York City's Wooster Street Social Club (itself the subject of the television series ''NY Ink''), the exhibit featured working steampunk tattoo systems designed by Bruce Rosenbaum, of ModVic and owner of the Steampunk House, Joey "Dr. Grymm" Marsocci, and Christopher Conte. with different approaches. "[B]icycles, cell phones, guitars, timepieces and entertainment systems" rounded out the display. The opening night exhibition featured a live performance by steampunk band Frenchy and the Punk.
The stills at The Oxford Artisan Distillery are nicknamed "Nautilus (fictional submarine), Nautilus" and "Captain Nemo, Nemo", named after the submarine and its captain in the
Steampunk fashion has no set guidelines but tends to synthesize modern styles with influences from the Victorian era. Such influences may include bustles, corsets, gowns, and petticoats; suits with waistcoats, coats, top hats and bowler hats (themselves originating in 1850 England), tailcoats and Spat (footwear), spats; or military-inspired garments. Steampunk-influenced outfits are usually accented with several technological and "period" accessories: timepieces, parasols, flying/driving goggles, and ray guns. Modern accessories like cell phones or music players can be found in steampunk outfits, after being modified to give them the appearance of Victorian-era objects. Post-apocalyptic elements, such as gas masks, ragged clothing, and tribal motifs, can also be included. Aspects of steampunk fashion have been anticipated by mainstream high fashion, the Lolita fashion, Lolita and aristocrat (fashion), aristocrat styles, neo-Victorianism, and the Goth (subculture), Romantic Goth subculture.
In 2005, Kate Lambert, known as "Kato", founded the first steampunk clothing company, "Steampunk Couture", mixing Victorian and post-apocalyptic influences. In 2013, IBM predicted, based on an analysis of more than a half million public posts on message boards, blogs, social media sites, and news sources, "that 'steampunk,' a subgenre inspired by the clothing, technology and social mores of Victorian society, will be a major trend to bubble up and take hold of the retail industry". Indeed, high fashion lines such as Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Chanel, and Christian Dior had already been introducing steampunk styles on the fashion runways.
In episode 7 of Lifetime (TV network), Lifetime's ''Under the Gunn'' Reality television, reality series, contestants were challenged to create avant-garde "steampunk chic" looks. ''America's Next Top Model'' tackled steampunk fashion in a 2012 episode where models competed in a steampunk-themed photo shoot, posing in front of a steam train while holding a live owl.
In 1988, the first version of the science fiction tabletop role-playing game ''Space: 1889'' was published. The game is set in an
Since the 1990s, the application of the steampunk label has expanded beyond works set in recognisable historical periods, to works set in fantasy worlds that rely heavily on steam- or spring-powered technology. One of the earliest short stories relying on steam-powered flying machines is "The Aerial Burglar" of 1844. An example from juvenile fiction is ''The Edge Chronicles'' by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell.
Fantasy steampunk settings abound in tabletop role-playing game, tabletop and Role-playing video game, computer role-playing games. Notable examples include ''Skies of Arcadia'', ''Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends'', and ''Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura''.
One of the first steampunk novels set in a Middle-earth-like world was the ''Forest of Boland Light Railway'' by BB (author), BB, about gnomes who build a steam locomotive. Fifty years later, Terry Pratchett wrote the Discworld novel ''Raising Steam,'' about the ongoing industrial revolution and railway mania in Ankh-Morpork.
The gnomes and goblins in ''World of Warcraft'' also have technological societies that could be described as steampunk, as they are vastly ahead of the technologies of human, men, but still run on steam and mechanical power.
The Dwarves of the The Elder Scrolls, ''Elder Scrolls'' series, described therein as a race of Elves called the Dwemer, also use steam-powered machinery, with gigantic brass-like gears, throughout their underground cities. However, magical means are used to keep ancient devices in motion despite the Dwemer's ancient disappearance.
The 1998 game ''Thief: The Dark Project'', as well as the other sequels including its Thief (2014 video game), 2014 reboot, feature heavy steampunk-inspired architecture, setting, and technology.
Amidst the historical and fantasy subgenres of steampunk is a type that takes place in a hypothetical future or a fantasy equivalent of our future involving the domination of steampunk-style technology and aesthetics. Examples include Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro's ''The City of Lost Children'' (1995), ''Turn A Gundam'' (1999–2000), ''Trigun'', and The Walt Disney Company, Disney's film ''Treasure Planet'' (2002). In 2011, musician Thomas Dolby heralded his return to music after a 20-year hiatus with an online steampunk alternate fantasy world called the Floating City, to promote his album ''A Map of the Floating City''.
In general, this category includes any recent science fiction that takes place in a recognizable historical period (sometimes an alternate history version of an actual historical period) in which the Industrial Revolution has already begun, but electricity is not yet widespread, "usually Britain of the early to mid-nineteenth century or the fantasized Wild West-era United States", with an emphasis on steam- or spring-propelled gadgets. The most common historical steampunk settings are the Victorian era, Victorian and Edwardian eras, though some in this "Victorian steampunk" category are set as early as the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and as late as the end of World War I.
Some examples of this type include the novel ''The Difference Engine'', the comic book series ''League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'', the Disney animated film '' Atlantis: The Lost Empire'', Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan (Westerfeld novel), ''Leviathan'' trilogy, and the roleplaying game ''Space: 1889.'' The
Steampunk music is very broadly defined. Abney Park (band), Abney Park's lead singer Robert Brown (musician), Robert Brown defined it as "mixing Victorian elements and modern elements". There is a broad range of musical influences that make up the steampunk sound, from industrial dance and world music to folk rock, dark cabaret to straightforward punk rock, punk, Carnatic music, Carnatic to industrial music, industrial, hip-hop to opera (and even Doctor Steel, industrial hip-hop opera), darkwave to progressive rock, Barbershop Quartet, barbershop to big band.
Joshua Pfeiffer (of Vernian Process) is quoted as saying, "As for Paul Roland, if anyone deserves credit for spearheading Steampunk music, it is him. He was one of the inspirations I had in starting my project. He was writing songs about the first attempt at manned flight, and an Edwardian airship raid in the mid-80s long before almost anyone else..." Thomas Dolby is also considered one of the early pioneers of retro-futurist (i.e., Steampunk and Dieselpunk) music. Amanda Palmer was once quoted as saying, "Thomas Dolby is to Steampunk what Iggy Pop was to Punk rock, Punk!"
Steampunk has also appeared in the work of musicians who do not specifically identify as steampunk. For example, the music video of Turn Me On (David Guetta song), "Turn Me On", by David Guetta and featuring Nicki Minaj, takes place in a steampunk universe where Guetta creates human androids. Another music video is "The Ballad of Mona Lisa", by Panic! at the Disco, which has a distinct Victorian steampunk theme. A continuation of this theme has been used throughout the 2011 album ''Vices And Virtues, Vices & Virtues'', in the music videos, album art, and tour set and costumes. In addition, the album ''Clockwork Angels'' (2012) and its supporting Clockwork Angels Tour, tour by progressive rock band Rush (band), Rush contain lyrics, themes, and imagery based around steampunk. Similarly, Abney Park (band), Abney Park headlined the first "Steamstock" outdoor steampunk music festival in Richmond, California, which also featured Thomas Dolby, Frenchy and the Punk, Lee Presson and the Nails, Vernian Process, and others.
The music video for the Lindsey Stirling song "Roundtable Rival", has a Western steampunk setting.
''The Fabulous World of Jules Verne'' (1958) and ''The Fabulous Baron Munchausen'' (1962), both directed by Karel Zeman, have steampunk elements. The 1965 television series ''
''Beyond Victoriana''
similarly argued steampunk's "Progressivism, progressive roots" can be traced to its literary inspirations, including Verne's
''Brass Goggles''
which is dedicated to what it calls the "lighter side" of steampunk, banned discussion about politics. Cory Gross, who was one of the first to write about the history and theory of steampunk, argued that the "sepia-toned yesteryear more appropriate for Disney and grandparents than a vibrant and viable philosophy or culture" denounced in the ''Steampunk Manifesto'' was in fact representative of the genre. Author Catherynne M. Valente called the punk in steampunk "nearly meaningless." Kate Franklin and James Schafer, who at the time managed one of the largest steampunk groups on Facebook, admitted in 2011 that steampunk hadn't created the "revolutionary, or even a particularly progressive" community they wanted. Blogger and podcaster Eric Renderking Fisk announced in 2017 that steampunk was no longer punk, since it had "lost the anti-authoritarian, anti-establishment aspects." Others argued explicitly against turning steampunk into a political movement, preferring to see steampunk as "escapism" or a "fandom". In 2018, Nick Ottens, editor of the online alternate-history magazine ''Never Was'', declared that the "lighter side" of steampunk had won out. To the extent that steampunk is politicization, politicized, it appears to be an American and British phenomenon. Continental Europeans and Latin Americans are more likely to consider steampunk a hobby than a cause.
In recent years, steampunk has also become a regular feature at San Diego Comic-Con International, with the Saturday of the four-day event being generally known among steampunks as "Steampunk Day", and culminating with a photo-shoot for the local press. In 2010, this was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest steampunk photo shoot. In 2013, Comic-Con announced four official 2013 T-shirts, one of them featuring the official Rick Geary Comic-Con toucan mascot in steampunk attire. The Saturday steampunk "after-party" has also become a major event on the steampunk social calendar: in 2010, the headliners included The Slow Poisoner, Unextraordinary Gentlemen, and Voltaire, with Veronique Chevalier as Mistress of Ceremonies and special appearance by the League of STEAM; in 2011, UXG returned with Abney Park.
Steampunk has also sprung up recently at Renaissance Festivals and Renaissance Faires, in the US. Some festivals have organised events or a "Steampunk Day", while others simply support an open environment for donning steampunk attire. The Bristol Renaissance Faire in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on the Wisconsin/Illinois border, featured a Steampunk costume contest during the 2012 season, the previous two seasons having seen increasing participation in the phenomenon.
Steampunk also has a growing following in the UK and Europe. The largest European event is "Weekend at the Asylum", held at The Lawn, Lincoln, every September since 2009. Organised as a not-for-profit event by the Victorian Steampunk Society, the Asylum is a dedicated steampunk event which takes over much of the historical quarter of Lincoln, England, along with Lincoln Castle. In 2011, there were over 1000 steampunks in attendance. The event features the Empire Ball, Majors Review, Bazaar Eclectica, and the international Tea Duelling final.
The Surrey Steampunk Convivial was originally held in New Malden, but since 2019 has been held in Stoneleigh, Surrey, Stoneleigh in southwestern London, within walking distance of
Revised 18 May 2015. ''
The Time Machine
''The Time Machine'' is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively for ...
''. In a letter to science fiction magazine ''Locus
Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to:
Entertainment
* Locus (comics), a Marvel Comics mutant villainess, a member of the Mutant Liberation Front
* ''Locus'' (magazine), science fiction and fantasy magazine
** ''Locus Award' ...
'', printed in the April 1987 issue, Jeter wrote:
Modern steampunk
While Jeter's ''Morlock Night
''Morlock Night'' is a science fiction novel by American writer K. W. Jeter. It was published in 1979. In a letter to
'' Locus Magazine'' in April 1987, Jeter coined the word "steampunk" to describe it and other novels by James Blaylock and Tim ...
'' and '' Infernal Devices'', Powers' ''The Anubis Gates
''The Anubis Gates'' is a 1983 time travel fantasy novel by American writer Tim Powers. It won the 1983 Philip K. Dick Award and 1984 Science Fiction Chronicle Award.
Plot summary
In 1801 the British have risen to power in Egypt and suppress ...
'', and Blaylock's ''Lord Kelvin's Machine
''Lord Kelvin's Machine'' is a science fiction novel by American writer James P. Blaylock. It was released in 1992 by Arkham House in an edition of 4,015 copies. The author's first book published by Arkham House, the novel is the third in Blayl ...
'' were the first novels to which Jeter's neologism
A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...
would be applied, the three authors gave the term little thought at the time. They were far from the first modern science fiction writers to speculate on the development of steam-based technology or alternative histories. Keith Laumer
John Keith Laumer ( – ) was an American science fiction author. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, he was an officer in the United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United State ...
's ''Worlds of the Imperium
''Worlds of the Imperium'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Keith Laumer.
It originally appeared in ''Fantastic (magazine), Fantastic Stories of the Imagination'' between February and April 1961. The following year it was published b ...
'' (1962) and Ronald W. Clark's ''Queen Victoria's Bomb
''Queen Victoria's Bomb'' is a steampunk novel by Ronald W. Clark, published in 1967. Its plot surrounds the invention of a nuclear weapon in the Victorian era which might be used to win the Crimean War.
See also
*''Anti-Ice''
*''To Visit the ...
'' (1967) apply modern speculation to past-age technology and society. Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has work ...
's ''Warlord of the Air
''The Warlord of the Air'' is a 1971 British alternate history novel written by Michael Moorcock. It concerns the adventures of Oswald Bastable, an Edwardian era soldier stationed in India, and his adventures in an alternate universe, in his ow ...
'' (1971) is another early example. Harry Harrison's novel ''A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!
''Tunnel Through the Deeps'' (also published as ''A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!'') is a 1972 alternate history/science fiction novel by American writer Harry Harrison. It was serialized in ''Analog'' magazine beginning in the April 1972 issu ...
'' (1973) portrays Britain in an alternative 1973, full of atomic locomotives, coal-powered flying boats, ornate submarines, and Victorian dialogue. ''The Adventures of Luther Arkwright
''The Adventures of Luther Arkwright'' is a limited series comic book written and drawn by Bryan Talbot. The story is adult in tone, with many mythological, historical and political references, and a little explicit sex.
English writer Warren El ...
'' (mid-1970s) was one of the first steampunk comics. In February 1980, Richard A. Lupoff
Richard Allen Lupoff (February 21, 1935 – October 22, 2020) was an American science-fiction and mystery author, who also wrote humor, satire, nonfiction and reviews. In addition to his two dozen novels and more than 40 short stories, he a ...
and Steve Stiles
Stephen Willis Stiles (July 16, 1943 – January 11, 2020) was an American cartoonist and writer, coming out of the science fiction fanzine tradition. He won the 2016 Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist.
Early life and education
Steven Willis Stil ...
published the first "chapter" of their 10-part comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...
''The Adventures of Professor Thintwhistle and His Incredible Aether Flyer''. In 2004, one anonymous author described steampunk as "Colonizing the Past so we can dream the future."
The first use of the word "steampunk" in a title was in Paul Di Filippo
Paul Di Filippo (born October 29, 1954) is an American science fiction writer. He is a regular reviewer for print magazines ''Asimov's Science Fiction'', ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'', ''Science Fiction Eye'', ''The New York Re ...
's 1995 ''Steampunk Trilogy'', consisting of three short novels: "Victoria", "Hottentots", and "Walt and Emily", which, respectively, imagine the replacement of Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
by a human/newt clone, an invasion of Massachusetts by Lovecraftian
Lovecraftian horror, sometimes used interchangeably with "cosmic horror", is a subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock. It is named a ...
monsters, and a love affair between Walt Whitman
Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...
and Emily Dickinson
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry.
Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massach ...
.
Japanese steampunk
Japanese steampunk consists of steampunkmanga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
comics and anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
productions from Japan. Steampunk elements have consistently appeared in mainstream manga since the 1940s, dating back to Osamu Tezuka
Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu''; – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such ...
's epic science-fiction trilogy consisting of ''Lost World
The lost world is a subgenre of the fantasy or science fiction genres that involves the discovery of an unknown Earth civilization. It began as a subgenre of the late- Victorian adventure romance and remains popular into the 21st century.
The g ...
'' (1948), ''Metropolis
A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications.
A big c ...
'' (1949) and ''Nextworld
Next may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare
* ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage
* '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film
Lit ...
'' (1951). The steampunk elements found in manga eventually made their way into mainstream anime productions starting in the 1970s, including television shows such as Leiji Matsumoto
is a Japanese mangaka, creator of several anime and manga series. His wife Miyako Maki is also a manga artist.
Early life
Matsumoto was the middle child of a family of seven brothers, and, in his early childhood, Matsumoto was given a 35m ...
's ''Space Battleship Yamato
is a Japanese science fiction anime series produced and written by Yoshinobu Nishizaki, directed by manga artist Leiji Matsumoto, and produced by Academy Productions. The series aired in Yomiuri TV from October 6, 1974 to March 30, 1975, ...
'' (1974) and the 1979 anime adaptation of Riyoko Ikeda
is a Japanese manga artist and singer. She is included in the Year 24 Group, by some, although her status as one of them has been debated due to a focus more on epic stories than the internal psychology of those mangaka. She was one of the most ...
's manga ''Rose of Versailles
, also known as ''Lady Oscar'' and ''La Rose de Versailles'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Riyoko Ikeda. It was originally serialized in the List of manga magazines, manga magazine ''Margaret (magazine), Margaret'' ...
'' (1972). Influenced by 19th-century European authors such as Jules Verne, steampunk anime and manga arose from a Japanese fascination with an imaginary fantastical version of old Industrial
Industrial may refer to:
Industry
* Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry
* Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems
* Industrial city, a city dominate ...
Europe, linked to a phenomenon called '' akogare no Pari'' ("the Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
of our dreams"), comparable to the West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
's fascination with an "exotic" East
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...
.
The most influential steampunk animator was Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...
, who was creating steampunk anime since the 1970s, starting with the television show ''Future Boy Conan
, also known as ''Conan, The Boy in Future'', is a Japanese post-apocalyptic science fiction anime series. It is an adaptation of American science-fiction writer Alexander Key's 1970 novel ''The Incredible Tide''. It was broadcast for twenty ...
'' (1978). His manga ''Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind may refer to
* Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (manga), ''Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind'' (manga), a manga series by Hayao Miyazaki
* Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (film), ''Nausicaä of the Valle ...
'' (1982) and its 1984 anime film adaptation also contained steampunk elements. Miyazaki's most influential steampunk production was the Studio Ghibli
is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It is best known for its animated feature films, and ha ...
anime film '' Laputa: Castle in the Sky'' (1986), which became a major milestone in the genre and has been described by ''The Steampunk Bible'' as "one of the first modern steampunk classics." Archetypal steampunk elements in ''Laputa'' include airships
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air Powered aircraft, under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding a ...
, air pirates
The Air Pirates were a group of cartoonists who created two issues of an underground comic called ''Air Pirates Funnies'' in 1971, leading to a famous lawsuit by Walt Disney Productions. Founded by Dan O'Neill, the group also included Bobby Londo ...
, steam-powered robots "\n\n\n\n\nThe robots exclusion standard, also known as the robots exclusion protocol or simply robots.txt, is a standard used by websites to indicate to visiting web crawlers and other web robots which portions of the site they are allowed to visi ...
, and a view of steam power
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...
as a limitless but potentially dangerous source of power.
The success of ''Laputa'' inspired Hideaki Anno
is a Japanese animator, filmmaker and actor. He is best known for creating the anime series ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' (1995)''.'' His style is defined by his postmodernist approach and the extensive portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotio ...
and Studio Gainax to create their first hit production, '' Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water'' (1990), a steampunk anime show which loosely adapts elements from Verne's ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' (french: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) is a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne.
The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-Ju ...
'', with Captain Nemo
Captain Nemo (; later identified as an Indian, Prince Dakkar) is a fictional character created by the French novelist Jules Verne (1828–1905). Nemo appears in two of Verne's science-fiction classics, ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' ( ...
making an appearance. Based on a concept by Miyazaki, ''Nadia'' was influential on later steampunk anime such as Katsuhiro Otomo
is a Japanese manga artist, screenwriter, animator and film director. He is best known as the creator of '' Akira'', in terms of both the original 1982 manga series and the 1988 animated film adaptation. He was decorated a ''Chevalier'' of th ...
's anime film ''Steamboy
is a 2004 Japanese animated steampunk action film produced by Sunrise, directed and co-written by Katsuhiro Otomo, his second major anime release as a director, following '' Akira'' (1988). The film was released in Japan by Toho on July 17, 20 ...
'' (2004). Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
's animated steampunk film '' Atlantis: The Lost Empire'' (2001) was influenced by anime, particularly Miyazaki's works and possibly ''Nadia''. Other popular Japanese steampunk works include Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli anime films ''Porco Rosso
is a 1992 Anime, Japanese animated Adventure film, adventure-fantasy film, fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It is based on ''Hikōtei Jidai'' ("The Age of the Flying Boat"), a three-part 1989 watercolor manga by Miyazaki. It ...
'' (1992) and ''Howl's Moving Castle
''Howl's Moving Castle'' is a fantasy novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones, first published in 1986 by Greenwillow Books of New York. It was a runner-up for the annual Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and won the Phoenix Award twenty years ...
'' (2004), Sega
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
's video game and anime franchise ''Sakura Wars
is a Japanese steampunk media franchise created by Oji Hiroi and owned by Sega. It is focused around a series of cross-genre video games. The first game in the series was released in 1996, with five sequels and numerous spin-off titles being ...
'' (1996) which is set in a steampunk version of Meiji/ Taishō era Japan, and Square Enix
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game ...
's manga and anime franchise ''Fullmetal Alchemist
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. It was serialized in Square Enix's shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga anthology magazine ''Gangan Comics#Monthly Shōnen Gangan, Monthly Shōnen Gangan'' between July 20 ...
'' (2001).
Relationships to retrofuturism, DIY craft and making
Steampunk used to be confused with retrofuturism
Retrofuturism (adjective ''retrofuturistic'' or ''retrofuture'') is a movement in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions of the future produced in an earlier era. If futurism is sometimes called a "science" bent on anticipatin ...
. Indeed, both sensibilities recall "the older but still modern eras in which technological change seemed to anticipate a better world, one remembered as relatively innocent of industrial decline." For some scholars, retrofuturism is considered a strand of steampunk, one that looks at alternatives to historical imagination and usually created with the same kinds of social protagonists and written for the same type of audiences.
One of steampunk's most significant contributions is the way in which it mixes digital media
Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. ' ...
with traditional handmade art forms. As scholars Rachel Bowser and Brian Croxall put it, "the tinkering and tinker-able technologies within steampunk invite us to roll up our sleeves and get to work re-shaping our contemporary world." In this respect, steampunk bears more in common with DIY
"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi ...
craft and making.
Art, entertainment, and media
Art and design
Many of the visualisations of steampunk have their origins with, among others, Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
's film ''20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' (french: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) is a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne.
The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-J ...
'' (1954), including the design of the story's submarine the ''Nautilus
The nautilus (, ) is a pelagic marine mollusc of the cephalopod family Nautilidae. The nautilus is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina.
It comprises six living species in t ...
'', its interiors, and the crew's underwater gear; and George Pal
George Pal (born György Pál Marczincsak; ; February 1, 1908 – May 2, 1980) was a Hungarian-American animator, film director and producer, principally associated with the fantasy and science-fiction genres. He became an American citizen after ...
's film ''The Time Machine
''The Time Machine'' is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively for ...
'' (1960), especially the design of the time machine itself. This theme is also carried over to Six Flags Magic Mountain
Six Flags Magic Mountain, formerly known and colloquially referred to as simply Magic Mountain, is a amusement park located in Valencia, California, northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It opened on May 29, 1971, as a development of the Newha ...
and Disney parks, in the themed area the "Screampunk District" at Six Flags Magic Mountain
Six Flags Magic Mountain, formerly known and colloquially referred to as simply Magic Mountain, is a amusement park located in Valencia, California, northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It opened on May 29, 1971, as a development of the Newha ...
and in the designs of Mysterious Island (Tokyo DisneySea), The Mysterious Island section of Tokyo DisneySea theme park and Disneyland Park (Paris), Disneyland Paris' Discoveryland area.
Aspects of steampunk design emphasise a balance between form and function. In this it is like the Arts and Crafts Movement. But John Ruskin, William Morris, and the other reformers in the late nineteenth century rejected machines and industrial production. On the other hand, steampunk enthusiasts present a "non-luddite critique of technology".
Various modern utilitarian objects have been modified by enthusiasts into a pseudo-Victorian mechanical "steampunk" style. Examples include computer keyboards and electric guitars. The goal of such redesigns is to employ appropriate materials (such as polished brass, iron, wood, and leather) with design elements and craftsmanship consistent with the Victorian era, rejecting the aesthetic of industrial design.
In addition, an art exhibit called Anachrotechnofuturism held in Seattle from September 12th to October 3rd aimed to imagine how the past can move past the failures of the present and create a more perfect future all within the framing of a steampunk aesthetic.
In 1994, the Paris Metro station at Arts et Métiers (Paris Métro), Arts et Métiers was redesigned by Belgian artist Francois Schuiten in steampunk style, to honor the works of Jules Verne. The station is reminiscent of a submarine, sheathed in brass with giant cogs in the ceiling and portholes that look out onto fanciful scenes.
The artist group ''Kinetic Steam Works'' brought a working steam engine to the Burning Man festival in 2006 and 2007. The group's founding member, Sean Orlando, created a Steampunk Tree House (in association with a group of people who would later form the ''Five Ton Crane Arts Group'') that has been displayed at a number of festivals. The Steampunk Tree House is now permanently installed at the Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware.
The Neverwas Haul is a three-story, self-propelled mobile art vehicle built to resemble a Victorian house on wheels. Designed by Shannon O’Hare, it was built by volunteers in 2006 and presented at the Burning Man festival from 2006 through 2015. When fully built, the Haul propelled itself at a top speed of 5 miles per hour and required a crew of ten people to operate safely. Currently, the Neverwas Haul makes her home at Obtainium Works, an "art car factory" in Vallejo, CA owned by O’Hare and home to several other self-styled "contraptionists".
In May–June 2008, multimedia artist and sculptor Paul St George exhibited outdoor interactive video installations linking London and Brooklyn, New York, in a Victorian era-styled telectroscope. Utilizing this device, New York promoter Evelyn Kriete organised a transatlantic wave between steampunk enthusiasts from both cities, prior to White Mischief (festival), White Mischief's ''Around the World in 80 Days'' steampunk-themed event.
In 2009, for Questacon, artist Tim Wetherell created a large wall piece that represented the concept of the clockwork universe. This steel artwork contains moving gears, a working clock, and a movie of the moon's terminator in action. The 3D moon movie was created by Antony Williams.
Steampunk became a common descriptor for homemade objects sold on the craft network Etsy between 2009 and 2011, though many of the objects and fashions bear little resemblance to earlier established descriptions of steampunk. Thus the craft network may not strike observers as "sufficiently steampunk" to warrant its use of the term. Comedian April Winchell, author of the book ''Regretsy: Where DIY meets WTF'', cataloged some of the most egregious and humorous examples on her website "Regretsy". The blog was popular among steampunks and even inspired a music video that went viral in the community and was acclaimed by steampunk "notables".
From October 2009 through February 2010, the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, hosted the first major exhibition of steampunk art objects, curated and developed by New York artist and designer Art Donovan, who also exhibited his own "electro-futuristic" lighting sculptures, and presented by Dr. Jim Bennett, museum director. From redesigned practical items to fantastical contraptions, this exhibition showcased the work of eighteen steampunk artists from around the globe. The exhibit proved to be the most successful and highly attended in the museum's history and attracted more than eighty thousand visitors. The event was detailed in the official artist's journal ''The Art of Steampunk'', by curator Donovan.
In November 2010, The Libratory Steampunk Art Gallery was opened by Damien McNamara in Oamaru, Oamaru, New Zealand. Created from papier-mâché to resemble a large cave and filled with industrial equipment from yesteryear, rayguns, and general steampunk quirks, its purpose is to provide a place for steampunkers in the region to display artwork for sale all year long. A year later, a more permanent gallery, Steampunk HQ, was opened in the former Meeks Grain Elevator Building across the road from The Woolstore, and has since become a notable tourist attraction for Oamaru.
In 2012, the ''Mobilis in Mobili: An Exhibition of Steampunk Art and Appliance'' made its debut. Originally located at New York City's Wooster Street Social Club (itself the subject of the television series ''NY Ink''), the exhibit featured working steampunk tattoo systems designed by Bruce Rosenbaum, of ModVic and owner of the Steampunk House, Joey "Dr. Grymm" Marsocci, and Christopher Conte. with different approaches. "[B]icycles, cell phones, guitars, timepieces and entertainment systems" rounded out the display. The opening night exhibition featured a live performance by steampunk band Frenchy and the Punk.
The stills at The Oxford Artisan Distillery are nicknamed "Nautilus (fictional submarine), Nautilus" and "Captain Nemo, Nemo", named after the submarine and its captain in the Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
1870 science fiction novel ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas''. They were built in copper by South Devon Railway Engineering using a steampunk style.
Fashion
Steampunk fashion has no set guidelines but tends to synthesize modern styles with influences from the Victorian era. Such influences may include bustles, corsets, gowns, and petticoats; suits with waistcoats, coats, top hats and bowler hats (themselves originating in 1850 England), tailcoats and Spat (footwear), spats; or military-inspired garments. Steampunk-influenced outfits are usually accented with several technological and "period" accessories: timepieces, parasols, flying/driving goggles, and ray guns. Modern accessories like cell phones or music players can be found in steampunk outfits, after being modified to give them the appearance of Victorian-era objects. Post-apocalyptic elements, such as gas masks, ragged clothing, and tribal motifs, can also be included. Aspects of steampunk fashion have been anticipated by mainstream high fashion, the Lolita fashion, Lolita and aristocrat (fashion), aristocrat styles, neo-Victorianism, and the Goth (subculture), Romantic Goth subculture.
In 2005, Kate Lambert, known as "Kato", founded the first steampunk clothing company, "Steampunk Couture", mixing Victorian and post-apocalyptic influences. In 2013, IBM predicted, based on an analysis of more than a half million public posts on message boards, blogs, social media sites, and news sources, "that 'steampunk,' a subgenre inspired by the clothing, technology and social mores of Victorian society, will be a major trend to bubble up and take hold of the retail industry". Indeed, high fashion lines such as Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Chanel, and Christian Dior had already been introducing steampunk styles on the fashion runways.
In episode 7 of Lifetime (TV network), Lifetime's ''Under the Gunn'' Reality television, reality series, contestants were challenged to create avant-garde "steampunk chic" looks. ''America's Next Top Model'' tackled steampunk fashion in a 2012 episode where models competed in a steampunk-themed photo shoot, posing in front of a steam train while holding a live owl.
Literature
The educational book ''Elementary BASIC – Learning to Program Your Computer in BASIC with Sherlock Holmes'' (1981), by Henry Singer and Andrew Ledgar, may have been the first fictional work to depict the use ofCharles Babbage
Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer.
Babbage is considered ...
's Analytical Engine
The Analytical Engine was a proposed mechanical general-purpose computer designed by English mathematician and computer pioneer Charles Babbage. It was first described in 1837 as the successor to Babbage's difference engine, which was a des ...
in an adventure story. The instructional book, aimed at young programming students, depicts Sherlock Holmes, Holmes using the engine as an aid in his investigations, and lists programs that perform simple data processing tasks required to solve the fictional cases. The book even describes a device that allows the engine to be used remotely, over telegraph lines, as a possible enhancement to Babbage's machine. Companion volumes—''Elementary Pascal – Learning to Program Your Computer in Pascal with Sherlock Holmes'' and ''From Baker Street to Binary – An Introduction to Computers and Computer Programming with Sherlock Holmes''—were also written.
In 1988, the first version of the science fiction tabletop role-playing game ''Space: 1889'' was published. The game is set in an alternative history
Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, alter ...
in which certain now discredited Victorian scientific theories were probable and led to new technologies. Contributing authors included Frank Chadwick, Loren Wiseman, and Marcus Rowland (author), Marcus Rowland.
William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's novel ''The Difference Engine'' (1990) is often credited with bringing about widespread awareness of steampunk. This novel applies the principles of Gibson and Sterling's cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyber ...
writings to an alternative Victorian era where Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer.
Babbage is considered ...
's proposed steam-powered mechanical computer, which Babbage called a difference engine (a later, more general-purpose version was known as an Analytical Engine
The Analytical Engine was a proposed mechanical general-purpose computer designed by English mathematician and computer pioneer Charles Babbage. It was first described in 1837 as the successor to Babbage's difference engine, which was a des ...
), was actually built, and led to the dawn of the information age more than a century "ahead of schedule". This setting was different from most steampunk settings in that it takes a dim and dark view of this future, rather than the more prevalent Utopia, utopian versions.
Nick Gevers's original anthology ''Extraordinary Engines'' (2008) features newer steampunk stories by some of the genre's writers, as well as other science fiction and fantasy writers experimenting with neo-Victorian conventions. A retrospective reprint anthology of steampunk fiction was released, also in 2008, by Tachyon Publications. Edited by Ann VanderMeer, Ann and Jeff VanderMeer and appropriately entitled ''Steampunk (anthology), Steampunk'', it is a collection of stories by James Blaylock
James Paul Blaylock (born September 20, 1950) is an American fantasy author. He is noted for a distinctive, humorous style, as well as being one of the pioneers of the steampunk genre of science fiction. Blaylock has cited Jules Verne, H. G. Wel ...
, whose "Narbondo" trilogy is typically considered steampunk; Jay Lake, author of the novel ''Mainspring (novel), Mainspring'', sometimes labeled "clockpunk"; the aforementioned Michael Moorcock; as well as Jess Nevins, known for his annotations to ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' (first published in 1999).
Younger readers have also been targeted by steampunk themes, by authors such as Philip Reeve and Scott Westerfeld. Reeve's quartet ''Mortal Engines'' is set far in Earth's future where giant moving cities consume each other in a battle for resources, a concept Reeve coined as ''Municipal Darwinism''. Westerfeld's ''Leviathan'' trilogy is set during an alternate World War I, First World War fought between the "clankers" (Central Powers), who use steam technology, and "darwinists" (Allied powers of World War I, Allied Powers), who use genetically engineered creatures instead of machines.
"Mash-ups" are also becoming increasingly popular in books aimed at younger readers, mixing steampunk with other genres. Stefan Bachmann's ''The Peculiar'' duology was labeled a "steampunk fairytale," and imagines steampunk technology as a means to stave off an incursion of faeries in Victorian England. Suzanne Lazear's ''Aether Chronicles'' series also mixes steampunk with faeries, and ''The Unnaturalists'', by Tiffany Trent, combines steampunk with mythological creatures and alternate history.
While most of the original steampunk works had a historical setting, later works often place steampunk elements in a fantasy world with little relation to any specific historic era. Historical steampunk tends to be science fiction that presents an alternate history; it also contains real locales and persons from history with alternative fantasy technology. "Fantasy-world steampunk", such as China Miéville's ''Perdido Street Station'', Alan Campbell (writer), Alan Campbell's ''Scar Night'', and Stephen Hunt (author), Stephen Hunt's Jackelian novels, on the other hand, presents steampunk in a completely imaginary fantasy realm, often populated by legendary creatures coexisting with steam-era and other anachronistic
An anachronism (from the Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods. The most common type ...
technologies. However, the works of China Miéville and similar authors are sometimes referred to as belonging to the "New Weird" rather than steampunk.
Self-described author of "far-fetched fiction" Robert Rankin has incorporated elements of steampunk into narrative worlds that are both Victorian and re-imagined contemporary. In 2009, he was made a Fellow of the Victorian Steampunk Society.
The comic book series ''Hellboy'', created by Mike Mignola, and the two ''Hellboy'' films featuring Ron Perlman and directed by Guillermo del Toro, all have steampunk elements. In the comic book and the Hellboy (2004 film), first (2004) film, Karl Ruprecht Kroenen is a Nazi SS scientist who has an addiction to having himself surgically altered, and who has many mechanical prostheses, including a clockwork heart. The character Johann Krauss is featured in the comic and in the second film, ''Hellboy II: The Golden Army'' (2008), as an Ectoplasm (paranormal), ectoplasmic medium (a gaseous form in a partly mechanical suit). This second film also features the Golden Army itself, which is a collection of 4,900 mechanical steampunk warriors.
Steampunk settings
Alternative world
Since the 1990s, the application of the steampunk label has expanded beyond works set in recognisable historical periods, to works set in fantasy worlds that rely heavily on steam- or spring-powered technology. One of the earliest short stories relying on steam-powered flying machines is "The Aerial Burglar" of 1844. An example from juvenile fiction is ''The Edge Chronicles'' by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell.
Fantasy steampunk settings abound in tabletop role-playing game, tabletop and Role-playing video game, computer role-playing games. Notable examples include ''Skies of Arcadia'', ''Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends'', and ''Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura''.
One of the first steampunk novels set in a Middle-earth-like world was the ''Forest of Boland Light Railway'' by BB (author), BB, about gnomes who build a steam locomotive. Fifty years later, Terry Pratchett wrote the Discworld novel ''Raising Steam,'' about the ongoing industrial revolution and railway mania in Ankh-Morpork.
The gnomes and goblins in ''World of Warcraft'' also have technological societies that could be described as steampunk, as they are vastly ahead of the technologies of human, men, but still run on steam and mechanical power.
The Dwarves of the The Elder Scrolls, ''Elder Scrolls'' series, described therein as a race of Elves called the Dwemer, also use steam-powered machinery, with gigantic brass-like gears, throughout their underground cities. However, magical means are used to keep ancient devices in motion despite the Dwemer's ancient disappearance.
The 1998 game ''Thief: The Dark Project'', as well as the other sequels including its Thief (2014 video game), 2014 reboot, feature heavy steampunk-inspired architecture, setting, and technology.
Amidst the historical and fantasy subgenres of steampunk is a type that takes place in a hypothetical future or a fantasy equivalent of our future involving the domination of steampunk-style technology and aesthetics. Examples include Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro's ''The City of Lost Children'' (1995), ''Turn A Gundam'' (1999–2000), ''Trigun'', and The Walt Disney Company, Disney's film ''Treasure Planet'' (2002). In 2011, musician Thomas Dolby heralded his return to music after a 20-year hiatus with an online steampunk alternate fantasy world called the Floating City, to promote his album ''A Map of the Floating City''.
American West
Another setting is "Western" steampunk, which overlaps with both the Weird West and Science fiction Western subgenres. One of the earliest steampunk books set in America was ''The Steam Man of the Prairies
''The Steam Man of the Prairies'' by Edward S. Ellis was the first U.S. science fiction dime novel and archetype of the Frank Reade series. It is one of the earliest examples of the so-called "Edisonade" genre. Ellis was a prolific 19th-century au ...
'' by Edward S. Ellis
Edward Sylvester Ellis (April 11, 1840 – June 20, 1916) was an American author who was born in Ohio and died at Cliff Island, Maine.
Ellis was a teacher, school administrator, journalist, and the author of hundreds of books and magazine ...
. Recent examples include the TV show and the movie adaption ''Wild Wild West'', the Italian comics about Magico Vento, Devon Monk's ''Dead Iron'', and the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Disneyland-style Disney Parks around the world.
Fantasy and horror
Kaja Foglio introduced the term "Gaslight Romance", gaslamp fantasy, which John Clute and John Grant (author), John Grant define as "steampunk stories ... most commonly set in a romanticised, smoky, 19th-century London, as are Gaslight Romances. But the latter category focuses nostalgically on icons from the late years of that century and the early years of the 20th century—on Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde, Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes and even Tarzan—and can normally be understood as combining supernatural fiction and recursive fantasy, though some gaslight romances can be read as fantasies of history." Author/artist James Richardson-Brown coined the term ''steamgoth'' to refer to steampunk expressions of fantasy and horror fiction, horror with a "darker" bent.Post-apocalyptic
Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic fiction, Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of scie ...
's ''The Last Man'', set near the end of the 21st century after a plague had brought down civilization, was probably the ancestor of post-apocalyptic steampunk literature. Post-apocalyptic steampunk is set in a world where some cataclysm has precipitated the fall of civilization and steam power is once again ascendant, such as in Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...
's Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic anime ''Future Boy Conan
, also known as ''Conan, The Boy in Future'', is a Japanese post-apocalyptic science fiction anime series. It is an adaptation of American science-fiction writer Alexander Key's 1970 novel ''The Incredible Tide''. It was broadcast for twenty ...
'' (1978, loosely based on Alexander Key's ''The Incredible Tide'' (1970)), where a war fought with superweapons has devastated the planet. Robert Brown (musician), Robert Brown's novel, ''The Wrath of Fate'' (as well as much of Abney Park (band), Abney Park's music) is set in a Victorianesque world where an apocalypse was set into motion by a time-traveling mishap. Cherie Priest's Boneshaker (novel), Boneshaker series is set in a world where a zombie apocalypse happened during the American Civil War, Civil War era. ''The Peshawar Lancers'' by S.M. Stirling is set in a post-apocalyptic future in which a meteor shower in 1878 caused the collapse of industrialized civilization. The movie 9 (2009 animated film), 9 (which might be better classified as "stitchpunk" but was largely influenced by steampunk) is also set in a post-apocalyptic world after a self-aware war machine ran amok. ''Steampunk Magazine'' even published a book called ''A Steampunk's Guide to the Apocalypse'', about how steampunks could survive should such a thing actually happen.
Victorian
In general, this category includes any recent science fiction that takes place in a recognizable historical period (sometimes an alternate history version of an actual historical period) in which the Industrial Revolution has already begun, but electricity is not yet widespread, "usually Britain of the early to mid-nineteenth century or the fantasized Wild West-era United States", with an emphasis on steam- or spring-propelled gadgets. The most common historical steampunk settings are the Victorian era, Victorian and Edwardian eras, though some in this "Victorian steampunk" category are set as early as the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and as late as the end of World War I.
Some examples of this type include the novel ''The Difference Engine'', the comic book series ''League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'', the Disney animated film '' Atlantis: The Lost Empire'', Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan (Westerfeld novel), ''Leviathan'' trilogy, and the roleplaying game ''Space: 1889.'' The anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
film ''Steamboy
is a 2004 Japanese animated steampunk action film produced by Sunrise, directed and co-written by Katsuhiro Otomo, his second major anime release as a director, following '' Akira'' (1988). The film was released in Japan by Toho on July 17, 20 ...
'' (2004) is another example of Victorian steampunk, taking place in an alternate 1866 where steam technology is far more advanced than reality. Some, such as the comic series ''Girl Genius'', have their own unique times and places despite partaking heavily of the flavor of historic settings. Other comic series are set in a more familiar London, as in the ''Victorian Undead'', which has Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson, and others taking on zombies, Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, and Count Dracula, with advanced weapons and devices. Another example of this genre is the ''Tunnels (novel), Tunnels'' novels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams. These are set in the modern day, but with an underground Victorian world that is working to overthrow the world above. Detective graphic novel series Lady Mechanika is set in an alternative Victorian-like world.
Karel Zeman's film ''The Fabulous World of Jules Verne'' (1958) is a very early example of cinematic steampunk. Based on Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
novels, Zeman's film imagines a past that never was, based on those novels. Other early examples of historical steampunk in cinema include Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...
's anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
films such as ''Laputa: Castle in the Sky'' (1986) and ''Howl's Moving Castle
''Howl's Moving Castle'' is a fantasy novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones, first published in 1986 by Greenwillow Books of New York. It was a runner-up for the annual Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and won the Phoenix Award twenty years ...
'' (2004), which contain many archetypal anachronisms characteristic of the steampunk genre.
"Historical" steampunk usually leans more towards science fiction than fantasy, but a number of historical steampunk stories have incorporated magical elements as well. For example, ''Morlock Night'', written by K. W. Jeter
Kevin Wayne Jeter (born March 26, 1950) is an American science fiction and horror author known for his literary writing style, dark themes, and paranoid, unsympathetic characters. He has written novels set in the '' Star Trek'' and '' Star Wa ...
, revolves around an attempt by the wizard Merlin to raise King Arthur to save the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Britain of 1892 from an invasion of Morlocks from the future.
Paul Guinan's ''Boilerplate (robot), Boilerplate'', a "biography" of a robot in the late 19th century, began as a website that garnered international press coverage when people began believing that Photoshop images of the robot with historic personages were real. The site was adapted into the illustrated hardbound book ''Boilerplate: History's Mechanical Marvel'', which was published by Abrams in October 2009. Because the story was not set in an alternative history, and in fact contained accurate information about the Victorian era, some booksellers referred to the tome as "historical steampunk".
East Asia
Fictional settings inspired by East Asian rather than Western history, especially those inspired by History of China, Chinese history, have been called "silkpunk". The term originated with the author Ken Liu, who defined it as "a blend of science fiction and fantasy [that] draws inspiration from classical East Asian antiquity", with a "technology vocabulary (...) based on organic materials historically important to East Asia (bamboo, paper, silk) and seafaring cultures of the Pacific (coconut, feathers, coral)", rather than the brass and leather associated with steampunk. Liu used the term to describe his ''Dandelion Dynasty'' series, which began in 2015. Other works described as silkpunk include Neon Yang's ''Tensorate'' series of novellas, which began in 2017. Lyndsie Manusos of Book Riot has argued that the genre does "not fit in a direct analogy with steampunk. Silkpunk is technology and poetics. It is engineering and language."Music
Steampunk music is very broadly defined. Abney Park (band), Abney Park's lead singer Robert Brown (musician), Robert Brown defined it as "mixing Victorian elements and modern elements". There is a broad range of musical influences that make up the steampunk sound, from industrial dance and world music to folk rock, dark cabaret to straightforward punk rock, punk, Carnatic music, Carnatic to industrial music, industrial, hip-hop to opera (and even Doctor Steel, industrial hip-hop opera), darkwave to progressive rock, Barbershop Quartet, barbershop to big band.
Joshua Pfeiffer (of Vernian Process) is quoted as saying, "As for Paul Roland, if anyone deserves credit for spearheading Steampunk music, it is him. He was one of the inspirations I had in starting my project. He was writing songs about the first attempt at manned flight, and an Edwardian airship raid in the mid-80s long before almost anyone else..." Thomas Dolby is also considered one of the early pioneers of retro-futurist (i.e., Steampunk and Dieselpunk) music. Amanda Palmer was once quoted as saying, "Thomas Dolby is to Steampunk what Iggy Pop was to Punk rock, Punk!"
Steampunk has also appeared in the work of musicians who do not specifically identify as steampunk. For example, the music video of Turn Me On (David Guetta song), "Turn Me On", by David Guetta and featuring Nicki Minaj, takes place in a steampunk universe where Guetta creates human androids. Another music video is "The Ballad of Mona Lisa", by Panic! at the Disco, which has a distinct Victorian steampunk theme. A continuation of this theme has been used throughout the 2011 album ''Vices And Virtues, Vices & Virtues'', in the music videos, album art, and tour set and costumes. In addition, the album ''Clockwork Angels'' (2012) and its supporting Clockwork Angels Tour, tour by progressive rock band Rush (band), Rush contain lyrics, themes, and imagery based around steampunk. Similarly, Abney Park (band), Abney Park headlined the first "Steamstock" outdoor steampunk music festival in Richmond, California, which also featured Thomas Dolby, Frenchy and the Punk, Lee Presson and the Nails, Vernian Process, and others.
The music video for the Lindsey Stirling song "Roundtable Rival", has a Western steampunk setting.
Television and films
''The Fabulous World of Jules Verne'' (1958) and ''The Fabulous Baron Munchausen'' (1962), both directed by Karel Zeman, have steampunk elements. The 1965 television series ''The Wild Wild West
''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western, espionage, and science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 1969. Two satirical comedy television film sequels w ...
'', as well as the 1999 Wild, Wild West, film of the same name, features many elements of advanced steam-powered technology set in the Wild West time period of the United States. ''Two Years' Vacation (film), Two Years' Vacation'' (or ''The Stolen Airship'') (1967) directed by Karel Zeman contains steampunk elements.
The BBC series ''Doctor Who'' also incorporates steampunk elements. Several storylines can be classed as steampunk, most notably ''The Evil of the Daleks'' (1966), wherein Victorian scientists invent a time travel device using mirrors and static electricity. During season 14 of the show (in 1976), the formerly futuristic looking interior set was replaced with a Victorian era, Victorian-styled wood-panel and brass affair. In the 1996 American co-production, the TARDIS interior was re-designed to resemble an almost Victorian library with the central control console made up of an eclectic array of anachronistic objects. Modified and streamlined for the 2005 revival of the series, the TARDIS console continued to incorporate steampunk elements, including a Victorian typewriter and gramophone, for many years.
''Dinner for Adele'' (1977) directed by Oldřich Lipský involves steampunk contraptions. The 1979 film ''Time After Time (1979 film), Time After Time'' has Herbert George Wells, Herbert George "H.G." Wells following a surgeon named John Leslie Stevenson into the future, as John is suspected of being Jack the Ripper. Both separately use Wells's time machine to travel.
''The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians'', (1981) directed by Oldřich Lipský, contains steampunk elements. The 1982 American TV series ''Q.E.D. (U.S. TV series), Q.E.D.'' is set in Edwardian period, Edwardian England, stars Sam Waterston as Professor Quentin Everett Deverill (from whose initials, by which he is primarily known, the series title is derived, initials which also stand for the Latin phrase ''quod erat demonstrandum'', which translates as "which was to be demonstrated"). The Professor is an inventor and scientific detective, in the mold of Sherlock Holmes. The plot of the Soviet Union, Soviet film ''Kin-dza-dza!'' (1986) centers on a desert planet, depleted of its resources, where an impoverished dog-eat-dog society uses steampunk machines, the movements and functions of which defy Earthly logic.
In making his 1986 Japanese film ''Castle in the Sky'', Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...
was heavily influenced by steampunk culture, the film featuring various airships and steampowered contraptions as well as a mysterious island that floats through the sky, accomplished not through magic as in most stories, but instead by harnessing the physical properties of a rare crystal—analogous to the lodestone used in the Laputa of Jonathan Swift, Swift's Gulliver's Travels—augmented by massive propellers, as befitting the Victorian motif. The first "Wallace & Gromit" animation "A Grand Day Out" (1989) features a space rocket in the steampunk style.
The second half of Back_to_the_Future_Part_III, Back to the Future III (1990) gradually evolves into steampunk.
''The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.'', a 1993 Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Network TV science fiction-Western set in the 1890s, features elements of steampunk as represented by the character Professor Wickwire, whose inventions were described as "the coming thing". The short-lived 1995 TV show ''Legend (TV series), Legend'', on UPN, set in 1876 Arizona, features such classic inventions as a steam-driven "quadrovelocipede", Night-vision device#Other technologies, trigoggle and night-vision goggles (à la teslapunk), and stars John de Lancie as a thinly disguised Nikola Tesla.
Alan Moore's and Kevin O'Neill (comics), Kevin O'Neill's 1999 ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' graphic novel series (and the subsequent 2003 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film), film adaption) greatly popularised the steampunk genre.
''Steamboy
is a 2004 Japanese animated steampunk action film produced by Sunrise, directed and co-written by Katsuhiro Otomo, his second major anime release as a director, following '' Akira'' (1988). The film was released in Japan by Toho on July 17, 20 ...
'' (2004) is a Japanese animated action film directed and co-written by Katsuhiro Otomo
is a Japanese manga artist, screenwriter, animator and film director. He is best known as the creator of '' Akira'', in terms of both the original 1982 manga series and the 1988 animated film adaptation. He was decorated a ''Chevalier'' of th ...
(''Akira (1988 film), Akira''). It is a retro science-fiction epic set in a steampunk Victorian England. It features steamboats, trains, airships and inventors. The 2004 film ''Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events'' contains steampunk-esque elements such as costumes and vehicle interiors. The 2007 Syfy miniseries ''Tin Man (TV miniseries), Tin Man'' incorporates a considerable number of steampunk-inspired themes into a reimagining of L. Frank Baum's ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz''. Despite leaning more towards Gothic fiction, Gothic influences, the "parallel reality" of Meanwhile, City, within the 2009 film ''Franklyn'' contains many steampunk themes, such as costumery, architecture, minimal use of electricity (with a preference for gaslight), and absence of modern technology (such as there being no motorised vehicles or advanced weaponry, and the manual management of information without computers).
The 2009–2014 Syfy television series ''Warehouse 13'' features many steampunk-inspired objects and artifacts, including computer designs created by steampunk artisan Richard Nagy, a.k.a. "Datamancer". The 2010 episode of the TV series ''Castle (TV series), Castle'' entitled "Punked" (which first aired on October 11, 2010) prominently features the steampunk subculture and uses Los Angeles-area steampunks (such as the League of STEAM) as extras. The 2011 film ''The Three Musketeers (2011 film), The Three Musketeers'' has many steampunk elements, including gadgets and airships.
''The Legend of Korra'', a 2012–2014 Nickelodeon animated series, incorporates steampunk elements in an industrialized world with East Asian themes.
The ''Penny Dreadful (TV series), Penny Dreadful'' (2014) television series is a Gothic Victorian fantasy series with steampunk props and costumes.
The 2015 Game Show Network, GSN reality television game show ''Steampunk'd'' features a competition to create steampunk-inspired art and designs which are judged by notable steampunks Thomas Willeford, Kate Lambert, Kato, and Matthew Yang King (as Matt King). Based on the work of cartoonist Jacques Tardi, ''April and the Extraordinary World'' (2015) is an animated movie set in a steampunk Paris. It features airships, trains, submarines, and various other steam-powered contraptions. Tim Burton's 2016 film ''Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016 film), Alice Through the Looking Glass'' features steampunk costumes, props, and vehicles.
Japanese anime ''Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress'' (2016) features a steampunk zombie apocalypse.
The American fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
animated sitcom, ''Disenchantment (TV series), Disenchantment'', created by Matt Groening for Netflix, features a steampunk country named Steamland, led by an odd industrialist named Alva Gunderson voiced by Richard Ayoade, first appears in the season 1 episode, "The Electric Princess." The country is portrayed as driven by logic and is egalitarian, governed by science, rather than magic, as is the case for Dreamland, where the protagonist, Princess Bean, is from. The country has cars, automatic lights, submarines, and other modern technologies, all of which are steam-powered, and references to Groening's other series, ''Futurama''. Steamland appears in three episodes of the show's second season, showing an explorers club as part of the country's high society (social class), high society, flying zeppelins, and robots with light bulbs for heads that chase the protagonists through the streets. Some even argued that Steamland is "dieselpunk
Dieselpunk is a retrofuturistic subgenre of science fiction similar to steampunk or cyberpunk that combines the aesthetics of the diesel-based technology of the interwar period through to the 1950s with retro-futuristic technology and postmodern ...
-inspired."
Video games
A variety of styles of video games have used steampunk settings. ''Steel Empire'' (1992), a shoot 'em up game originally released as ''Koutetsu Teikoku'' on the Sega Mega Drive console in Japan, is considered to be the first steampunk video game. Designed by Yoshinori Satake and inspired byHayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...
's anime film ''Laputa: Castle in the Sky'' (1986), ''Steel Empire'' is set in an alternate timeline dominated by steam-powered technology. The commercial success of ''Steel Empire'', both in Japan and the West, helped propel steampunk into the Video game industry, video game market, and had a significant influence on later steampunk games. The most notable steampunk game it influenced is ''Final Fantasy VI'' (1994), a Japanese role-playing game developed by Squaresoft and designed by Hiroyuki Ito for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. ''Final Fantasy VI'' was both critically and commercially successful, and had a considerable influence on later steampunk video games.
''The Chaos Engine'' (1993) is a run and gun (video game), run and gun video game inspired by the Gibson/Sterling novel ''The Difference Engine'' (1990), set in a Victorian steampunk age. Developed by the Bitmap Brothers, it was first released on the Amiga in 1993; a sequel was released in 1996. The graphic adventure game, graphic adventure puzzle video games ''Myst'' (1993), ''Riven'' (1997), ''Myst III: Exile'' (2001), and ''Myst IV: Revelation'' (all produced by or under the supervision of Cyan Worlds) take place in an alternate steampunk universe, where elaborate infrastructures have been built to run on steam power. ''The Elder Scrolls'' (since 1994, last release in 2014) is an action role-playing game where one can find an ancient extinct race called dwemers or dwarves, whose steampunk technology is based on steam-powered levers and gears made of copper-bronze material, which are maintained by magical techniques that have kept them in working order over the centuries.
''Sakura Wars
is a Japanese steampunk media franchise created by Oji Hiroi and owned by Sega. It is focused around a series of cross-genre video games. The first game in the series was released in 1996, with five sequels and numerous spin-off titles being ...
'' (1996), a visual novel and tactical role-playing game developed by Sega
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
for the Sega Saturn, Saturn console, is set in a steampunk version of Japan during the Meiji and Taishō periods, and features steam-powered mecha robots. ''Thief: The Dark Project'' (1998), its sequels, ''Thief II'' (2000), ''Thief: Deadly Shadows'' (2004) and its reboot ''Thief (2014 video game), Thief'' (2014) are set in a steampunk metropolis. The 2001 computer role-playing game ''Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura'' mixed fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
tropes with steampunk.
The ''Professor Layton'' series of games (2007 debut) has several entries showcasing steampunk machinery and vehicles. Notably ''Professor Layton and the Unwound Future'' features a quasi-steampunk future setting. ''Solatorobo'' (2010) is a role-playing video game developed by CyberConnect2 set in a floating island archipelago populated by anthropomorphic cats and dogs, who pilot steampunk airships and engage in combat with robots. ''Resonance of Fate'' (2010) is a role-playing video game developed by tri-Ace and published by Sega for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is set in a steampunk environment with combat involving guns.
''Impossible Creatures'' (2003) real-time strategy game inspired by the works of H. G. Welles, especially "The Island of Doctor Moreau". Developed by Relic Entertainment, it sees an adventurer building an army of genetically spliced animals to battle against a mad scientist who has abducted his father. The player's headquarters is a steam-powered "Hovertrain" locomotive, which functions as both a science lab and mobile command center. Coal is a key resource in the game, and must be burned to provide power to the players many base buildings.
The ''SteamWorld'' series of games (2010 debut) has the player controlling steam-powered robots. ''Minecraft'' (2011) has a steampunk-themed texture pack. ''Terraria'' (2011) is a video game developed by Re-Logic. It is a 2D open world platform game in which the player controls a single character in a generated world. It has a Steampunker non-player character in the game who sells items referencing Steampunk.
''LittleBigPlanet 2'' (2011) has the world Victoria's Laboratory, run by Victoria von Bathysphere, which mixes steampunk themes with confections. ''Guns of Icarus Online'' (2012) is multiplayer game with steampunk themes. ''Dishonored'' (2012) and ''Dishonored 2'' (2016) are set within a fictional world with heavy steampunk influences, wherein whale oil, as opposed to coal, served as catalyst for their industrial revolution.
''Dishonored (series), Dishonored'' is a series (2012 debut) of stealth game, stealth games with role-playing elements developed by Arkane Studios and widely considered to be a spiritual successor of the original ''Thief'' trilogy. Set in the Empire of the Isles, a steampunk Victorian metropolis where technology and supernatural magic coexist. Steam-powered robots and mechanical combat suits are present as enemies, as well as the presence of magic. The major locations in the Isles include Dunwall, the Empire's capital city which uses the burning of whale oil as the city's main fuel source, and Karnaca, which is powered by wind turbines fed by currents generated by a cleft mountain along the city's borders.
''BioShock Infinite'' (2013) is a first-person shooter game set in 1912, in a fictional city called Columbia, which uses technology to float in the sky and has many historical and religious scenes.
''Code: Realize − Guardian of Rebirth'' (2014), a Japanese otome game for the PS Vita is set in a steampunk Victorian London, and features a cast with several historical figures with steampunk aesthetics. ''Code Name S.T.E.A.M.'' (2015), a Japanese tactical RPG game for the 3DS set in a steampunk fantasy version of London where you are a conscript in the strike force S.T.E.A.M. (short for Strike Team Eliminating the Alien Menace). ''They Are Billions'' (2017), is a steampunk strategy game in a post-apocalyptic setting. Players build a colony and attempt to ward off waves of zombies. ''Frostpunk'' (2018) is a city-building game set in 1888, but where the Earth is in the midst of a great Ice age, Ice Age. Players must construct a city around a large steampunk heat generator with many steampunk aesthetics and mechanics, such as a "Steam Core."
Toys
Mattel's ''Monster High'' dolls List of Monster High characters#Robecca Steam, Robecca Steam and Hexiciah Steam. The ''Pullip Dolls'' by Japanese manufacturer Dal have a steampunk range. Hornby Railways, Hornby's world of Bassett-Lowke steampunk modelsCulture and community
Because of the popularity of steampunk, there is a growing movement of adults that want to establish steampunk as a culture and lifestyle. Some fans of the genre adopt a steampunk aesthetic through fashion, home decor, music, and film. While Steampunk is considered the amalgamation of Victorian aesthetic principles with modern sensibilities and technologies, it can be more broadly categorised as neo-Victorianism, described by scholar Marie-Luise Kohlke as "the afterlife of the nineteenth century in the cultural imaginary". The subculture has its own magazine, blogs, and online shops. In September 2012, a panel, chaired by steampunk entertainer Veronique Chevalier and with panelists including magician Pop Hadyn and members of the steampunk performance group the League of STEAM, was held at Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo. The panel suggested that because steampunk was inclusive of and incorporated ideas from various other subcultures such as goth, neo-Victorian, and cyberpunk, as well as a growing number of fandoms, it was fast becoming a ''super-culture'' rather than a mere subculture. Other steampunk notables such as Professor Elemental have expressed similar views about steampunk's inclusive diversity. Some have proposed a steampunk philosophy that incorporates punk-inspired anti-establishment sentiments typically bolstered by optimism about human potential. A 2004 ''Steampunk Manifesto'', later republished in ''SteamPunk Magazine'', lamented that most "so-called" steampunk was nothing more than dressed-up recreationary nostalgia and proposed that "authentic" steampunk would "take the levers of technology from the [technocrats] and powerful." American activist and performer Miriam Rosenberg Rocek impersonated anarcha-feminist Emma Goldman to inspire discussions around gender, society and politics. ''SteamPunk Magazine'' was edited and published by anarchists. Its founder, Margaret Killjoy, argued "there have always been radical politics at the core of steampunk." Diana M. Pho, a science-fiction editor and author of the multicultural steampunk blo''Beyond Victoriana''
similarly argued steampunk's "Progressivism, progressive roots" can be traced to its literary inspirations, including Verne's
Captain Nemo
Captain Nemo (; later identified as an Indian, Prince Dakkar) is a fictional character created by the French novelist Jules Verne (1828–1905). Nemo appears in two of Verne's science-fiction classics, ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' ( ...
. Steampunk authors Phenderson Djèlí Clark, Jaymee Goh, Dru Pagliassotti, and Charlie Stross consider their work political.
These views are not universally shared. Killjoy lamented that even some diehard enthusiasts believe steampunk "has nothing to offer but designer clothes." Pho argued many steampunk fans "don't like to acknowledge that their attitudes could be considered ideological." The largest online steampunk community''Brass Goggles''
which is dedicated to what it calls the "lighter side" of steampunk, banned discussion about politics. Cory Gross, who was one of the first to write about the history and theory of steampunk, argued that the "sepia-toned yesteryear more appropriate for Disney and grandparents than a vibrant and viable philosophy or culture" denounced in the ''Steampunk Manifesto'' was in fact representative of the genre. Author Catherynne M. Valente called the punk in steampunk "nearly meaningless." Kate Franklin and James Schafer, who at the time managed one of the largest steampunk groups on Facebook, admitted in 2011 that steampunk hadn't created the "revolutionary, or even a particularly progressive" community they wanted. Blogger and podcaster Eric Renderking Fisk announced in 2017 that steampunk was no longer punk, since it had "lost the anti-authoritarian, anti-establishment aspects." Others argued explicitly against turning steampunk into a political movement, preferring to see steampunk as "escapism" or a "fandom". In 2018, Nick Ottens, editor of the online alternate-history magazine ''Never Was'', declared that the "lighter side" of steampunk had won out. To the extent that steampunk is politicization, politicized, it appears to be an American and British phenomenon. Continental Europeans and Latin Americans are more likely to consider steampunk a hobby than a cause.
Social events
June 19, 2005 marked the grand opening of the world's first steampunk club night, "Malediction Society", in Los Angeles. The event ran for nearly 12 years at The Monte Cristo nightclub, interrupted by a single year residency at Argyle Hollywood, until both the club night and The Monte Cristo closed in April 2017. Though the steampunk aesthetic eventually gave way to a more generic Gothic rock, goth and Industrial music, industrial aesthetic, Malediction Society celebrated its roots every year with "The Steampunk Ball". 2006 saw the first "SalonCon", a neo-Victorian/steampunk convention. It ran for three consecutive years and featured artists, musicians (Voltaire (musician), Voltaire and Abney Park), authors (Catherynne M. Valente, Ekaterina Sedia, and G. D. Falksen), Salon (gathering), salons led by people prominent in their respective fields, workshops and panels on steampunk—as well as a seance, ballroom dance instruction, and the Chrononauts' Parade. The event was covered by MTV and ''The New York Times''. Since then, a number of popular steampunk conventions have sprung up the world over, with names like Steamcon (Seattle), the Steampunk World's Fair (Piscataway, New Jersey), Up in the Aether: The Steampunk Convention (Dearborn, Michigan), Steampunk NZ (Oamaru, New Zealand), Steampunk Unlimited (Strasburg Railroad, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Lancaster, PA). Each year, on Mother's Day weekend, the city of Waltham, Massachusetts, Waltham, MA, turns over its city center and surrounding areas to host the Watch City Steampunk Festival, a US outdoor steampunk festival. In Kennebunk, Maine, Kennebunk, ME the Brick Store Museum hosts the Southern Maine Steampunk Fair annually. During the first weekend of May, the Australian town of Nimmitabel celebrates Steampunk @ Altitude with some 2,000 attendance.
In recent years, steampunk has also become a regular feature at San Diego Comic-Con International, with the Saturday of the four-day event being generally known among steampunks as "Steampunk Day", and culminating with a photo-shoot for the local press. In 2010, this was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest steampunk photo shoot. In 2013, Comic-Con announced four official 2013 T-shirts, one of them featuring the official Rick Geary Comic-Con toucan mascot in steampunk attire. The Saturday steampunk "after-party" has also become a major event on the steampunk social calendar: in 2010, the headliners included The Slow Poisoner, Unextraordinary Gentlemen, and Voltaire, with Veronique Chevalier as Mistress of Ceremonies and special appearance by the League of STEAM; in 2011, UXG returned with Abney Park.
Steampunk has also sprung up recently at Renaissance Festivals and Renaissance Faires, in the US. Some festivals have organised events or a "Steampunk Day", while others simply support an open environment for donning steampunk attire. The Bristol Renaissance Faire in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on the Wisconsin/Illinois border, featured a Steampunk costume contest during the 2012 season, the previous two seasons having seen increasing participation in the phenomenon.
Steampunk also has a growing following in the UK and Europe. The largest European event is "Weekend at the Asylum", held at The Lawn, Lincoln, every September since 2009. Organised as a not-for-profit event by the Victorian Steampunk Society, the Asylum is a dedicated steampunk event which takes over much of the historical quarter of Lincoln, England, along with Lincoln Castle. In 2011, there were over 1000 steampunks in attendance. The event features the Empire Ball, Majors Review, Bazaar Eclectica, and the international Tea Duelling final.
The Surrey Steampunk Convivial was originally held in New Malden, but since 2019 has been held in Stoneleigh, Surrey, Stoneleigh in southwestern London, within walking distance of H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''
Lincoln is Officially the World’s Most Steampunk Location
" ''Visit Lincoln'', 30 April 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
Steampunk Culture
Documentary produced by Off Book (web series), Off Book
Steampunk Wiki
{{Authority control Steampunk, Fantasy genres Science fiction fandom Fantasy fandom History of fashion Retro style Science fantasy Science fiction culture Science fiction genres Science fiction themes Subcultures 1980s neologisms Works about the Industrial Revolution
Revised 18 May 2015. ''
Other
A 2018 physics Ph.D. dissertation used the phrase "Quantum Steampunk" to describe the author's synthesis of some 19th century and current ideas. The term has not been widely adopted. A 2012 conference paper on human factors in computing systems examines the use of steampunk as a design fiction for human-computer interaction (HCI). It concludes that "the practices of DIY and appropriation that are evident in Steampunk design provide a useful set of design strategies and implications for HCI". Steampunk HQ, a museum and arts centre dedicated to steampunk in Oamaru, New Zealand, along with its associated art gallery (The Libratory), was the world's first steampunk museum. The town of Oamaru and the English city of Lincoln, England, Lincoln have both claimed the title of "Steampunk Capital of the World".Murray, J.,Lincoln is Officially the World’s Most Steampunk Location
" ''Visit Lincoln'', 30 April 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
See also
*Air pirate – Common stock character in steampunk * * * * Dark academia * * * *Notes
References
Further reading
* * * * * * * * * * * *External links
Steampunk Culture
Documentary produced by Off Book (web series), Off Book
Steampunk Wiki
{{Authority control Steampunk, Fantasy genres Science fiction fandom Fantasy fandom History of fashion Retro style Science fantasy Science fiction culture Science fiction genres Science fiction themes Subcultures 1980s neologisms Works about the Industrial Revolution