Steampunk raison d’être
Steampunk aesthetics are a strong influence for Decimononic and if you are reading these lines we are probably in the same boat. But, what happens when you try to go deeper? What’s Steampunk at present? Is it a movement, a counter-culture, a subculture, a community, a style? There is no straight answer to this question, but let’s see if we can throw some light on this issue.
1.- Steampunk Nature
First of all, ‘Steampunk means different things in different places’. It is a fact that there is an incesant debate regarding this topic, and this is why initiatives like the Great Steampunk Debate have arisen. At this point I would like to encourage you to have a look at the definitions of terms like subculture, community or movement. Is there any lowest common denominator? I think there is. We only need to take into consideration the investigations of scientists like Geert Hofstede or Fons Trompenaars about international cultural models and crosscultural communication to realize that the key issue are values.
So, let’s suppose that Steampunk belongs to the group of Punk Ideologies. Has Steampunk anything to do with concepts such as rebellion, anti-authoritarianism, individualism, free thought, discontent or the do it yourself (DIY) ideal? Is it related to subcultures with punk roots, like Goth? After all, references and comparisons to the Punk or Goth subcultures are common when talking about the reach of Steampunk.
As per Birmingham School’s definition of subculture, Goth community has its own unique values, traditions, uses of material objects or artefacts, territory or physical location and space and focal concerns, as well as having their own patterns of media consumption.
It is curious, because I have the impression that steamers tend to think that Goth subculture is uniform. However, nothing could be further from the truth. As it happens with Steampunk, there are subdivisions in the Goth scene. There are many, many small groups in it. In any case, you will probably agree with me if I state that there is a difference at least: Steampunk lacks of the agglutinating power of music (the concept of ‘Steampunk music’ is a subject under discussion), but it has the inspiring influence of literature as conducting wire.
2.- Steampunk future
Value’s determine people’s behaviour and probably this explains the political concerns of many steamers. There is no doubt that Steampunk faces some big challenges (‘ignorance and delusion’ said one of the participants in the Great Steampunk Debate), but this debating activity reflects its vitality. In fact I would like to encourage you to read a couple of articles:
- ‘Why Steampunk (still) matters’ in Parliament and Wake.
- ‘What makes Steampunk so special?’ in The Gatehouse Gazette.
3.- ¿Conclusions?
Would you share your conclusions with us? Taking as starting point that any subculture is based in solid values, which values would you consider characteristic of Steampunk?
JF Alfaya
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Alice says
Though my involvement in the SP world is relatively recent, I have found that the linking values between all SPs I have so far met are courtesy, lack of envy, ingenuity and political awareness.
JF Alfaya says
Dear Alice,
Thank you so much for your comment. You are probably going to like this status update in Facebook with some ideas about this topic 🙂
Come back soon!
Amonite says
First off, linking ‘modern’ day values to Steampunk is tricky business. IE the first article tried meshing OWS with Steampunk and say steampunk ‘should’ have an anti capitalist aesthetic at its core, which actually doesn’t work and would seem to be opposed to Steampunk.
Who are the heroes of Clockpunk? Usually royalty – Kings, princes, princesses, or princes with amnesia. Who tend to be the heroes of Steampunk? Lords, Barons, Nobles – the upper class. Whoe are the Heroes of Teslapunk? Merchants, Businessmen, Private-Eyes- the merchant class. Who are the heroes of dieselpunk? The underdogs, the poor, kids, the rebels, the vigillantes, the outcasts. Certainly there are exceptions, but the trend is that the farther back in time, the higher class the hero and the more ‘capitalist’ or ‘elite’ the value system of the hero. The hero, if good, will usually be a -kind- elite/capitalist, but its rare to find a socialist or a peasant of no rank starring in a steampunk or clockpunk novel. Even among fan made characters, it is usually “The Ducchess of Penumbra” and “Sir Wrothram of Wintercourt”, which are titles for landholders, usually with tenants, not for socialists.
The younger the hero, the more likely they will go through a phase of rebellion, especially if their questline includes a standard call to some noble destiny, or if they are a female wanting to wear boyish clothes or slay monsters in a literal victorian England. If there was a common theme in steampunk, it would seem to be exploring the world/adventure, saving the world from imminent danger, or surviving in the world.
You ask what are the values of steampunk and what makes it different from other genres – even from other genres of punk similar to itself. Steampunk is about both order and imagination, and brings them together in a way no other genre or subgenre (except perhaps clockpunk) can. Much like the motto of the victorian age “Everything beautiful is functional, everything functional is beautiful”. Imagination is taken to the extremes, but only because there is a meticulous underlying structure – in both the society and the gadgets.
In fact, should the hero try to to break the order of that society or their own place in it, then the steampunk world will follow along in disorder (such as Gold Compass). As such many steampunk tales follow either a systopian world out of order that a hero is restoring, or an ordered world that a hero wishes to change. In the case of clockpunk, the hero will often temporarily knock things out of balance until they can be restored, such as the hero finding a new position in the world to fit.
Another unique aspect in steampunk is that good doesn’t always have to be the hero. Evil scientists, bounty hunters, misunderstod robots, mechanical squid, corsetted vampires are just as viable as a stalwart noble seeking to restore fallen London. While its important to have the setting and the constructed environment, the most important focus is always the character and the character’s interaction with that environment.
As to the steampunk community, it’s very ‘do it/make it yourself’ compared to goth. Steampunk also adapts well to many other genres, so its not as exclusive a community as some. Creativity and ingenuity are valued highly. Unlike many communities, (such as anime fandom) steampunk is not merely content to copy, but wishes to create, enact, and continue to build and grow.
JF Alfaya says
Dear Amonite,
First of all thank you so much for sharing your point of view with us.
We totally agree with you when you say ‘linking ‘modern’ day values to Steampunk is tricky business’ and ‘certainly there are exceptions, but the trend is that the farther back in time, the higher class the hero and the more ‘capitalist’ or ‘elite’ the value system of the hero’.
However, are you competely sure about this statement? ‘Steampunk is about both order and imagination, and brings them together in a way no other genre or subgenre (except perhaps clockpunk) can’. Cannot other genres, such as Cyberpunk, offer a similar vision?
‘Another unique aspect in steampunk is that good doesn’t always have to be the hero’. I would probably differentiate between hero and protagonist. Besides, you can find other genres -for example sci-fi- that have anti-heroes as protagonists. May I point out the hackneyed example of the Twilight saga?
‘As to the steampunk community, it’s very ‘do it/make it yourself’ compared to goth. Steampunk also adapts well to many other genres, so its not as exclusive a community as some. Creativity and ingenuity are valued highly. Unlike many communities, (such as anime fandom) steampunk is not merely content to copy, but wishes to create, enact, and continue to build and grow’. We can only say Amen to this 😀
This blog post has generated considerable buzz. For example, this status update in Facebook or the feature in Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonders magazine (‘Decimononic and Steampunk values’).
Thank you so much for your contributions!