Steampunk

I would like to devote my first actual blog to something I feel needs addressing, and for which I am not yet powerful enough to influence wikipedia.org discussion pages opinion. Further, it is a topic in which I care about, and did so before the term became popular; however it is a term which I feel has now been abducted (as is so often the case when something becomes fashionable) to become something which it did not set out to become. I plan here on making a first stand at reclaiming the meaning of steampunk for those who subscribed to this genre and kept it hidden in their geeky closets.

Now, if you don't know what steampunk is all about, I suggest you go and look it up on wikipedia yourself: ...or click here. Then, forget about half of what you read and come back here and I will tell you what it's meant to be about.

Rule #1: Steampunk is anachronistic.
...If you don't know what this means, it means it is based on a time period which didn't actually occur in history, but almost seems like it did exist (or perhaps should have). Yes, it is mostly placed in a Victorian/Edwardian time space, but it doesn't mean that everything has to fit this space. It is usually dependent on what would have been acceptable as at least an idea conceived within this time. However, steampunk can span other chronotopias and still be considered steampunk

Rule #2: Steampunk was not designed to be a fashion.
Goggles ARE cool, I will be the first to agree. But dressing in an Victorian/Edwardian style DOES NOT MAKE YOU STEAMPUNK. It is widely accepted that steampunk does pertain mostly to the Victorian and Edwardian periods, but its not because of its duties to fashion. Also, cogs, pistols and top hats will not make you steampunk either - so get over it and find a new name to call yourself.

Rule #3: Steampunk is more about practicality, and about what could have been if things had been different.
A lot of steampunk stuff revolves around machinery, hence the eventual obsession with clockwork, cogs, etc. But inventions don't have to look better than when they started either. Bits of random shit stuck onto something to make it work (or work better), even if it looks crap, can still be steampunk. In fact, half of the aesthetics of steampunk machinery is its haphazard amalgamation of random paraphernalia into a contraption that amazingly actually does something useful (and potentially something we could do before). Yes, this does usually include brass, copper, glass, tin, mechanical parts and a very limited amount of electronics. In true style, it often has a magical element to it as was the view of electricity in times bygone. However, canvas, leather and other simple items can also be included into the workmanship and still fit this style. Which brings me to my next point...

Rule #4: Steampunk is based on an absurdist view of the time of steampower
Yes, this is how it got its name, without me officially giving someone credit for coining the phrase. Thus most 'time period' related stuff with this genre requires it to fit around this idea: That steam power was the main mechanical function. The idea of making flying machines, based largely on steam power and other 'ether' technologies, is often where this style belongs.

Rule #5: Steampunk is more of an element, or an essence, not a movement.
Not all genres form into movements. This is definitely the case with steampunk. It started off belonging to geeks who enjoyed reading fantasy-style novels. Elements of steampunk run through lots of fantasy sub-genres: Whether it be His Dark Materials or the Chronicles of Narnia, to the Wheel of Time and Middle-Earth related stories. Even when Mary Shelly wrote 'Frankenstein (or the Modern Prometheus)', the notion of creating a monster, using wicked machines and science, all contain steampunk elements to them. Yet the basis of these stories are very different to just being about steampunk. My point here is, steampunk makes up elements of other movements, and should not be bastardised into being a movement to and unto itself.

I think I'm done for now...