"Steampunk is dead, I am told."
May 3, 2019 1:04 PM Subscribe
Jaymee Goh considers Variations On A Name: The -punks Of Our Times
more Jaymee Goh also: Transcultural Storytelling, Postcolonial Steampunk, And Writing
more Jaymee Goh also: Transcultural Storytelling, Postcolonial Steampunk, And Writing
Steampunk is dead, I am told
Zombiesteampunk. I look forward to it.
posted by nubs at 1:42 PM on May 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
Zombiesteampunk. I look forward to it.
posted by nubs at 1:42 PM on May 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
Zombiesteampunk. I look forward to it.
Already a thing.
posted by tobascodagama at 1:48 PM on May 3, 2019
Already a thing.
posted by tobascodagama at 1:48 PM on May 3, 2019
Steamyachtrock with steamsynths and steamguitars. It's steamy and smooth.
posted by otherchaz at 1:57 PM on May 3, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by otherchaz at 1:57 PM on May 3, 2019 [6 favorites]
New wave ficlit.
posted by glonous keming at 1:59 PM on May 3, 2019
posted by glonous keming at 1:59 PM on May 3, 2019
Steampunk is dead, I am told
Undead undead undead.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 2:01 PM on May 3, 2019 [18 favorites]
Undead undead undead.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 2:01 PM on May 3, 2019 [18 favorites]
Enchanted City steampunk festival's future in Troy uncertain
Tuesday Facebook post said festival would be searching for other location
By Amy Biancolli Updated 3:32 pm EDT, Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Tuesday Facebook post said festival would be searching for other location
By Amy Biancolli Updated 3:32 pm EDT, Wednesday, May 1, 2019
TROY — The Enchanted City steampunk-themed festival, usually held on an early-autumn Saturday in Troy, might move to another location if organizers cannot resolve issues of money and logistics.posted by mikelieman at 2:05 PM on May 3, 2019
At the core of the dispute is the steep reduction of the event's budget from $10,000 to $5,000, said festival founder Susan Dunckel. ...
"When a piece of science fiction speaks to us in the cultural/science-fictional terms of Victoriana – taking influence from Jules Verne, etc – we call it Steampunk. If science fiction speaks to us in the terms of the mid-to-late seventies – Assault On Precinct 13, Action, those very early 2000AD progs, even the 3D splatter-shock films of the 70s – I feel like it needs a special name of its own, too."
Punkpunk
posted by tomp at 2:15 PM on May 3, 2019 [6 favorites]
Punkpunk
posted by tomp at 2:15 PM on May 3, 2019 [6 favorites]
I am very interested in Silkpunk and Bamboopunk now that I know they exist. Ancient East definitely gets the short stick in pop culture, scifi, and fantasy despite having some of the most fantastic cultures and histories in the world.
posted by GoblinHoney at 2:19 PM on May 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by GoblinHoney at 2:19 PM on May 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
I’m trying to figure out what “punk” is supposed to even mean in these contexts. Technology? Overcoats? Nothing at all? And I end up just getting angry at these effing suffixposers.
posted by rodlymight at 3:03 PM on May 3, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by rodlymight at 3:03 PM on May 3, 2019 [8 favorites]
I’m trying to figure out what “punk” is supposed to even mean in these contexts.
I believe it's about the fact that there is advanced technology in eras where it coincides with/provokes social change.
posted by nubs at 3:10 PM on May 3, 2019
I believe it's about the fact that there is advanced technology in eras where it coincides with/provokes social change.
posted by nubs at 3:10 PM on May 3, 2019
I love the aesthetic of the Edwardian era and of Art Nouveau, and I like to try to incorporate Edwardian and Art Nouveau design elements into my clothing and home decor projects in a way that works on a practical, contemporary level. I think of the resulting aesthetic as "Modwardian". You'll notice I haven't seen fit to jam the word "punk" anywhere in the term, because come on.
posted by orange swan at 3:45 PM on May 3, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by orange swan at 3:45 PM on May 3, 2019 [8 favorites]
A "combination of lowlife and high tech" according to Bruce Sterling. There's a fair bit of argument that the punk of cyberpunk referred to the criminal underclass of its protagonists and the overall anti-corporate dystopias in which they were set, although plenty of works deviated from that.
How well that's been replicated in the various childpunks is an good question. There's a strong argument that literary steampunk usually isn't punk at all, although the musical subculture was often rebranded goth, which was one of the post-punks. (Side-diversion, is Honour Among Punks more steampunk than steampunk?) Solarpunk also strikes me as very anti-corporate, although it feels to me a little bit too fluffy to fit neatly into punk. I must admit that I soured on dieselpunk when Correia ended up one of the sad puppies, although I noted that the guns ended up with more detail in Hard Magic than any of the secondary characters. I kind of think "Jazz Age Fantasy" would be a better term there.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 3:59 PM on May 3, 2019 [8 favorites]
How well that's been replicated in the various childpunks is an good question. There's a strong argument that literary steampunk usually isn't punk at all, although the musical subculture was often rebranded goth, which was one of the post-punks. (Side-diversion, is Honour Among Punks more steampunk than steampunk?) Solarpunk also strikes me as very anti-corporate, although it feels to me a little bit too fluffy to fit neatly into punk. I must admit that I soured on dieselpunk when Correia ended up one of the sad puppies, although I noted that the guns ended up with more detail in Hard Magic than any of the secondary characters. I kind of think "Jazz Age Fantasy" would be a better term there.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 3:59 PM on May 3, 2019 [8 favorites]
I'll bump "A Dead Djinn in Cairo" as a favorite jazz-age fic.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 4:05 PM on May 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 4:05 PM on May 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
Heh, just a couple of hours ago, the word BramblePunk dropped into my head, unprompted. This is SF that Robert Macfarlane would probably write.
posted by dhruva at 4:40 PM on May 3, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by dhruva at 4:40 PM on May 3, 2019 [8 favorites]
Steampunk will not die until I die, at the very least. If steampunk had been around when I was a teen, I would have been into it then and *still into it today*.
Hmph.
posted by tzikeh at 5:52 PM on May 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
Hmph.
posted by tzikeh at 5:52 PM on May 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
Punk, a smouldering ember that does nothing but set things off until they themselves burn out. Momentary sources of ignition.
posted by zengargoyle at 6:13 PM on May 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by zengargoyle at 6:13 PM on May 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
Since the 'steam' in steampunk represents a power-driving technology, we could have alternate history sci-fi based in more recent eras as ACPunk, OctanePunk, NukePunk, and even a semi-current GreenPunk. It's all about the power.
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:42 PM on May 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:42 PM on May 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
Punkpunk is clearly science fiction about teenagers forming three-chord bands that play in unheated warehouses, c'mon.
do I say this because I made a comic about genetically engineered teens in the distant future who start a punk band? maybe.
posted by nonasuch at 7:52 PM on May 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
do I say this because I made a comic about genetically engineered teens in the distant future who start a punk band? maybe.
posted by nonasuch at 7:52 PM on May 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
Can I call Star Control 2 fanfic Pkunkpunk?
posted by ckape at 8:23 PM on May 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by ckape at 8:23 PM on May 3, 2019 [4 favorites]
Is this where I deep in randomly and shout:
Sea punk's not dead!!!!
it kinda metastasized into vapor wave.
posted by kaibutsu at 10:05 PM on May 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
Sea punk's not dead!!!!
it kinda metastasized into vapor wave.
posted by kaibutsu at 10:05 PM on May 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
Since the 'steam' in steampunk represents a power-driving technology,
PriusPunk
posted by otherchaz at 10:07 PM on May 3, 2019
PriusPunk
posted by otherchaz at 10:07 PM on May 3, 2019
It's interesting that the Asian punks mentioned here tend to seem very East Asian. You wouldn't really have bamboo in Bangladesh for example, it'd more likely be jute.
posted by divabat at 10:48 PM on May 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by divabat at 10:48 PM on May 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
I’d be down for jutepunk.
Not sure if it is punk-y enough or set back in time enough to qualify as Silkpunk, but The Poppy War is a pretty awesome and hard-hitting Chinese spin on popular -punk/fantasy tropes. Also the author seems cool, it’s a hell of a debut novel and she published it before heading off to grad school in the UK.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:03 AM on May 4, 2019 [5 favorites]
Not sure if it is punk-y enough or set back in time enough to qualify as Silkpunk, but The Poppy War is a pretty awesome and hard-hitting Chinese spin on popular -punk/fantasy tropes. Also the author seems cool, it’s a hell of a debut novel and she published it before heading off to grad school in the UK.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:03 AM on May 4, 2019 [5 favorites]
Re: Steampunk disappearing, I suspect it’s because it’s been as thoroughly absorbed into the mainstream as cyberpunk was - just as finding gritty street level body augmentation, shitty corporations and computer hacking in any SF setting is utterly unremarkable now finding pseudo-victoriana, clockwork and clanky machinery is utterly unremarkable in any fantasy setting now.
posted by Artw at 5:54 AM on May 4, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Artw at 5:54 AM on May 4, 2019 [3 favorites]
Since the 'steam' in steampunk represents a power-driving technology,
windmillpunk
oarpunk
horsepunk
posted by ephemerae at 6:01 AM on May 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
windmillpunk
oarpunk
horsepunk
posted by ephemerae at 6:01 AM on May 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
Steampunk's dead? Shoot. My wife and I kept having to explain it to folks in Vermont, who had no idea what we were talking about.
posted by doctornemo at 6:25 AM on May 4, 2019
posted by doctornemo at 6:25 AM on May 4, 2019
Also, a vote for schwerpunk.
posted by doctornemo at 6:25 AM on May 4, 2019
posted by doctornemo at 6:25 AM on May 4, 2019
I worked with a guy who ascribed to a fairly narrow definition of punk who used to keep had a running list of all the -punks with a corresponding Ramones song. I can’t remember which one he had for Steam Punk.
posted by thivaia at 8:41 AM on May 4, 2019
posted by thivaia at 8:41 AM on May 4, 2019
Singularitypunk.
posted by Foosnark at 8:50 AM on May 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Foosnark at 8:50 AM on May 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
Hell yeah The Poppy War is incredible... err.. silkpunk. Feels like a weird thing to call it, but I love that book.
Meanwhile, my apartment is completely filled with weird plants (48! Some outrageously large), and a while ago I started calling our vibe “junglepunk” for no reason other than it rolls nicely off the tounge.
posted by weed donkey at 10:40 AM on May 4, 2019
Meanwhile, my apartment is completely filled with weird plants (48! Some outrageously large), and a while ago I started calling our vibe “junglepunk” for no reason other than it rolls nicely off the tounge.
posted by weed donkey at 10:40 AM on May 4, 2019
Hi! This is the topic for me!
First off, I want to turn people onto the music and videos of Howie Lee, who is from Beijing and lives in London. This is the music video for his song Bei Hai, and this one is for Bankers (I wanna put a cw for epilepsy here, just to be safe). This is his soundcloud. I am not sure how this would fit into any of those genres, but I love the aesthetics he has in his videos and the feeling his music evokes, as I feel like it fits way more into something like the Hong Kong or Tokyo influenced cityscapes of Blade Runner and other cyberpunk. My friend told me that Bei Hai uses samples of Chinese instruments that have been banned by their government, which adds an anti-authoritarian flair as the concept of surreptitiously laundering sound and music is considered.
On top of that, the parade scene from Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence is one of my favorites in cinema, and especially in anime, and is an absolutely incredible conglomeration of visuals and audio. I don’t know enough about Asian cultures to know the details of the parade, but my friend who is half-Japanese told me quite a few details about what I was seeing in the parade. Amazing example of Asian cyberpunk.
I’m really interested in afrofuturism/African cyberpunk, especially with the advent of services that allow people to send money to each other in a quick, easy, and effective manner. There is something very punk about using a Nokia phone to send money to your relatives, whereas the rest of us are over here using Venmo and Cash app on our “smart” phones. Mpesa appears to be the common way for people in Kenya to send money to one another, and there are many others.
I’ve talked about the “punk” in cyberpunk so many times on here, always voicing the same issue: there are rarely any punks in cyberpunk. I’ve thought a lot about this, especially in regard to previous discussions I’ve had and the opinions of others on MeFi about this issue:
The replicants in Blade Runner are the punks. Used by humanity to fight wars and to work as slaves on their out world colonies, they decided to rebel and to become social outcasts rather than mere images of humans themselves. I’d love to see a Blade Runner spin-off of replicants causing a labor strike on a colony. I think labor issues in sci-fi is punk in the same vein that things like The Warriors is punk. You’ve got these Bruce Springsteen-esque men searching for meaning through work.
Hiro Protagonist is a pizza delivery guy who I think is squatting in a shipping container. The kids in Akira are misfits running around drinking doing drugs fighting gangs on their motorcycles in the midst of a major cultural upheaval of student anti-government activists and riots.
All of that is punk. Students occupying frat houses, die-ins, being able to send money to your friends 100 miles away, posting banned audio on the internet, black blocs versus riot cops, teachers’ strikes, labor disputes, housing reclamation, oligarch money laundering, hacked elections, private militaries, algorithm manipulation, social media psyops, surveillance states, drones. We’re living this shit right now. Posting on Metafilter about emotions and abuse and our experiences and listening to other peoples’ experiences, people we don’t even know until we organize meet-ups and see them face-to-face, but in some ways we know them better than our own family members. This shit is revolutionary, it’s here right now. We’re all fighting in our own ways.
We’re the punks.
posted by gucci mane at 11:35 AM on May 4, 2019 [5 favorites]
First off, I want to turn people onto the music and videos of Howie Lee, who is from Beijing and lives in London. This is the music video for his song Bei Hai, and this one is for Bankers (I wanna put a cw for epilepsy here, just to be safe). This is his soundcloud. I am not sure how this would fit into any of those genres, but I love the aesthetics he has in his videos and the feeling his music evokes, as I feel like it fits way more into something like the Hong Kong or Tokyo influenced cityscapes of Blade Runner and other cyberpunk. My friend told me that Bei Hai uses samples of Chinese instruments that have been banned by their government, which adds an anti-authoritarian flair as the concept of surreptitiously laundering sound and music is considered.
On top of that, the parade scene from Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence is one of my favorites in cinema, and especially in anime, and is an absolutely incredible conglomeration of visuals and audio. I don’t know enough about Asian cultures to know the details of the parade, but my friend who is half-Japanese told me quite a few details about what I was seeing in the parade. Amazing example of Asian cyberpunk.
I’m really interested in afrofuturism/African cyberpunk, especially with the advent of services that allow people to send money to each other in a quick, easy, and effective manner. There is something very punk about using a Nokia phone to send money to your relatives, whereas the rest of us are over here using Venmo and Cash app on our “smart” phones. Mpesa appears to be the common way for people in Kenya to send money to one another, and there are many others.
I’ve talked about the “punk” in cyberpunk so many times on here, always voicing the same issue: there are rarely any punks in cyberpunk. I’ve thought a lot about this, especially in regard to previous discussions I’ve had and the opinions of others on MeFi about this issue:
The replicants in Blade Runner are the punks. Used by humanity to fight wars and to work as slaves on their out world colonies, they decided to rebel and to become social outcasts rather than mere images of humans themselves. I’d love to see a Blade Runner spin-off of replicants causing a labor strike on a colony. I think labor issues in sci-fi is punk in the same vein that things like The Warriors is punk. You’ve got these Bruce Springsteen-esque men searching for meaning through work.
Hiro Protagonist is a pizza delivery guy who I think is squatting in a shipping container. The kids in Akira are misfits running around drinking doing drugs fighting gangs on their motorcycles in the midst of a major cultural upheaval of student anti-government activists and riots.
All of that is punk. Students occupying frat houses, die-ins, being able to send money to your friends 100 miles away, posting banned audio on the internet, black blocs versus riot cops, teachers’ strikes, labor disputes, housing reclamation, oligarch money laundering, hacked elections, private militaries, algorithm manipulation, social media psyops, surveillance states, drones. We’re living this shit right now. Posting on Metafilter about emotions and abuse and our experiences and listening to other peoples’ experiences, people we don’t even know until we organize meet-ups and see them face-to-face, but in some ways we know them better than our own family members. This shit is revolutionary, it’s here right now. We’re all fighting in our own ways.
We’re the punks.
posted by gucci mane at 11:35 AM on May 4, 2019 [5 favorites]
Helvetipunk is to Atompunk as Gaslamp Fantasy is to Steampunk.
posted by acb at 1:55 PM on May 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by acb at 1:55 PM on May 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
Steampunk will probably end up like loungecore, et al: 'dead' to editors and the general public, but still going strong amongst pockets of resistance here and there.
posted by gtrwolf at 5:01 PM on May 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by gtrwolf at 5:01 PM on May 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
I had to explain loungecore to my millennial coworkers a few weeks ago. I was shocked that they didn't know what it was, but as soon as they understood the concept they were totally into it.
posted by maggiemaggie at 5:16 PM on May 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by maggiemaggie at 5:16 PM on May 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
I’m trying to figure out what “punk” is supposed to even mean in these contexts. Technology? Overcoats? Nothing at all? And I end up just getting angry at these effing suffixposers.
These things bother me way more than they should. Cyberpunk had a meaning, so people just took half the word with no thought. There is no more meaning to it than calling everything "-gate" because of Watergate, which also sounds really stupid to me. Anything "-core" will also get my mildly disgusted face, but slightly less because it sort of makes a bit of sense sometimes. Sort of.
Think up some new words people.
posted by bongo_x at 3:14 AM on May 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
These things bother me way more than they should. Cyberpunk had a meaning, so people just took half the word with no thought. There is no more meaning to it than calling everything "-gate" because of Watergate, which also sounds really stupid to me. Anything "-core" will also get my mildly disgusted face, but slightly less because it sort of makes a bit of sense sometimes. Sort of.
Think up some new words people.
posted by bongo_x at 3:14 AM on May 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
At least for solarpunk the word usage makes sense to me since the basic concept is disruption of destructive capitalist structures. That being said, I've only casually read about this stuff on Tumblr and don't claim to be an expert - it just really appeals to me.
posted by brilliantine at 9:42 AM on May 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by brilliantine at 9:42 AM on May 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
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