As an appropriate way to begin this new blog, I felt it would be a good time to point out that it is my belief and hope that steampunk is emerging as the newest trend in society and culture. Arising from the goth subculture (as far as I can tell), steampunk draws on Jules Verne-inspired aesthetics to create a movement that combines all that's great about science fiction, alternate history, and goth.
For those who are wondering what all the goth references are about, ask yourself this: what's cooler, a rock-and-roll vampire in tight leather in a modern-day (or modern-night) club, or a vampire on the fog-shrouded, gas-lit streets of London with a long coat, top hat, and cane? And that's only a tiny side aspect of steampunk: the true appeal of it is in airships, steam-driven robots, colonels and majors and how much cooler everything is if you add "Her Majesty's" to its name.
Take for example the steampunk Star Wars phenomenon: everything becomes cooler when you add Steampunk to it, and seeing Star Wars in a new way can be simply mind-blowing.
Steampunk has something pleasantly anachronistic and aristocratic about it. It hearkens back to a time when people could still meaningfully achieve titles of knighthood and become lords, before such titles were handed out to rock stars and movie has-beens. Steampunk makes you realize how outrageously fun it is to speak in anachronistic modern interpretations of 19th-Century speech.
And come on, didn't I already mention the giant airships and steam-powered robots? Because seriously, what more could you possibly want?
1 comment:
The other day, I went to the theatre expecting to see a pleasant amusement, and instead I saw a gang of what I can only describe as hoodlums playing what appeared to be guitars connected to an electric engine! I was most amazed. What has this world come to, sir?
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