Steampunk

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What is Steampunk?

Steampunk is a science‑fiction and speculative‑history sub-genre imagining an alternate past (usually the 19th century) in which advanced technology is powered by steam, clockwork, and Victorian‑era engineering. Often described as “elegant machinery and anarchic adventure,” Steampunk stories explore societies transformed by retro‑futuristic inventions, with characters, inventors, and rogues navigating worlds where brass, gears, and steam drive both progress and social conflict.

Steampunk characteristics include:

Alternate historical or Victorian‑inspired settings where steam power and clockwork tech are dominant
Visible, mechanical technology: brass, gears, pressure gauges, airships, clockwork prosthetics, and elaborate contraptions
Characters who are inventors, engineers, explorers, artisans, or social outsiders familiar with mechanical craft
Aesthetic influences from Victorian fashion, gaslight streets, and period design mixed with imaginative machinery
Themes exploring industrialization, class disparity, the ethics of invention, nostalgia for craftsmanship, and questions about progress versus human cost

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Is Steamboy (2004) the most steampunk movie we have? (lemmy.zip)

submitted 1 month ago by jericho_cross@lemmy.zip to c/steampunk@lemmy.zip

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I always find it strange that the DIY community has a very strong idea of what steampunk looks like. It's Victorian clothes, brass, leather, and gears everywhere. There are steam-powered machines, sure, but I feel like it's the aesthetic that drives the community.

And yet, I can't think of any movie that actually exemplifies that world. There are plenty of movies that have steampunk elements but nothing that really embodies the steampunk "look" to me. The closest I can think of is Steamboy from 2004. It takes place in a Victorian era and has steam-powered devices, and yet it just feels like a WWI movie to me. I guess maybe it's too "grounded" in the real world and I want more ridiculous fantasy elements? I'm not sure what it is.

But what other movies embody that steampunk aesthetic? I can think of plenty of movies that take place in a Victorian era, or maybe include some steam-powered machines, but I can't think of any movie that I can point to and say "You want to know what steampunk is? Go watch this movie." Steamboy is the closest I can think of. Or maybe April and the Extraordinary World? I'm not sure.

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[–] sad_detective_man@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 month ago

Same. I think it caught me off guard the first time I heard it because I didn't think steampunk should be American. Or have that vibe. But it was kind of in that setting, the Confederate guy made all kinds of impossible alternate history technology, and he was planning on building a country using them.

I guess I tend to conceptualize x-punk genres as alternate history because of what they're doing with their setting and narratives. Like, it's about the people and about industry so more things can fit in the guidelines. But I get once you start doing that you end up with the whole Punnett square of "tech agnostic/theme traditional" meme of discourse, so no shade to anyone for not wanting to see it that way.

Oh hell yeah I've been waiting for it. Loved those books as a kid. Yeah I'd say it definitely counts. The Allies are using bio-tech but that's part of the source of the conflict and it's exploring people's relationships to both technologies. Most of the world is on only mechanical technologies. Maybe I'll feel different though after I watch. It's been 15 years