HOW LONG CAN STEAMPUNK LAST?

[Lia Keyes]

Steampunk was first christened in 1987, a lifetime ago as cultural and literary fads are measured. It has proved remarkably long-lived, but as Steampunk hits the mainstream cultural radar and finds its way onto primetime tv shows like CASTLE, how long before people start saying they're sick of it? Or is this a genre that will have lasting appeal?

The Barnes and Noble Review's Paul di Filippo gives his opinion HERE. What's yours?

[Kevin Steil]

I think it's all still growing, and there will certainly be growing pains along the way.
Just this last week, Nov 1-5, 2010, there was a spate of anti-steampunk articles and rebuttals.
I don't think that will slow down any time soon as more and more people get involved, and more people learn about steampunk.

Just looking at the list of conventions, there are easily twice as many in 2011 as 2010, which had at least twice as many or more than 2009. And it's not just in the US and Canada, there are new convention springing up all around the world.

There are issues to be addressed but steampunk certainly could be around a very long time.

[D. L. Major]

I think it will last. Better than that, it will grow, in depth as well as in general popularity. This will happen because unlike many fashions and memes, steampunk is a combination of a visual aesthetic and a constructive philosophical framework. (Unlike punk, for example, which was about pulling things apart, steampunk is about pulling them apart, and then putting them back together in new ways as art, writing, music, and awesome costumes. It draws on a rich and fertile history (i.e. the Victorian / Edwardian era), and is therefore rooted in the time when western societies were dealing with issues arising from industrialization and mechanization -- issues that are still with us today. The detractors of steampunk might not like to admit it, but the issues that steampunk deals with, whether the maker chooses to do so in a thoughtful or a playful manner, are relevant to modern society, in a way that is, because of its focus on individual thought and creativity, very relevant -- particularly given the tendency of modern tech to transform us all into button-pushing, screen-swiping clones whose only claim to individuality is the contents of our Facebook pages. I think that steampunk, or whatever it morphs into, is here to stay, and that is a very good thing.

[Rafi Alexandrian Jose]

    Your analysis, IMO, is spot on.  It's not simply about taking things apart.  As a mechanic, (I've actually worked on those elegant old steam engines) I can attest to the delights of putting somthing back together and making it run.  And yes, the issues of industrialization are still here.  Getting worse as globalization renders the means of production more and more abstract and less and less humane. 

    SteamPunk is not about escapism.  It's about reclaiming a positive future by rewriting the past.  The claims staked out are the de facto gold rush of renewed literary works, artistic endevours, and appropriate/humane/beautiful technologies.  How about that as a new twist on "The Gilded Age?"   

    All despite supposedly shortened attention spans, the disinterest of young people in history, reading and writing, and imaginations stunted by TV or video games.  I've read the entire list of introductions at Brass Goggles.  I was amazed how many teens could express themselves.  Not just the highly educated Europeans, but ordinary kids in the American midwest.  Think about this:  SP is driven by literature.  Not by pop music, violent video games, or single sentence mispelled self-centered instant communications.

   There is another aspect of "putting things back together."  A decade or so ago, deconstruction was all the rage.  It was an outcome of the idea that since Einstein's relativity, there is no spot from which to make an objective observation.  Especially since "objectivity' had been found to be simply the viewpoint of western European white males.  So then on to taking apart what was once taken for granted.  But this quickly devolved into something edging on solipcism.  That every view was valid.  And that there were no absolutes, and thus no standards by which to make judgements.  So then what?

    As European historians tell us, modernity, the Enlightenment belief in rational science as the answer to all human problems, died in the trenches of WW I.  Postmodernism has been declared, but has yet to take shape.  Well, we've gotten past the stage of delight in destroying the old and established.  We're sitting on the bricks, wondering what to replace them with. But that's the point of SP.  There has been enough distance that we can reclaim what was of value.  Those old bricks can be made into dandy boiler fireboxes.  Full steam ahead to what I like to call PastModernism.               

         

[Lee Ann Farruga]

I agree with the gentlemen. I believe steampunk is not done growing and evolving. There is such a width and breadth of mediums and venues for people interested in this genre to come at it from (art, music, film, literature, costume, gaming.....) that it is slowly attracting more and more of a diverse audience for any future creations, whether literary or otherwise.

Of course there will always be those who come to any genre or community for the "now" factor and then skip off to the next in line, but I believe steampunk has a lot to offer for a very long time to those who feel akin to it.

[Shelley HW]

I confess, I do feel a certain amount of pressure to catch the steampunk craze, but I believe steampunk fiction will be around for a long time. When I first heard the phrase steampunk, I looked it up on wikipedia, which of course brought up authors such as jules vern, etc... And take comfort in the thought that it has lasted as long as it has already. I think it will flex and morph, branching off into sub genres, but like science fiction, will always hold reader facination.

[Karen L. Syed]

I think the key to all this is support. As authors, it is up to us to write and continue writing the very best stories we can to keep the readers happy. As a whole we can find more and more ways to build the genre with items, costumes, events, films, etc.

 

One of the keys to this would be the independents. Film companies, publishers, artists. With a grand display of support for one another, we can build this into one of the strongest and long living genres.

 

 

[Jim Placzkiewicz]

I hate to state this but Paul di Filippo may have a point...

"Generally speaking, by the time a subculture such as steampunk secures the attention of major media, resulting in extensive coverage of the craze, said phenomenon is already on the way out."

I saw that Castle episode and it wasn't very good.

 

 

[Helen Ryan]

Oh gosh. This question is both scary and easy. I can say with much conviction that as long as 'serious' steampunkers (let's define serious as having been into it before the craze) are around, steampunk will be here. Steampunk will always be evolving and people will always be interested. It's just like that. So far it isn't very mainstream - although I was delighted to find out the one bookstore owner in my county is into it - and I think in most areas it will stay like that. The people who really care about it will stick to it and spread the word. If you don't care so much, then curiosity fades. So to answer the first question, I think it is a genre that will always appeal to some, and will not interest others.

[C.J. Archer]

Since I've become an author of steampunk I've found an amazing number of people who've never heard of it, and these are serious readers who read a lot across genres too.  I enjoy educating them and many sound interested enough to at least try an author or two.  I think as new people discover the genre, it'll grow even more.  It has legs.  I'm hoping.

[dave bartram]

I think its got a few years in it yet. I remember about 5 years ago sending a kind of steampunky paranormal thing to an agent. In the first page or so someone gets atttacked by a vampire - a horrible knobbly thing, not a guy in a dinner suit or a glittery teenager. The agent's reply: I think the vampire fad has about finsihed now.

Shame - it wasn't actually about vampires anyway, and the vampire thing doesn't seem to be going away yet...

[Tracy Zielinski]

I've been seeing more and more Steampunk at the conventions I attend. I think it is just picking up steam (haha).

[Kevin Steil]

Judging by the amount of information I read, track and report on AirshipAmbassador.com, interest is still picking up and new people are joining in the fun in all aspects. There are more steampunk-specific conventions as well as steampunk programming tracks at other conventions. There are more local groups and events happening each month, and there are more books being released each month. Boilerplate is being made into a movie, and other movie ideas are being pitched around.

 

C.J is right that there are lots of people who haven't heard about steampunk,  which means still more people to find it and be interested.

 

Still, "some day" steampunk will be on the decline, at least for awhile. it's the usual ebb and flow of an interest in anything. And with the cyclical nature of things, it would rebound with a new generation and be similar but different than it is today. Vampires, zombies, aliens, Star Trek... the interest comes and goes, and each cycle has a different take and presentation, often based on culture and world events/feel at the time.