Why Steampunk?

Steampunk is the most latest fad
To drive all of the scenesters quite mad-
Where sexy is brains,
and airships and trains,
In a culture that thinks old is bad.


Steampunk is a form of Retro-Futurism that is loosely based on the Victorian era, and the science fiction of that age.

Retro-Futurism is a newfangled term for two simultaneous phenomena:

1) Seeing the unrealized potential of the past.

2) Projecting upon the past the hopes and insecurities of the present.

But as with all labels, it is inherently an incomplete definition. I myself like the sound of the label, but it holds little inherent value to me.

I will confess a certain degree of annoyance and amusement at the debates I have witnessed among aesthetes and lexicographers as to the meaning and scope of the term.

So, what is it to me? Simply put, it is an admiration for the various aesthetic movements of the 1800's, a love for the technical ingenuity and craftsmanship of the machines of the era, the turmoil affecting the social strata, and embracing scientific discovery.

More than that, however, is the sense of hope and bravado of the age, and understanding "Eureka!" as a euphoric transitory state and not just a word.

These things I love existed before the term "Steampunk" was coined, and they will continue to exist long after I have have been swept away.