Steampunk discussions and correspondence

[Mackrel Sixsmith]

I am relatively new to Steampunk and am growing more and more into everything it encompasses. I would love to correspond with like-minded people, whoever and wherever you are, to share suggestions, likes and discoveries etc.

Do people find that steampunk in films is often mixed with things like dieselpunk and a like? I am looking for films and tv shows that aren't a mixture.

[J. Wilhelm]

SNIP

Do people find that steampunk in films is often mixed with things like dieselpunk and a like? I am looking for films and tv shows that aren't a mixture.

That's going to be a little difficult. Yes you can define Steampunk, but exactly what constitutes Steampunk is often a matter of interpretation. There's the Victorian Steampunk and then there's the makers' Steampunk, the Survivalist's Steampunk, Pirate Steampunk, and many other kinds. You have British Imperial Steampunk, British Colonial Steampunk, Downunder Steampunk, American Weird West, and just about any nationality that came into contact with the industrial revolution.

Couple that with Dieselpunk aficionados and futurists, and you'll quickly see there's no truly universally accepted definition of Steampunk. You can define it in very broad terms, however. The definition blurs more on mainstream media like movies, as a general rule of thumb, as is more pure Victorian anachronism on literary works.

Go to the Aural Ocular section of the forum. We have several lists of Steampunk media.

[Sorontar]

Indeed, it is sometimes easier to identify steampunk elements in an artwork (be it visual, audio, animated or functional), rather than labelling the entire thing as steampunk. Of course, for some people steampunk is a process or a way of thinking and behaving, which is even harder to define.

I like to think that trying to define anything that is punk, is itself not punk as it implies a structure and formality that punk tends to react against. This is true, regardless of the type of punk.

Sorontar

[Cora Courcelle]

For myself, part of the fun in watching movies is identifying which parts are steampunk, rather than expecting to find something which has managed to achieve an exact match with my own definition of it.

Mind you I have been known to get a bit peeved when someone has just stuck a gear on it and called it steampunk; particularly when I feel they are only doing it to get attention which is otherwise totally unmerited.

[J. Wilhelm]

Wasn't there a pen pal thread on this forum somewhere? Back in the days...

[E.J.MonCrieff]

For myself, part of the fun in watching movies is identifying which parts are steampunk, rather than expecting to find something which has managed to achieve an exact match with my own definition of it.

Mind you I have been known to get a bit peeved when someone has just stuck a gear on it and called it steampunk; particularly when I feel they are only doing it to get attention which is otherwise totally unmerited.

I think this summarises the dilemma that faces the steampunk; sticking a cog or two on your costume won't make it steampunk, but a cannibalised piece of clockwork that just might do something (particularly if powered by Aether forces) certainly does. 

I look back to the first Steampunk event I attended - Asylum in Lincoln, back in 2018, before COVID meant we were all locked down - and the ingenious ways in which people had constructed weapons.  And an ingenious young man had constructed a jet pack that looked most impressive.... though I didn't see it working...

That said, I must admit to having bought cufflinks with cogs in them.....