Steampunk Joy

Respect: look (back) at, regard, consider, formed as RE- + specere look

Shorter Oxford English Dictionary

I was introduced to the fiction genre of cyberpunk way back when through the extraordinary novels Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson and Neuromancer by William Gibson. These and other authors certainly seemed to be in touch with the zeigeist, portraying a world where any distinction between the physical and virtual worlds became minimal if not non-existent. They were considered science fiction but now would be considered very much grounded in reality. We are living in the world they predicted. Snow Crash in fact is an eerily prescient portrayal of the United States as it is now, or just about to become.

Summarised as a combination of 'high tech and low life', the anarchic essence of these tales was refreshing, though also disturbing, violent and amoral - or at least the characters often were. In the 'real world' this can be reflected in how people behave online. The comedian Frank Skinner remarked that the one thing the internet has taught us is that people are really really horrible. Leaving aside for now all the petitions to save the world, social awareness etc., which reveal another side of humanity, bad manners are prevalent. Sociologists put a lot of this down to what is called cue reduction. It is the same thing with road rage. You sit in a metal box, limited to a handful of basic signals with which to communicate, denied the myriad of social cues one would get from face-to-face interaction. A frustration builds and eventually explodes. Online interactions are similar. There are accounts of women who have managed to confront their trolls in the physical world, with the common result being shame and disbelief from the perpetrator that they behaved the way they did.

Steampunk is a different kettle of fish. It still has the rebellious element of punk, but the characters no matter how nefarious tend to behave with decorum. The term was coined in 1987 by the writer K W Jeter, as a derivative from cyberpunk. What it actually means is debated. A scholar Mike Perschon, according to the Steampunk Explorer, defined it as combining the elements of hyper-vintage, technofantasy and retrofuturism (the latter of which I write about in a previous post). Among the recent titles I've been enjoying is the comic Lady Mechanika, about a woman who has artificial limbs and a mysterious past. Her character alone exemplifies what I feel to be the essence of steampunk, with a hi-tech body in elegant Victorian clothes - the implication being that no matter how advanced a society becomes it is important to retain dignity and form.

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I've also been catching up on Gail Carriger's excellent Finishing School series, about young ladies being taught how to be spies in a floating dirigible that is mostly stationed high above Dartmoor. Again, as the titles suggest - Etiquette and Espionage, Curtsies and Conspiracies etc. - there is a lot of emphasis on being adventurous and daring whilst remaining elegant. The rebellious heroine Sophronia may enjoy clambering in clandestine manner around the outside of the airship, but she does so in full nineteenth century dress - even if she gets soot on her face sometimes from visiting her beau in the boiler room.

Steampunk does tend to have more joy and celebration in it than cyberpunk, being more utopian than dystopian in spirit. This is exemplified by the beautiful but rather saccharine YouTube videos available e.g. The Retro Steam Railway. The books tend to be more diverse socially. There are now numerous steampunk festivals around the world. From what I can tell they have far greater attendance than cyberpunk gatherings and this, I suspect, is because there is that inherent joy, of just people having harmless fun. I also feel it embodies a yearning, for a world where technology does not overtake human values, that we are not dwarfed by insanely rich tech giants who can do what they like.

The Star Trek film Insurrection, though nothing to do with steampunk, is about a society that is living very basically, drawing its water by hand, growing food locally etc. Later it is revealed (apologies for the spoiler, but if you haven't watched it by now...) that it is an incredibly advanced society that once travelled the stars, only to discover true inner peace and contentment back home. They didn't need outer paraphernalia. While I doubt many of us would opt for lives without our washing machines etc., the need for a way in which we can use technology rather than it using us, is a deep one. One of the key factors required could well just be good etiquette, which is what steampunk continually embodies, at least in all its forms that I have experienced so far. Ah, if only to live in such a considerate world... In the meantime, I will endeavour to be conscious of my own manners and show respect to people, no matter how crazy the world around me may become.