Steampunk: The Next Big Thing

“Steampunk” is a cross between Sic-fi and historical fiction that permeates many areas of modern pop culture. Originating from authors like H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, steampunk has grown to encompass entertainment, engineering, and even fashion. Steampunk is a genre based largely off of the Victorian Era. This time in history, encompassing Queen Victoria’s rule of Great Britain from 1837 to 1901, has become synonymous with the entire Industrial Revolution. Hence, steampunk is characterized by steam-powered technology and Victorian Era social conflicts. Examples of steampunk influence are everywhere. The Victorian Era, with its unique technologies, social upheavals, and sense of wonderment, can make an interesting backdrop for a marvelous story, be it in a movie, book, or video game.

This is the inside of a clock from the movie Hugo released in 2011.

The greatest source of intrigue surrounding steampunk is technology. Often, these stories will feature modern contraptions such as televisions and robots being powered by steam and coal. Examples include machines like Charles Babbage’s difference engine or steam-powered airships. These elaborate devices are strangely more interesting than their modern counterparts. Perhaps this is because there is a subtle charm associated with a machine clanking away at a task. Humans like to understand things on their level, and microcircuits in a wristwatch are just too tiny compared to massive clock towers. These mechanisms are monstrous and powerful, but at the same time quite delicate and graceful, contributing to a ubiquitous sense of wonder throughout a steampunk story.

The power of these machines, used correctly by the characters, can be made useful, or it can be abused and bring about suffering. It all harkens back to a time when technology really was both incredible and terrifying.  Steampunk is a branch of science fiction where technology is more than a part of the setting. Like in the Victorian Era, steampunk technology is a force that shapes the plot, and provides characters with meaningful and interesting choices.



A screenshot from Bioshock Infinite, a video game released in 2013. 

Often, steampunk influence means more than simply Victorian Era technologies. It means Victorian Era social conflicts and themes. Avatar the Last Airbender, for example, not only features steampunk technology like steam-powered ships and airships; it also presents the Victorian Era theme of imperialism. During the Industrial Revolution, technology changed the face of the world, contributing to mass migrations and conflict between different social groups. This era saw revolutions, movements, world wars, and the rise and collapse of nations.  A character in a Victorian setting may struggle with the monotony of city life or conflict between great empires, anything that expresses the shifting world around them.

Finally, the Victorian Era culture and mood is found in many steampunk works. Rugged individualism is a common thread as are the characteristics of city life. Dishonored is a video game set in the fictional City of Dunwall. The city is filled with Victorian Era technologies like factories and pistols, and also Victorian themes dealing with urbanization like plague and poverty. Corvo, the protagonist, is exemplary of a rebellious attitude and a disregard for authority. This archetype is common of main characters in steampunk works, a personality likely borrowed from the culture of the late 19^th century, a time when city-dwellers had to find hope in a world of sameness and ambitions were larger than governments. This culture is a defining feature of Victorian fiction.



A steampunk Halloween costume.

Perhaps, steampunk stories are intriguing because they remind us of ourselves. We too live in a time where technology instills both wonder and concern, when we face a period of great social and political change. Lastly, the lessons about human nature echo through the centuries. In the end, we find things fascinating when they speak to us. Steampunk movies and books offer a glance into a forgone era, but also a window into our own. The job of a great steampunk storyteller is done when the viewer uses the social conflicts in the story to spot injustices in our world, or when they suddenly think of a great idea for an invention. It is done when the reader takes a second look at modern technology, and for once in a long while, feels that childlike sense of wonderment.

My Greatest Fear

            Washcloths absolutely make my skin crawl. I know it’s weird. Most people are afraid of spiders, snakes, or rats; but for me, the slimy texture and menacing shape of a washcloth is enough to make me quiver. When my mother and I wash the dishes, I have to dry.

            Most of the time, washcloths hide in the dark corners of cupboards and cabinets where I never see them, but when they do find me, I am usually naked and vulnerable, mostly when I’m in the shower. They appear in the corner, or hanging from a towel rack, dripping water on to the floor tiles. Sometimes, I imagine them slithering up my leg and wrapping their bodies around my thighs. Other times, I fear they will drop onto my face, blinding me as they run cold, greasy water down my throat. When they become old and worn, threads begin to hang down off of them like strands of a witch’s hair. In my mind’s eye, those threads are tentacles that will entrap me and ooze across my back.

            I know not why this irrational fear began in me, but my imagination certainly doesn’t help to alleviate it. A few years ago, following an evening during which I drank too much Mountain Dew, I experienced the worst nightmare of my life. I stood in a massive, dimly-lit chamber with a low ceiling from which hung hundreds of washcloths of all colors. The rags dangled like lynched corpses. As I moved, they brushed up against my hair, and icy water dripped onto my head and shoulders before trickling down my torso and finally collecting on my fingertips. My eyes darted around. There was no exit.

            Finally, I started to run. The pace of my breathing quickened. But no matter how fast I sprinted, I couldn’t escape the forest of washcloths. In the corner of my eye, I watched one drop from the ceiling and plop onto the stone floor. I suddenly became aware of the fact that I was barefoot. The hair on my legs stood on end. Then a cloth in front of me dropped, then another to my left. Soon, all the washcloths began to splatter to the ground and slither my way. They were faster than me and I couldn’t escape them. Then I tripped and fell. The slimy swarm surged across me. They covered my eyes. I felt them slinking around my neck. Finally, one of the monsters crawled onto my lips, covering my mouth. I could not scream. The washcloth then entered my throat, choking me. Unable to breath, I awoke in a cold sweat.

            Because of my fear, I can’t trust any fabric. A washcloth could be any old rag: my favorite shirt from when I was three, a piece of an old pillowcase I used to sleep on, or any other old, rejected textile. Washcloths are outcasts, rejects – mercenaries. They simply hide in dark corners, waiting for a tedious cleaning job that may never come. They are sad and useless, their best days behind them. When I was younger, I used to fear they would attack me. Now, I fear their very nature. Washcloths are throw-away items, unloved and unneeded. I used to have more fear of what they would do to me; but now, my greatest horror is that I might one day become one.