Steampunk (or steampunk) is a branch of science fiction that simulates a civilization that has mastered the mechanics and technology of steam engines to perfection. As a rule, steampunk implies an alternative version of the development of mankind with a pronounced general stylization of the era of Victorian England (second half of the 19th century) and the era of early capitalism with a characteristic urban landscape and contrasting social stratification. It is possible, however, that steampunk works contain more or less fantasy elements.

The "punk" component of steampunk includes a special emphasis on "low human nature", driven by low passions - lust, anger, vanity, greed and envy. General style steampunk often looks cynical (roughly frank) and pessimistic (dystopian), however, thanks to the comic possibilities of retrostylistics and alternative history, humorous, parodic motifs are also widespread.

Nevertheless, there are many works with the opposite direction - romance, drama high feelings, even elements of utopia.

The realities of steampunk style - "old" cars, locomotives, telephones, etc., anachronistically inscribed in a more (or less) "old" entourage, flying airships, mechanical robots - are sometimes included in deliberately fabulous and even children's works.

Currently, in the public environment and mass culture, phenomena are observed that allow us to talk about steampunk as an emerging subculture. The steampunk style is increasingly spreading in graphics, illustration, sculpture, design, and even in the field of computer games.

Art and Design
Steampunk has a specific art form led to the emergence of a certain steampunk style in world culture. Its manifestations include all sorts of modding and redesigning of modern household items “under the steampunk style”, specific accessories and decorations, replete with levers, valves and gears and trimmed with appropriate materials (such as shiny copper, polished wood and leather), some elements of clothing, which are mainly stylizations on the theme of the Victorian era (goggles of various types and shapes are a characteristic accessory). The aim of this redesign is to incorporate both design elements and craftsmanship from the Victorian era. A number of artists and designers work in a style that they themselves identify as steampunk.

From time to time, events dedicated to the steampunk style are held in different countries. For example, in the summer of 2010, the all-American STEAMfest 2010 festival was held in Avondale Estates (Georgia, USA). Information about steampunk events held in different parts Sveta.

The art group Kinetic Steam Works made a working steam engine and demonstrated it at Burning Man in 2006 and 2007. Group founder Sean Orlando created the "Steampunk Tree House" exhibit while actively collaborating with a group of people who would later form the Five Ton Crane Arts Group). The creations of the latter have also been shown at several festivals. The steampunk house is permanently installed at the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (Milton, Delaware).

In May-June 2008, multimedia artist and sculptor Paul St. George exhibited outdoor interactive video installations in the form of Victorian-style telescopes that established a video link between London and Brooklyn, New York. Evelyn Crete, promoter and member of the art group Brass Goggles, organized a trans-Atlantic get-together for steampunk enthusiasts from both cities, shortly before White Mischief's Steampunk-themed "Around the World in 80 Days" event.

From October 2009 to February 2010, the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford hosted the first large-scale exhibition of steampunk art. The exhibition showcased the work of eighteen steampunk artists from around the world. Many of the exhibits were ordinary household items, altered accordingly. The exhibition proved to be very successful, attracting more than 80,000 visitors.

A number of steampunk events are also held in Russia. For example, on October 7-10, 2010 at the Oldtimer Gallery of Ilya Sorokin, the Internet portal Steampunker.ru presented "the largest steampunk exposition ever exhibited in Russia."

Steampunk as a subculture
At the moment, there is a trend among goths, punks, cybergoths, industrial music fans and gamers in the direction of understanding steampunk as a subculture. Some fans of the steampunk genre use its aesthetics in clothing, decor, and everyday items. These manifestations are sometimes lumped together under the term "Neo-Victorianism" which combines Victorian aesthetics and modern technologies and system of thought. Some genre enthusiasts even suggest a certain steampunk philosophy that combines a punk element with an optimism about human potential.

Fashion
Steampunk fashion does not have any set of rules, but tends to be a synthesis of modern styles influenced by the Victorian era. Steampunk fashion often includes dresses, corsets, skirts, and bustles for women, and suits with vests, coats, leggings, or military clothing for men. Steampunk-inspired outfits often have a pronounced emphasis on specific accessories: pocket watches, umbrellas, glasses (goggles). Modern accessories, such as cell phones or music players, in principle can be included in steampunk outfits, but after giving them a "Victorian" look. Aspects of steampunk fashion can include elements of haute couture, neo-Victorianism, gothic lolita styles, and gothic aristocratic.

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Here is a collection of the most unusual and original samples of this direction, which will plunge you into an alternative course of history.

Mechanical Fantasies by Justin Gershenson-Gates is a series of works by a famous jeweler who decided to deviate a little from his main occupation and do something else.

For his works, Justin used watch parts (hands, gears, ordinary incandescent lamps and much more). Each work, be it a pendant, an insect or an arthropod, takes the master several hours. Given the fact that Justin Gershenson-Gates (Justin Gershenson-Gates) is used to seeing everything through to the end, he never leaves the job unfinished and gets everything done in one sitting. In the work uses only soldering and no glue. "Mechanical Mind" is a truly unique and inimitable series from a famous jeweler.

Jim Mullani and his wife Tori create beautiful steampunk songbird sculptures under the Mullanium label.

(or steampunk) – modern style, based on a special direction of science fiction. It covers not only the style of clothing, but also the sphere of painting, interior,. It can even be said that steampunk has become a separate subculture, which is carried away to a greater extent by young men and women of not adolescence, but of an older age.

Although the steampunk clothing style is considered modern, the second half of the 19th century is considered the cradle of steampunk. In any case, the cityscapes of Victorian England - main image used in illustrations of this style.

As a direction in art, in general, emphasizes the mechanicalness of nature, while the mechanicalness in retro style. Airships, iron robots, as the first science fiction writers imagined them, cogwheels and transmission shafts, heavy telephones and balloons - in a word, the mechanisms that make up almost the entire space are a typical steampunk world, a dystopian world. It is interesting that the old and the present collide in it, the current world becomes entrenched in the past. Figuratively speaking, the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci live side by side with the subway and space exploration.

It would seem that man has no place in this realm of machines. But no, there are people here too. However, against the background of shocking inanimateness, they themselves seem to be mechanisms. In steampunk, man is seen as a creature endowed with many vices. It can even be said that the sins of greed, pride, envy, anger, lust almost entirely occupy human nature.

The term "steampunk" appeared in the 80s. However, the works that became his progenitors were published a little earlier, in the 60s-70s. However, if you dig even deeper and consider the genre not from the point of view of modernity, but in the plane of a mechanistic description of the world in general, then the steampunk art style itself has existed for a very long time. Science fiction of the 19th century can rightfully be considered its progenitor. Mary Shelley, H.G. Wells and, of course, Jules Verne are traditionally regarded by steampunk fans as the "founding fathers" of this trend.

The world of steampunk contains several characteristic features, thanks to which it is quite easy to identify or create it.

First, the basic element of this culture is technology in its most diverse manifestations. Most often - steam engines and those technical achievements that move due to steam. This aspect is the most important, because helps to determine the characteristics of clothing and a given style.

Secondly, steampunk can serve as a kind of synonym for urbanism. There is no nature in it, but it is filled with typical urban landscapes: bricks, pipes (including rusty ones), cobblestone pavements, air filled with soot from factory pipes.

Thirdly, the world of steampunk suggests some madness of its inhabitants, their genius, obsession with business. Such common images of crazy professors, obsessed with their experiments and inventions, came to us precisely from steampunk. Many literary characters, at first glance, having nothing to do with this style, are still considered its classic representatives: this is the detective Sherlock Holmes and his antagonist Professor Moriarty, Victor Frankenstein, Jack the Ripper, Dorian Gray.
Steampunk has found its reflection even in computer games, which can serve as an absolute sign of popularity.

steampunk clothes

As far as steampunk clothing goes, it's especially good. a mixture of antiquity and modernity. The Victorian era in this image is organically combined with the modern fruits of civilization. However, the requirements of this style cannot be called too strict.

Ultra-modern devices, such as mobile phones, laptops and peripherals, tablets may well be among the accessories related to style. However, for this they must be stylized in such a way that they most of all resemble some incredible old mechanism. Some fans of this style can convert almost any gadget that falls into their hands to steampunk.

Painting

Steampunk in painting is also very popular today. Here it can be closely intertwined with surrealism, expressed through the childish charm of primitivism, or it can incorporate elements of futurism. In general, the main motif that permeates steampunk paintings is the same mechanization of the surrounding world in the style of the 19th century. Airships, gears, rusty pipes, puffs of steam, unprecedented inventions - almost everything is mechanized - from insects to Cheshire cat. Among the artists who are fond of this style are Bill Carman, Brian Kesinger, Ian Mcque, Vadim Voitekhovich and others.

Music

The steampunk direction in music today is rather vague and represents combination of art rock, country, darkwave and industrial. Steampunk bands usually include such as The Clockwork Dolls, Abney Park, Ghostfire, Escape The Clouds, Coppelius.

Movie

In the film industry, steampunk is most often found in genres such as science fiction and fantasy. Among the films in this style, Wild Wild West, Van Helsing, Sherlock Holmes (2009) stand out.
widely used in animation("Howl's Moving Castle", "Steamboy", "Atlantis: lost World"and in others) and in computer games("Another World", "Bioshock", "Damnation", etc.).

Literature

The forerunners of steampunk in literature are Jules Verne books"Five weeks in hot-air balloon”,“ 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ”,“ Around the World in 80 Days ”,“ Mysterious Island Captain Nemo", "Journey to the Center of the Earth", H. G. Wells"War of the Worlds", "Time Machine".

Among contemporary authors who write in the steampunk style, we can distinguish Cassandra Clare (“Mechanical Angel”), Gordon Dahlquist (“Glass Books of Dream Eaters”, “The Black Book of Death”), Sergey Lukyanenko (“Draft”, “Clean”, George Mann (“ Ritual of Osiris"), Alexey Pekhov ("Under the Sign of Manticore", "Mockingbird"), Kenneth Oppel ("Sky Wanderer").

How to create a steampunk look?

• Choose grays, browns and blacks for basic clothing, wide stripes are acceptable. Women are recommended to combine a top with a rigid corset and a bustle (fluffy back skirt). In the same style, a dress can be made, complemented by puffy sleeves.
• Men may wear button-downs with ties and, in some cases, shorts. For women, this option may also be suitable, because steampunk does not imply gender differences.
• Add some steampunk to your shoes too. High boots with laces will fit into both women's and men's looks. Choose narrow boots with a small heel that will look less bulky than military boots.
• The most necessary accessory will be steampunk. You will need aviator-style glasses, or so-called goggles with large details.
• Gears and cogs are the hallmarks of steampunk style, so these details should definitely be present in your image. If you have difficulty finding such accessories, you can try the following method: break the old clock, pull out the mechanisms from them, then fasten the individual parts and make a pendant out of it. Paint the resulting accessory with bronze paint.
• Complete the steampunk look with a hat or hair accessories. Of the hats, men can choose or. Attach a few screws to the outside, which will add originality. Women can glue gears and cogs to their hair clips.

Steampunk is a fantasy genre about worlds where steam engines and other retro technologies have not disappeared, but have reached the highest development.

A huge tin robot walks the streets of London. In his riveted head is the control compartment, where a mad scientist in pince-nez and a tuxedo sits. He pedals, pulls on the levers, trying to get the car away from the approaching airship with the emblem of the British Air Force on board. The airship is uncontrollable and is clearly going to ram. He suffered from a discharge from a Tesla emitter mounted on a German steam tank, which secretly moved here along the bottom of the English Channel and is about to break through to Buckingham Palace. The Queen is protected by a select platoon of Scottish magicians under the command of Sherlock Holmes, the brave Van Helsing and the Invisible Man. It's all steampunk.

The classic steampunk universes are stylized by the authors as America or Europe (primarily England) of the second half of the 19th century, the era of early capitalism with a characteristic factory-urban landscape and sharp social stratification. And it does not matter that the action can unfold in the distant future or on another planet. Steampunk originated as literary genre, but gained popularity largely thanks to comics, role-playing games, television series and anime.

The best movies, books and more in the steampunk genre

Many people think of steampunk as such.

Don't boil over, punks!

The first question that may arise here is why, in fact, “punk”? As in the case of cyberpunk (see "MF" #6, February 2004), the second part of the title means only that the works of this science fiction subgenre are based on "punk" ideas in their most general sense.

In other words, the word "punk" in such cases does not mean evil hooligans with multi-colored hair and "Anarchy" tattoos on their foreheads, but characters - bright individualists who oppose the system, traditions, prejudices, and put themselves above any state or public institutions.

The Difference Engine by Gibson and Sterling: one of the first books to be called steampunk.

The term "steampunk" was first used by two writer friends James Blaylock and Kevin Jeter during a discussion in the pages of Locus magazine in 1987. The term arose as a parodic opposition to cyberpunk, so early steampunk was created according to the traditional scenarios of its "big brother" with a mechanical transfer of action to reality, where steam technology is in charge. hackers, artificial intelligence, corporations, the state machine - all this was simply placed in a 19th century setting with a discount on the corresponding technologies. The "punk" attitude of the main characters to the surrounding reality was preserved without any significant changes.

I would be glad if labels were not hung on it (the book "The Difference Machine" - "MF"). I heard talk about some kind of “steampunk”, but I don’t think it will take root.

Bruce Sterling

The first steampunk works were a manifesto of social and philosophical pessimism and in this sense were no different from cyberpunk. Most often, the story unfolded in some not too prosperous "alternative" universe (equivalent to Europe or the USA of the 19th century).

The dystopia was embellished with noir style, expressive and generally understandable motives of tabloid fiction were added to it (nosy detectives, brilliant scientists, the Wild West, mysterious ancient races) - and the new genre is ready! Later, more positive elements poured into steampunk - the romantic charm of science, utopianism, the aesthetics of "good old England". This is how we know him now.

On full steam

We figured out the "punk" - but what about the steam? Unlike cyberpunk, steampunk is based on real or at least conditionally acceptable technologies. The level of development of science in steampunk traditionally focuses on the Victorian era. First of all, the extensive use of steam energy should be mentioned here - this gave the name to the whole genre.

Eolipil. Heron built it as a toy, not intending to put it into practice.

Strictly speaking, the energy of steam was conquered not by the British, but by the Greeks. As early as the 1st century AD, Heron of Alexandria created the aeolipil (“ball of Eol” - the god of the wind) - a metal ball rotating under steam pressure.

Coincidence or not, but 700 years before that, in the same Greece (on the island of Corinth), the so-called “diolkos” was built - parallel tracks cut in limestone for transporting ships on dry land (the prototype of the modern railway). These inventions were not related to each other in any way, but it can be argued that the Greeks had a theoretical opportunity to develop steam rail transport almost 2000 years before this happened. It is this circumstance that makes the existence of "archaic" varieties of steampunk legitimate.

Who created the steam engine is difficult to decide. At various times, Thomas Savery (1698), Thomas Newcomen (1712) and James Watt worked on it (with varying success). The latter went down in history as the "inventor" of the steam engine (he patented it in 1769), but in fact he simply improved the devices created before him. Separately, the Russian serf mechanic Ivan Polzunov should be mentioned - he created a steam engine in 1764, and, unlike Watt, he made it from scratch, without having working models before his eyes.

If we define steampunk as a period of active use of steam engines, then it will begin in 1707, when the French physicist Denis Papin designed the first boat with a steam engine. Very little is known about her - river ferrymen quickly sensed competition and broke the apparatus.

Steamboat Claremont. The first "swallow" of the steam fleet.

Large-scale commercial use of steam engines began in 1807 with the passenger steamer Claremont, built by the American Robert Fulton. The enterprise turned out to be unexpectedly profitable, and the steamers were tenacious. Within ten or fifteen years, they seriously pressed sailing ships.

As for the "land" steam engines, the palm here should be given to Nicolas Joseph Cugno (1725-1804). It was he who in 1769 guessed to put a steam boiler on a cart to carry heavy guns. His "fardier a vapeur" (steam cart) could carry a load of four tons and reach speeds of up to 4 kilometers per hour. In 1771, Cugno's "steam cart" accidentally crashed into a wall. It was the first road traffic accident in the world involving a "car".

The English inventor Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) continued Cugno's work and in 1801 presented to the public the "Puffing Devil" - the first compact steam car designed to transport people, and two years later - the more successful "London steam carriage".

In 1804, Trevithick created the world's first steam locomotive, which worked for only a few years (it quickly made the rails unusable, as it was too heavy for tracks designed for small "horse-driven" cars).

Steam locomotives and steamships not only brought cities and continents closer to each other. Their power at the time seemed incredible. In just a hundred years, science has made such a leap forward that people who rode horses in their youth and did not even dream of seeing other countries could now repeat Magellan's journey in just a few months. It seemed as if there were no more barriers for mankind.

Steam cars required time to warm up, had poor acceleration dynamics, but on long stretches they could reach speeds of over 150 km/h. For example, the car Stanley Steamer in 1906 accelerated to 205.5 km / h.

But the steam engine reigned on the planet for only a little over 150 years. By the end of the Second World War, he irretrievably lost leadership to the engines internal combustion. Steampunk did not take place, and it was inevitable. Why? The reasons for this are purely practical.

Yes, steam engines have their advantages. They are indiscriminate to the source of heat and can generate mechanical power on almost any fuel. Another advantage of steam engines is their insensitivity to pressure changes. This was discovered only when steam locomotives on high-altitude flights were replaced by diesel locomotives. When climbing to a considerable height, the latter sharply lost power. Today, steam locomotives still run in the mountains of Switzerland and Austria.

However, steam engines have one - the most important - drawback that crosses out all the advantages. Their coefficient of performance (COP) is only 5%, while internal combustion engines operate at 25% efficiency. That is why at the beginning of the 20th century steam engines lost the competition with diesel engines - they were wasteful of heat, were too heavy (unsuitable for installation on aircraft) and could not provide high power with a significant reduction in size.

The Queen Elizabeth, built in 1938, was the largest steamship in the world.

In 1800, Robert Fulton created the world's first full-fledged submarine, the Nautilus, for Napoleon Bonaparte.

In honor of one of the main designers of the first steam engine, a unit of power is named in all areas of physics and technology.

The absolute speed record for steam locomotives was set by the Wild Duck locomotive of the LNER Class A4 series (with its streamlined forms, it looked more like modern Japanese super trains). On July 3, 1938, he developed 201.2 kilometers per hour.

Steampunk machines - Fulton's "Nautilus" and "Wild Duck".

Victoria and her era

Queen Victoria is the "grandmother" of steampunk.

In relation to steampunk, they often say - "Victorian era" ... But what is it? This refers to the British Empire in the period from 1837 to 1901 - the reign of Queen Victoria, an era of calm, prosperity, and consolidation of power in the colonies. By the end of the 19th century, Britain was the most powerful state in the world. Its population was over 500 million people (about a quarter of all mankind), the area of ​​\u200b\u200bterritories was over 37 million square kilometers (about a third of the entire land mass of the Earth). The unprecedented development of science, rapid industrialization, the holding of the first World Trade Exhibition (1851), mass laying railways, the opening of the London Underground (1863), electric street lighting (1882) ... People were literally intoxicated with faith in the infinite power of rational thinking. In other words, the era of steampunk began - it began, but it never began.

Where did it come from?

Steampunk did not appear out of nowhere. Jules Verne is called the “grandfather” of the genre (read an article about him in the “Book Series” section), whose “20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”, “Robur the Conqueror”, “Steam House” had a serious impact on the style and surroundings of contemporary authors. Just like other books famous writers Victorian era - HG Wells, Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle. That is why Western critics attribute selected art these authors to the "classic" steampunk.

The next step is “proto-steampunk”, the authors of which, modern science fiction writers, for the sake of aesthetics, stylized as classics of the 19th century. The highlights here are Ronald Clark's Queen Victoria Bomb, Christopher Priest's Space Engine, Tim Powers' Gate of Anubis, James Blaylock's Homunculus, Kevin Wayne Jeter's Morlock Night, and Long Live the Transatlantic Tunnel, Hooray! Harry Harrison. Worth noting is Michael Moorcock's cycle about Oswald Bastable, written in the tradition of Jules Verne.

Recently, steampunk has been interpreted extremely broadly, meaning by it any variant of the placement of modern (pseudo-modern) technologies in the past - from the Stone Age to the Victorian era. Everything that is now called "steampunk" can be divided into two large categories: alternative historical (original) steampunk and fantasy steampunk.

Alternative historical steampunk

Such steampunk is stylized as the world of the 19th - early 20th centuries and deliberately opposed to the cybernetic present and future. Often the heroes of AI-steampunk are real historical figures or literary characters of the classics of that era.

The author's stylizations under England of the reign of Queen Victoria and her successor Edward are most characteristic. A landmark work, after which steampunk turned from a curiosity into a phenomenon, is the novel by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling "The Difference Machine" (1992). This is in fact the manifesto of steampunk, which had the same meaning for him as Gibson's "Neuromancer" for cyberpunk. It features such iconic things as Babbage's Difference Engine turned into a supercomputer, advanced communication technologies, the assignment of a unique digital index to all subjects of the British Empire, "machine" viruses on punched cards and global political intrigues. It's funny that it was the leading authors of cyberpunk who decided to describe England in the 19th century, where Charles Babbage managed to build a proto-computer, as if in passing breathed life into a new fantastic direction. As a result, cyberpunk has long been dead, but steampunk blooms and smells ...

The comics of Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill about the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, as well as the film adaptation of the same name by Stephen Norrington, serve as an example of AI steampunk. Before us is an alternative England of 1898, the peace of which is guarded famous heroes classical literary works like the Invisible Man and tracker Alan Quatermain. Their opponents are also traditional - the criminal community of Dr. Fu-Manchu, the Martians of Wells, the megalomaniac Professor Moriarty. The entourage of the steampunk is perfectly conveyed in Lemony Snickett's children's fantasy cycle "33 Misfortunes" and especially in the film of the same name by Brad Silberling.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The comic had every character from the Victorian era, from Professor Moriarty to Dr. Moreau.

Steam technology in AI steampunk can be dominated by the natural course of events or introduced by force. For example, in the world of the role-playing game Space: 1889 (a parody of the TV series Space: 1999), the great inventor Thomas Edison discovered new properties of the ether, thanks to which it was possible to build steam ether flyers that could overcome outer space. And after a special lichen with anti-gravity properties was found on Mars, giant airships filled the skies above the Earth and its planetary colonies.

But in the trilogy "The Great Winter" by Australian Sean McMullen, the situation is different. The 40th century, the Earth is oppressed by artificial intelligence, which has imposed a ban on advanced technologies, because of which humanity has been thrown back in development for thousands of years. In the beginning, people used steam engines, which were replaced by machines powered by solar and wind energy. Everything electronic is ruthlessly destroyed...

The hero of the comic book "The Wonderful Worlds of Finneas Fuddle", having invented a time machine in 1902, immediately rushed to introduce steam technology and Victorian morality in different eras - ancient egypt, India, medieval Europe. This caused the chronoclasm and changed history.

Another model of AI-steampunk is the stylization of America during the conquest of the Wild West. The television series Wild Wild West gained great popularity, serving as the basis for a beautiful but overly pompous movie by Barry Sonnenfeld and several comic book series. Dashing gunslinger Jim West and tech innovator Artemius Gordon carry out assignments for the President of the United States, constantly encountering power-hungry and greedy scoundrels.

Slightly less well known are the television series The Adventures of Briscoe County, Jr. and Legend. The cool marshal of the County is chasing criminals, intersecting with crazy inventors who will either build a jet engine or invent a superbomb. And in the "Legend" the author of penny books Ernest Pratt, together with the clever Bartok in 1876, is fighting various villains, for which they use a bunch of steam gadgets. The western steampunk style was also used in the third part of the Back to the Future movie cycle.

Fantastic Western "Back to the Future 3". For the first time in history, the poster for this film was drawn on a computer.

In literature, Western steampunk is less common - mostly novelizations of the aforementioned series and films. The most notable independent work is James Swallow's tetralogy about the archer Gabriel Tyler, who, together with the Native American shaman Five Feathers, confronts the villain Faceless.

From others popular works notable examples of traditional AI steampunk include Steven Baxter's Anti-Ice, Kevin Jeter's Infernal Machines, Luther Arkwright's Adventures and Jules Verne's Secret Adventures comic series (filmed as a TV series in 2002), Forgotten Futures RPGs, and GURPS Steampunk .

In Russia, the “Lady of the Seas” by Sergei Sinyakin can be attributed to the traditional AI steampunk. No Time for Dragons by Sergei Lukyanenko and Nick Perumov borders on fantasy steampunk, although it is still more adventurous and heroic techno-fantasy. The protagonist of the novel, Muscovite Victor, finds himself in the magical Middle World, where the elements of the other two worlds rule - the magic of the World of the Reincarnated and the technology of the World of the Upside Down. The New Russian Series company is working on a film adaptation of this book (they promise to release the film in 2007), and the Arise studio is making a computer role-playing game based on it.

It's funny that Western sources call the film "The Barber of Siberia" by Nikita Mikhalkov as an example of "Russian steampunk"! There is also a hefty logging steam engine that never existed in reality!

fantasy steampunk

The second mainstream is fantasy steampunk, which takes place in completely fictional worlds, where steam engines coexist well with magic and creatures familiar to fantasy. This direction in many ways borders on techno-fantasy.

Most famous author"steam" fantasy - Briton China Mieville, who invented the strange city of New Crobizon. Perhaps Mieville came closest to classic cyberpunk. His heroes - often people outside the law, outside of morality - live in a strange metropolis, reminiscent of Batman's Gotham City. The technology in New Crobison is exotic, and the cycle cannot be called pure steampunk. However, almost no one composes a “pure” steampunk ...

Paula Volsky's novel The Great Ellipse depicts a world reminiscent of Europe in the early 20th century, where there is magic, whose adherents try in vain to resist the onslaught of science. The heroine, fearless traveler Lucille, races the Great Ellipse, a clear reference to Jules Verne. The curious world of Teresa Egerton's novels Goblin's Moon and The Dwarf Machine is inhabited by traditional magical races. Steam technology has long been a familiar feature of the landscape, and the industrial revolution is about to unleash a massive social explosion...

Among such works, one can mention the anime Vision of Escaflowne (1996), the Ironwolf comics, the Thief series of computer games that created the stealth-shooter genre (conditionally - “stealth shooters”), some of the Final Fantasy console games, as well as the famous role-playing game Arcanum : Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura (by Troika Games, 2001) - an explosive mixture of fantasy and steampunk, where main character must choose a magical or technological path of development.

Arcanum is perhaps the most famous game based on fantasy steampunk.

Speaking of tabletop role-playing games, we should mention Castle Falkenstein, developed by R. Talsorian Games and later adapted for the GURPS system. In 1994, this game received the prestigious Origin Award. In addition, Eberron, the new official universe of Dungeons & Dragons, can be attributed to fantasy steampunk.

Other faces of steam fantasy: films "Edward Scissorhands", "Van Helsing" and "Vidocq", the novel "Elizabelle Cray and the Dark Brotherhood" by Chris Wooding ... These works belong to different directions, they are united only by worlds where magic and mysticism coexist with alternative technology.

steampunk signs

Steampunk has characteristic features, signs and "chips" that distinguish it from other fantastic directions. First things first - the external style and atmosphere. Steampunk is Conan Doyle and Dickens in the world of steam engines. Gentlemen in top hats and ladies in crinolines gliding nonchalantly in steam cars along cobbled pavements lit by gas jets. And nearby - emaciated factory workers living in rotten slums and forced to work hard for 20 hours a day to earn a piece of bread. Hence the typical features of the early steampunk - emphasized anti-utopianism with elements of noir and gothic.

A characteristic feature of steampunk is steam technology. Means of transportation: an airship, a steam locomotive, a steamer, a steam bus, a steam car, a password - everything is made of sheet metal with huge rivets, emphatically clumsy levers and control devices with an abundance of dials. The mechanisms are covered with oil and soot, spewing smoke, steam, sparks, they rumble, clang, whistle, and when overheated, they explode. Weapons: bulky Lefochet revolvers, massive Thompson and Gatling machine guns, monstrous dreadnoughts, artillery pieces and bombs. Information Technology: telegraph, pneumatic mail, old-fashioned telephones.

A surviving fragment of Babbage's Difference Engine.

This is not to say that there are no precise, compact devices in steampunk. In the role of a kind of "microelectronics" are various mechanical devices - springs, combinations of gears, rollers, drums, chains, weights. Steampunk devices can also be based on complex chemical reactions or even electricity (only when it is not used in engines, otherwise it will no longer be steampunk) - for example, the famous Tesla devices, which we talked about in April 2005 ("MF » No. 20).

In steampunk, even artificial intelligence is possible - Charles Babbage's advanced computers ("differential calculator", or "difference engine"). The same Babbage designed a mechanical printer (which printed the results of the calculations of the difference machine on punched cards) and tried to develop a universal "analytical engine" - in fact, an ordinary computer, only mechanical.

Typical steampunk characters are aliens from the Victorian era, or rather, the modern concept of it. Mad scientists and engineers like Victor Frankenstein and Robur the Conqueror... Genius criminals and monstrous maniacs like Professor Moriarty and Jack the Ripper... Fearless travelers and pioneers like Phileas Fogg and Alan Quatermain... Cunning detectives - Sherlock Holmes, Nat Pinkerton...

Uncompromising freedom fighters, like Captain Nemo... Corrupt aristocrats and secular dudes, copied from Dorian Gray or George Brummel... Spies, proletarians, greedy capitalists, prostitutes, respectable bourgeois townsfolk, homeless boys and many other iconic characters in the life and literature of that time.

Weird scientists are typical steampunk characters (frame from the movie "City of Lost Children").

However, steampunk is often referred to as works in which there is no steam technology at all. The attention of the authors is focused on the atmosphere, the external surroundings, the emphasized aesthetics of the Victorian era and neo-Gothic - this is " atmospheric steampunk". The films "Young Sherlock Holmes" and "City of Lost Children", the novels "Lord Kelvin's Machine" by James Blaylock and "The Werewolf in London" by Brian Stableford are all examples of atmospheric steampunk.

Steampunk as a way of life

The steampunk aesthetic turned out to be so attractive that it led to the birth of a subculture with the advent of its own fashion, design, even music. The steampunk movement, especially popular in Japan and also known as "neo-Victorianism", combines the aesthetic principles of the Victorian era with a passion for modern technology.

Steampunk fashion - a synthesis of the style of goths, punks and "industrial" with some elements of Victorianism. For women - garters, corsets, skirts with ruffles. The men have large, rough metal rivets on their clothes, high-heeled boots with huge clasps. Musical steampunk - atmospheric melodies that make the listener feel like they are in the late 19th century.

Timepunk: Not Quite Genres

Cover of the GURPS Steampunk book.

In the rules of the role-playing system GURPS (Generic Universal RolePlaying System), created by Steve Jackson Games in 1986, a complex classification of "punk" worlds was proposed. The creators of the game unite them under the general term "timepunk" (timepunk), which refers to any alternative technological worlds focused on different historical periods development of civilization.

The dominance of steam technology in the worlds of timepunk is not necessary: ​​anything from golems to dinosaurs can be the propulsive technopower.

Note: genres these "punks" should not be called - rather, it is entourage options.

Stonepunk models the world standing at the technological level of the Stone Age. The most striking example is the animated series and the film "The Flintstones", a parody of modern American life with its transfer to prehistoric times.

Sandalpunk (sandalpunk) depicts the world of the Antiquity era, where a technological anachronism occurred - the use of the impossible in reality scientific discoveries. As a result, a future arises where the ancient Greek or Roman civilizations did not collapse, but still exist safely. So, the steam engine, invented by Heron of Alexandria, found a real embodiment, radically changing the course of history (“Other Songs” by the Pole Jacek Dukaj).

Middlepunk (middlepunk)- all the same, but with the beginning of the century, a couple in the Middle Ages.

Clockpunk (clockpunk) inspired by the Renaissance and Baroque. The name comes from the use of clockwork, which in clockpunk usually replaces steam engines. For example, in Paul Macauley's Pascal's Angel, Leonardo da Vinci staged the industrial revolution 400 years ahead of schedule. Other examples of clockpunk include some of the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett, the Age of Madness cycle by Gregory Keyes, Neil Gaiman's 1602 comics.

Real or remaining only in the project technology in retrofuturistic universes can be embodied in the traditions of gigantomania: huge propeller-driven aircraft, transcontinental airships, giant diesel robots, monstrous-looking mechanisms. This offshoot of retro-futurism is known as dieselpunk (dieselpunk). The term appeared during the creation of the computer RPG Children of the Sun. The most striking examples of dieselpunk are the anime "Exile" (see "MF" No. 18, February 2005) and the film "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow". We wrote about dieselpunk in detail in December 2004 (MF #16).

Steampunk and similar styles are aesthetic direction retrofuturism (retro-futurism)- the depiction of worlds where, by some whim of history, the real or fantastic technology of the past plays a dominant role in the future. In some worlds technological development takes on a particularly grotesque character. For example, there are absolutely insane, impossible vehicles like space sailboats from the Disney cartoon "Treasure Planet" or a flying island from the anime "Sky Island Laputa". Vivid examples of retrofuturism also include Philip Reeve's Living Machines cycle, Theodore Judson's novel Fitzpatrick's War, and the Neotopia comic book.

Anime series "The Exile".

steampunk robots

In 1893, American professor Archibald Campion introduced the world to an incredible mechanical robot called the Boilerplate. Very little is known about this device. He was allegedly created to participate in combat operations, showed signs of intelligence and could perform complex actions. Unfortunately, Boilerplate disappeared on the fields of the First World War in 1918, and its creator died in obscurity...

Did you believe? In vain. Boilerplate is one hundred percent, very high quality fake. The authors of this project spent a lot of time editing photos and creating a detailed "biography" of the robot in order to clearly illustrate a simple fact: you should not believe everything that you find on the World Wide Web. By the way, you can find the details of the legend about this robot on the Internet at: bigredhair.com/boilerplate.

The robot and its creator.

To the left of the robot is the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa (photo from 1916).

Steampunk is getting more and more popular every year. No wonder - in our crazy time, the smooth 19th century is perceived by many as a safe harbor lost by mankind " golden age when both the grass was greener and the water was wetter. The passion for steampunk, as well as fantasy, is a typical sign of mass escapism. The more hectic today's time is, the more there will be those who want to "escape" to a stylish alternative world.
Steampunk is interesting for its unusualness. It provides a new field for stylistic decisions and plot maneuvers.

Synthesis of antiquity and high technology interesting for fans of both fantasy and science fiction. So, we will meet with steampunk more than once.

The word "steampunk" is on everyone's lips, but not everyone knows about its meaning. This is not just a style of clothing, but an interesting and complex life philosophy. A feature of the steampunk wardrobe is that it is a mixture of several different directions A: retro, modern style and so on.

Characteristics

home salient feature The steampunk style consists in the use of strict geometric shapes, as well as the introduction of some technical elements into the clothes. interesting point is also the fact that women and men can wear exactly the same things.

Designers distinguish three varieties of this style:

1. - classic steampunk is a kind of lightweight option that is quite suitable for everyday life. Famous fashion designers and fashion houses often resort to this concept. This style involves wearing fluffy multi-layered skirts, as well as lace-up corsets. The inclusion of leather items and accessories in the wardrobe is welcome;
2. - fantastic steampunk is a more daring variation of the style. The clothes look quite original and are more likely to pass for a carnival costume than for everyday things. There are no specific rules and canons here. The main thing is that the image should be original and stand out as a bright spot against the background of gray everyday life;
3. - technical steampunk returns its adherents to the distant past. The silhouette has rough and not always clear forms, and the clothes themselves are decorated in abundance with complex decorative elements. If you wear a fluffy skirt, then it must certainly be short, and the corset will not softly fit the waist, but will be made of hard and coarse materials. But, despite this, the image remains quite gentle and feminine. Particular attention is paid to accessories and jewelry, which are mostly made of metal. This is a rather specific style, so not everyone can create a harmonious, but at the same time, extraordinary image.

Steampunk is gaining more and more popularity. Even ordinary business or casual suits can contain some elements of this style. And even wedding dresses were affected by this fashion trend.

Wardrobe elements

Steampunk may seem too bizarre at first, but it will not leave anyone indifferent. Having become interested in this style, it is worth remembering that this is a rather expensive hobby, you will almost completely have to update your wardrobe. So, to create a complete steampunk look, the following things must be present in your closet:

• - all kinds of hats that you have ever seen in old movies: bowler hats, hats with veils, and masks;
• - in outerwear it is worth sticking to the military theme. For example, it can be coats resembling a soldier's overcoat;
• - speaking of jackets, it is better if they are made of checkered material. Don't forget to wear a vest underneath;
• - shirts are provided for both men and women. For ladies, this element of the wardrobe should be decorated with lace, ruffles and other decorative elements. Classic shirts are suitable for men, but without a collar;
• - and even underwear should match the style. A steampunk woman must certainly wear corsets and garters;
• - in everything related to trousers, this style provides complete freedom, with the exception of one detail. It is not allowed to wear jeans, because. they make the image teenage and frivolous;
• - from shoes it is better to choose massive boots or leather boots. At the same time, a high platform and decor in the form of lacing are welcome;
• - the main accessory of the steampunker are aviator glasses, as well as a pocket watch on a chain. Often, clockwork parts are used as decorative elements. Also among the accessories can be included locks and keys to them, all kinds of technological elements. And even your gadgets must be dressed in the appropriate "attire" so as not to stand out from overall picture style.

Hairstyle

Hair is important element any image. If you like a style like steampunk, then you need to learn how to do retro hairstyles with cold waves. It is also worth experimenting with bangs. It should be thick and start from the middle of the head.

If you do not want to radically change your hairstyle, then wigs and hairpieces can come to your aid. Especially interesting will look options for the most unexpected colors. You can limit yourself to a few overhead strands of bright neon shades. Braids are a very popular hairstyle. You can also make high bouffants and decorate your hair with massive hairpins.

Makeup

Despite the fact that steampunk is quite a bright and extraordinary style, you should stick to fairly restrained colors in makeup. Shadows can be metallic or pastel shades. At the same time, it is worth emphasizing the look with wide black arrows and long false eyelashes.

When it comes to the shade of lipstick, there are two extremes. Either you prefer subtle natural shades, or you paint your lips in bright red or maroon colors. Do not forget to emphasize the cheekbones with soft pink or peach blush.

Decorations

Steampunk involves the use of massive jewelry in ethnic or retro style. Their forms should be strict, but, at the same time, harmonious, because. This style is designed to harmoniously combine the past and the present. Jewelry made from any mechanisms and parts or reminiscent of them in shape will look best. Be sure to give preference to metal. Your image will be even more original if you bring an umbrella with a wooden lacquered handle.

Goggles are a popular element of steampunk. These are massive round glasses that look more like a gas welder's mask or a ski accessory. Goggles with folding glasses are considered special chic. They are not very comfortable to wear on the eyes, so most often they are worn on the forehead or on the top of the head. Since goggles are decorative glasses, their glasses can be painted in the most different colors or completely replaced by gratings, metal parts, or some kind of images applied with phosphor paint.

Mechanical elements also affect shoes. Moreover, the more of them, the better. Women's stilettos, decorated with cogs and gears, will look especially interesting.

Steampunk is a unique style that, although it has its own canons, also leaves room for imagination. It makes it possible to express individuality and through clothes to convey to others one's position in life. Perhaps that is why many of the world famous brands take elements of steampunk style as the basis of their collections.

Steampunk (or steampunk)- a term born English words"steam" and "punk". With the word "steam" - "steam", everything is crystal clear - it is fundamental to the genre. Steam technology rules the world! Imagine, at the end of the 19th century, a Babbage machine was built, the size of St. Paul's Cathedral, a technocratic society is divided into classes and, in addition to believing in God as such (which is not at all necessary), believes in God in a machine. And this machine is controlled by steam, which makes it the main life force that nourishes the universe. Steam locomotives, airships, steamed ATVs, mechanized implants - steam reality.

Example of a mechanized steampunk implant, author

Steampunk Technique - "Steam Mustang", author

It is much more difficult to define the word “punk”. Consider 2 hypotheses:

1. "This world is rotten to the core"

Fans of the genre who promote this view of steampunk interpret the word “punk” literally, that is, as “rebel” and “rot”. This shows some solidarity with the older brother of steampunk - cyberpunk. In this case, the class stratification of society is not just there - it is critical. Classes are at war with each other, there are rebel wars for a better life and criminal wars for a better place in the sun. The aristocracy and the bourgeoisie are pompous and courteous, the lower classes are poor and dangerous in their desperate struggle for survival. This is reflected in the appearance of the inhabitants of the world - leather corsets and vinyl boots with iron stilettos are combined with classic crinolines, an evening top hat with a torn kilt. The maximum of rebellious, punk aesthetics - that's what distinguishes the adherents of this view of steampunk.

2. "God save the Queen"

During the reign of Queen Victoria in England there was a technical revolution that led the kingdom to prosperity. But imagine for a moment that good old England does not stop there and turns into a steam power - a monopolist. Gradually on new way other countries are also developing. What is "Victorian" steampunk? This is our history and our reality, but alternative (the word “punk” means “deviant”, “alternative”). In our reality, Miss K. from Liverpool, morning tea is brought by the maid Nancy, in the steampunk reality, it is the automaton maid N-C16. In our reality, Mr. N goes to watch boxing on weekends, in the steam robot battle reality. The costumes of such an alternative world do not differ much from the costumes of the 19th-early 20th centuries of our universe, but they have the obligatory attributes and accessories of the "steam" society - mechanical devices, ladies' jewelry of the appropriate design. I must say that the "Victorian" steampunk gentleman will put on goggles if he decides, for example, to famously ride in his car with a steam engine, but he will not wear goggles everywhere, because this is nonsense and bad manners, akin to appearing at a ball in a chef's apron.

It is worth mentioning the point of view that the “Victorian” steampunk is only a step in the development of technology and in the 40s of the alternative universe it gradually turns into dieselpunk. Which is not devoid of some logic, but completely devoid of steam romance, in my humble opinion.

To summarize, what has been said above, we get that steampunk is a technocratic alternative reality, or another world that has embarked on the path of development based on steam technologies and has been leading the social and cultural starting point since the 19th century of our time. In spite of specific framework Given this definition, steampunk has many facets. Attempts are constantly being made to isolate various subgenres and even individual genres based on steampunk.
Here are the most famous:

Usually the clockwork or mechanical "clock-and-gear" component is a harmonious and integral part of the steam universe. But in its purest form, this is a world that exalts the aesthetics of the mechanism, in which the art of creating mechanical things is brought to almost perfection. A mechanical computer on shafts and springs is a common thing for clockworkpunk.

A subgenre inspired by the genius scientist of the late 19th century, Nikola Tesla. Electricity is the basis of the Teslapunk. It does not occur in its pure form, but if electric generators are present in a steampunk work, it can be attributed to a Teslapunk.

Timepunk

HG Wells "Time Machine" is a vivid (and practically the only) example. Time travel, adventures associated with it - that's what timepunk is.


Frame from the movie "Time Machine", quite in the style of steampunk
A sale-punk universe can be a world of flying islands, or a city world where only the sky is free. But one way or another, sailpunk is ships, air and water battles and pirates. Sailpunk is also a harmonious part of many Steam universes. Independent examples include the novel "Aqualon" by Ilya Novak and Lev Zhakov.

fantasy steampunk

Steampunk, but with elves, dragons, magic and other fantasy attributes. Sometimes distinguished as separate genre. One of the most clear examples- a great computer game Arcanum.

The selection of subgenres, the identification of the "steampunk" nature of a particular work or universe - the ground is extremely shaky and leads to ongoing disputes among steampunkers. Should goggles and gears be considered obligatory attributes or banality and signs of bad taste? If the main character is the captain of an air frigate, does that turn steampunk into sailpunk? Despite the difference of opinion and disagreement, a hot steam heart beats in the chest of every steampunker and it beats in the rhythm of steampunk. Steampunk inspires creative exploits, and it doesn't matter whether it's a professionally executed functioning model of an airship or a necklace made from old gears - each such creation brings both the master and the audience a little closer to their beloved world. And this is the most important thing.

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