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Dannyboy-the-Dane

Musings On Steampunk (And To Some Extent Life In General)

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I mentioned this article I "accidentally" wrote in the good stuff thread and was encouraged to post it here. It mainly revolves around the steampunk subculture, seeing as it started out as a comment on another steampunk article, but it holds some views on life in general as well.

 

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Musings On Steampunk (And To Some Extent Life In General)

This article is a response to the article "Why Steam Needs Punk" by Audelia E. Flint, which in turn is a response to another article by Diana Vick entitled "Seven Steampunk Fallacies". The two articles can be found here:

 

Diana Vick - "Seven Steampunk Fallacies": http://www.squidoo.com/seven-steampunk-fallacies

Audelia E. Flint - "Why Steam Needs Punk": http://trialbysteam.com/2011/03/03/why-steam-needs-punk/

 

As I was writing it, what was originally intended to merely be a comment on Flint's article kept growing and eventually evolved into an entire article of its own. Thus it opens with a very concise statement: I'm afraid I disagree with this article. I've heard and read different people's opinions on the mentality and values of steampunk, including the seemingly everlasting debate about the importance of crafting your own steampunk gear, and as such I've come to my own interpretation of the steampunk mindset. Thus I'll try to explain here why I don't believe you need to be a "punk" to be a "steampunk".

 

Now, one of the main beliefs that I've come to value above most others in my life is the belief in individuality and in breaking down any conceptions that tell you not to follow the lifestyle you want. This is a belief which I believe I can safely say I share with 99 % of the world's steampunk population. Indeed, the whole point of the article by Flint seems to be much the same: That the main value of steampunk is the rejection of normativity. However, seeing as it's been one of, if not THE most central belief in my life for a great deal of it, and seeing as I've always been a fairly thoughtful fellow, I've had a long time to ponder the finer details of it. And the pondering of those details has led me to reject the conclusion that the main value of steampunk is simply "rejection of normativity".

 

See, rejecting the norm is all fine and dandy when promoting a lifestyle that celebrates values that stray from the norm. However, if one truly believes in the acceptance of any lifestyle that a person would choose, how can one reject individuals that choose NOT to reject the norm? Isn't it hypocritical to celebrate individuality and then proceed to reject a group for having a lifestyle whose values clash with that of your own?

 

Now, I'm not trying to argue the in my opinion flawed idea that "anything is steampunk if you say it is". That seems to me like a silly and illogical notion, seeing as every genre by definition has a number of common elements that do exactly that: Define the genre. However, I AM trying to argue that as with all genres - and, by extension, all concepts and ideas in life - the interpretation of those elements, and even the interpretation of WHAT exact elements actually constitute the genre, may very well, and often do, vary from individual to individual.

 

With pretty much all of the other subcultures that have come and to some extent gone over the years, there always seemed to be one constant: The discussion about what did and what didn't belong to the subculture, what was and wasn't true to its values. When I first discovered steampunk, I did not only see an aesthetic that was pleasing to me and a world of speculative fiction that I loved - I saw a subculture that, unlike every other subculture I knew, didn't seem to look down upon some of its self-proclaimed supporters. I saw none of the arrogance or elitism that I had come to associate with people belonging to subcultures, none of the endless debates about true values and beliefs. I saw a subculture that celebrated individuality and creativity, which embraced all the different interpretations of itself. Maybe it was because steampunks didn't take themselves very seriously, as Vick writes in her article. Maybe they didn't need to highlight their own beliefs as superior to others' because, hey, it's all just in good fun.

 

Now, does all this mean that I believe you should share these views if you want to call yourself steampunk? Of course not! That would go against everything I've just explained! Whenever I've observed discussions about what exactly constitutes a subculture, the thought that has always ultimately emerged in my mind is: "Why are you fighting about it?" It always seemed hypocritical to me that those who strayed from what was considered mainstream, people who were very likely to know how it felt to be different and to be looked down upon because of it, were doing the exact same thing to their kindred spirits: Looking down upon them for being different. What I'm ultimately trying to do with this article is not to say or decide what other people should consider steampunk. I'm vehemently against the idea of forcing your opinions on other people. What I'm trying to do is to spread acceptance, to spread the idea that we can all coexist peacefully despite our different ideas, values and opinions. Not all steampunks are crafty and able to construct all their accessories themselves. Not all steampunks are rebellious towards society as it is at the moment. Not all steampunks like debates about Victorian values, and some steampunks simply dislike goggles. But does that make any of them less steampunk than the others? I certainly don't believe so.

 

So, in conclusion, do I SUPPORT the values of steampunk that Audelia E. Flint describes in her article? Definitely! But do I think they DEFINE steampunk? Not at all. Because I believe the steampunk philosophy is at heart accepting, not rejecting. All-encompassing, not selective.

 

But that's not to say you have to agree with me, of course.

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