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Steam Punk Culture - What Is Steam Punk Culture And How Does Steam Punk Culture Work?

by Garrett Mickley

There's a culture called Steampunk that is dedicated to a revamp of the Victorian age. Typically filled with massive steam powered mechanics and extravagant dirigibles, this classic age is mixed up with fantasy. The Steampunk genre includes not only clothing, but music, art, and literature.

Steampunk has become a major hit in the fashion industry. Various designers are beginning to incorporate cogs, and gears, classic steampunk designs, into there clothing lines, and fashion shows. Typically, however, steampunk fashion can be seen as a growing trend within the cosplay scene. Groups of friends get together, wearing stylized, and often modified, Victorian style clothing, portraying themselves as pirates, explorers, adventurers, or even mild mannered socialites. Outfits include decorated coats, and top hats, goggles, and sometimes ray guns! This particular type of fashion caters greatly to the 'Do-It-Yourself' community, where most the accessories carried by the cosplayers, are painted, and created entirely on there own. Ray guns are masterfully designed by mixing Nerf guns with standard household accessories. The bravest and the bold of this community actually fabricate these items themselves out of wood, and metal. The site http://steampunkguides.com has more info on this.

There is no definitive style of music that is steampunk; rather steampunk qualities can be found in all different artists from all different styles of music, including rock, rap, electronic, and others. Steampunk qualities in rock tend to have dark beats, gritty guitar, and sometimes a hint of folk. A once industrial band named Abney Park proclaim themselves a Steampunk band. They are influenced by steampunk not only in their music, but in their clothing, design of their instruments, and even the fictional personas that they carry with them on stage. Aside from steampunk rock, there is rap and hip-hop music influenced by steampunk, and usually includes a deep but up-beat bass and lyrics that either depict the life of a mad scientist, or a post-apocalyptic world. The best example of this is Dr. Steel. He has catchy but heavy-hitting beats, and his stage-persona is of a mad scientist.

The art culture has embraced the steampunk culture with open arms. Not only online, but in art galleries and local art shows. The art includes dirigibles and flying machines in the sky, soaring above barren wastelands. There is no particular art style, any artist can incorporate their own style. What makes it different is the purpose and perspective. Many such paintings are dark and dreary, with violent oceans, labs that resemble dungeons scattered with frankenstein-esque tools, or a deslote and deadend landscape. In a line, steampunk can always be picked out by it's unique theme.

There has been a breakthrough in literature within the steampunk culture. H.G. Wells is said to have birthed this trend, along with Jules Verne. The base of the modern steampunk community is based on their inventions, worlds, and knowledge that they depict in their works. First there's the brass time machine in "The Time Machine", and then the massive submarine in "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea," which were both considered futuristic. Presently, we would refer to them as retro, regardless of the fact that time machines don't actually exist. However, both machines seem out of place in such time periods. These ideas have been the driving force for many steampunk fans, and the basis of steampunk.

By now you hopefully think Steampunk is the coolest thing ever. If you're interested in seeing more steampunk stuff, you should check out http://steampunkguides.com taget="_blank">Steampunk!

Published June 16th, 2010

Filed in Hobby