I was just thinking, there’s sort of another alternate-history genre out there that’s kind of like Steampunk in its weird mix of period aesthetics, but kind of the opposite. What I’m talking about is, instead of the Victorian/American Western-style baroque wood/leather/brass look of Steampunk, this genre has everything looking streamlined and art-deco-ish in 1930/40s-style. But it’s high-tech at the same time.
Just off the top of my head I came up with a really stupid, cheesy name for what I mean - “streampunk.” In other words, streamlined. I agree with others in the Steampunk thread who say the word “punk” is kind of misused in these contexts, so there’s probably a better term to describe what I mean.
The only film example I can think of that utilizes this kind of aesthetic is Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow. But I just KNOW there are other movies that are based in this genre, as well as lots of comic books and adventure stories from the 1950s and 60s. I just can’t think of any.
There are two variations on this genre, I think - there’s the post-apocalyptic Fallout type deal where society was wrecked, and then there’s the towering-metropolis deal where like World War II either didn’t happen or happened in some different way, and society is very prosperous and cities have grown enormously tall but remained in that streamlined deco style.
I absolutely love this style, even more than steampunk. I’ve always called it retro-futurism. You want to see *The Rocketeer * (underrated 1930s-period adventure movie based on Dave Stevens’ pulpy comic book, featuring Jennifer Connelly at her all-time hottest), and pick up the Terminal City comic book trade paperback by Dean Motter and Michael Lark. There’s a used copy on Amazon that should come out to $7 with shipping added, and that’s a real bargain if you like retro-futuristic art.
EDIT: The original Superman cartoons by Max and Dave Fleischer, the ones from the early '40s, are full of beautiful retro-futuristic artwork and settings. OP, drop me an e-mail or a PM, if you would, please!
Thanks! I’m glad someone else knows what I’m talking about.
I think it would be super-badass to have an alternate-history, retro-future movie with the premise being that the Nazis won World War II and New York is totally taken over by the Nazis culturally, and hyper-developed by the Nazi architects in all kinds of crazy retro-future styles. Slick, shiny black buildings towering towards the sky. Giant swastika flags hanging from balconies. Huge projection screens displaying Nazi propaganda. Sleek, silent black trains transport citizens through the city, and the streets are filled with 1930s and 40s-era Mercedes and BMWs. SS units patrol the streets at night, wearing black armored exoskeleton-suits with glowing red spotlights on the side of their helmets. Everyone’s dressed in fedoras and suits. And naturally, there’s a huge underground resistance movement.
That’s what I was hoping Sky Captain would be like, especially based on the masterful trailer. Instead, it had too much crap set in a jungle rather than the beautiful retro-futuristic metropolis it only teased with, and of course the script was weak and the pacing was poor and Gwyneth Paltrow’s character was useless, so don’t get me started.
I like the style you’re describing, but I think it’s different class of concept to steampunk. Steampunk consists of re-imagining devices and technologies with modern capabilities, but using Victorian technology. The style you’re describing is something that people from the 1920s onwards actually imagined the first time around (something the Victorians didn’t, or at least not so much, and not in such detail) - the style already existed in the fiction writing of the era.
I don’t want that to come across as if I’m putting it (or you) down or anything - I just think it’s a fairly significant distinction.
I’ve occasionally heard the term “Diesel punk” applied to this sort of setting, with the slight problem that said term is unspeakably stupid.
“Neo pulp”/“Retro future”/etc fits better, albeit with the slight problem of abandoning the “punk” suffix (“Pulp punk” sounds vaguely dirty or jack-o-lantern related, to my ear).
Interestingly enough I was just reading about some proto-pulps from the nineteenth century that were extremely steampunk-esque. The stories had things like steam driven mechanical men, giant attack zeppelins, and souped up prairie schooners. Sadly my attempts to locate any collection of these works has completely failed. They probably aren’t very good but finding out that steampunk existed back when it was just steam makes them facinating.
In any case, I love the 1930’s pulp futuristic stuff. I don’t think it needs a genre name. (Wish somebody would make a good Doc Savage movie. Today’s special effects are up to the job; just need a kickass script.)
