# Why hasn't steampunk taken off cinematically? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 8, 2011, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587 "2011-09-08T05:41:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/21 "2011-09-08T13:09:20Z")
Back to the Future 3 sorta? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/22 "2011-09-08T13:21:51Z")
[It was done.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa6JMMItTcs#t=00m40s) In 1958. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/23 "2011-09-08T13:37:36Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I take slight exception to the term “silly.” I believe “frivolous” is a better description. > > The Steampunk aesthetic (in my limited experience) is something people play with. It is fun to dress up as characters and carry props that could have come from a Victorian adventure novel or a pulp series. > > Hollywood has trouble with spending a lot of money to make light entertainment. (If they could make it cheap I am sure they would, but even the computer time to create a virtual Steampunk environment would cost a bundle.) Hollywood seems to be looking for big pictures that will appeal to a wide audience and sell a lot of tickets. So, period adventures such as the recent Sherlock Holmes film with a touch of overly-elaborate mechanisms is as steampunky as we are likely to see in the near future. **Unless someone finds the right story** and the movies takes off – then we will see all sorts of horrible pseudo-Victorian shows being produced as brass-bound bandwagon jumping ensues. > > Personally, I think that some of the proto-steampunk novels (such as Jeter’s _Morlock Night_) woudl make good films, but most of the more recent “zombies and zeppelins” stuff would be terrible on screen. **(My bold).** Have there been any blockbuster steampunk novels that beg to be filmed? Movies aren’t just made around style–they need plots. And Hollywood tends to prefer plots that have already “sold”–which leaves out most steampunk & proto-steampunk novels. Even if they might make excellent films. We’ll continue to see elements of steampunk design, which is fine with me. (Somebody above mentioned the new TARDIS.) I finally caught the Sherlock Holmes movie on cable; parts of it were enjoyable. But my current favorite Sherlock prefers to text… ---
**Author:** ![Teufelblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@Teufelblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teufelblitz)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/24 "2011-09-08T14:18:18Z")
Even though steampunk is a pretty small niche, I think a well made movie could have broad mass appeal. A well executed story will come to life beyond its genre. I’ve always preferred cyberpunk. I have been waiting for someone to make a good Shadowrun game or movie for a long time. The last time we had anything worth playing was back in the sega genesis/super nintendo days. I was sad that the only thing they did with the concept recently was a half baked FPS game a few years back. Cyberpunk got the closest thing to a good treatment it’s going to get in Johnny Mnemonic. There is also supposed to be a movie interpretation of Neuromancer in the works. We’ll have to see how that goes. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/25 "2011-09-08T14:30:13Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Hollywood seems to be looking for big pictures that will appeal to a wide audience and sell a lot of tickets. Tickets are getting expensive and sales go down every year. I think it would be more accurate to say Hollywood is looking to make movies that sell a lot of DVDs, and in regard to steampunk, it’s hard to sell a ton of DVDs if you start with a small audience. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/26 "2011-09-08T14:32:46Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Tickets are getting expensive and sales go down every year. I think it would be more accurate to say Hollywood is looking to make movies that sell a lot of DVDs, and in regard to steampunk, it’s hard to sell a ton of DVDs if you start with a small audience. Yeah, I’m an old man who still does not automatically consider the long tail of entertainment sales life. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/27 "2011-09-08T14:50:42Z")
Steampunk isn’t even very well defined: > **[Steampunk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk)** > > Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or the American "Wild West", where steam power remains in mainstream use, or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power. > Steampunk features anachronistic technologies or retrofuturistic inventions as people in the 19th century might have envisione... The first book that was consciously steampunk (although K. W. Jeter didn’t use the term) was _Morlock Night_ back in 1979. From that point until the early 1990’s the term was used to mean any fiction set in the Victorian period with some technology that didn’t actually exist then but which could conceivably have been built with great difficulty that might mimic what can only now be built efficiently with modern technology. It was a niche genre and the authors knew it. The term was little used in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. Suddenly it started getting used again. A lot of this use was by people who came to science fiction conventions and wanted to have events in which they dressed in Victorian costumes. When told that this was a science fiction convention, not a place to dress in random period costumes, they said, “Well, I’m dressing in a steampunk style.” When it was pointed out that there was nothing in their costume with any science fictional relationship, they glued a piece of random hardware to it and said, “See, it’s steampunk.” It’s fine to dress in Victorian costumes, but don’t pretend that you’re doing anything with connected with science fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/28 "2011-09-08T14:58:03Z")
I thought steampunk was defunct years ago. I remember being mildly interested in the concept (well, the aesthetics of the concept, really), gosh, 20 years ago? But I had assumed that it went away long ago. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/29 "2011-09-08T14:59:55Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > I thought steampunk was defunct years ago. I remember being mildly interested in the concept (well, the aesthetics of the concept, really), gosh, 20 years ago? But I had assumed that it went away long ago. No, if anything it seems to be (can’t resist) picking up steam. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/30 "2011-09-08T15:02:15Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Steampunk isn’t even very well defined: > > [Steampunk - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk) > > The first book that was consciously steampunk (although K. W. Jeter didn’t use the term) was _Morlock Night_ back in 1979. From that point until the early 1990’s the term was used to mean any fiction set in the Victorian period with some technology that didn’t actually exist then but which could conceivably have been built with great difficulty that might mimic what can only now be built efficiently with modern technology. It was a niche genre and the authors knew it. > > The term was little used in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. Suddenly it started getting used again. A lot of this use was by people who came to science fiction conventions and wanted to have events in which they dressed in Victorian costumes. When told that this was a science fiction convention, not a place to dress in random period costumes, they said, “Well, I’m dressing in a steampunk style.” When it was pointed out that there was nothing in their costume with any science fictional relationship, they glued a piece of random hardware to it and said, “See, it’s steampunk.” > > It’s fine to dress in Victorian costumes, but don’t pretend that you’re doing anything with connected with science fiction. This is silly. Science fiction is speculative fiction, and is thus wide open to any and all interpretation. There is no canon, and there are no rules. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/31 "2011-09-08T15:10:55Z")
And alternate histories have a long tradition in sci-fi. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/32 "2011-09-08T15:13:48Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > This is silly. Science fiction is speculative fiction, and is thus wide open to any and all interpretation. There is no canon, and there are no rules. When you have Jules Verne and H.G.Wells sitting on your side, you’ve got more than canon, you’ve got major artillery. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/33 "2011-09-08T15:21:32Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Steampunk isn’t even very well defined: > > [Steampunk - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk) > > The first book that was consciously steampunk (although K. W. Jeter didn’t use the term) was _Morlock Night_ back in 1979. From that point until the early 1990’s the term was used to mean any fiction set in the Victorian period with some technology that didn’t actually exist then but which could conceivably have been built with great difficulty that might mimic what can only now be built efficiently with modern technology. It was a niche genre and the authors knew it. > > The term was little used in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. Suddenly it started getting used again. A lot of this use was by people who came to science fiction conventions and wanted to have events in which they dressed in Victorian costumes. When told that this was a science fiction convention, not a place to dress in random period costumes, they said, “Well, I’m dressing in a steampunk style.” When it was pointed out that there was nothing in their costume with any science fictional relationship, they glued a piece of random hardware to it and said, “See, it’s steampunk.” > > It’s fine to dress in Victorian costumes, but don’t pretend that you’re doing anything with connected with science fiction. Cite? I question the convention anecdotes, as no Science Fiction con I have been to in the last 40 years has ever had anyone in authority be such a costume sticth counter. As cons are regularly attended by folks dressed in everything from jeans-and-tee-shirt through Halloween costumes up to fully articualted Gundam suits, I find your interpretation to be odd. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/34 "2011-09-08T15:47:00Z")
I think one of the major mainstream stumbling blocks to steampunk is that most stories that could include steampunk don’t really need to, and most stories that require steampunk slam right up against the wall of “that stuff didn’t work in 1850”. See… that’s why science fiction is more popular- it’s set in the future, so who’s to say that warp drive or teleporters or whatever won’t eventually be possible. But with steampunk, it’s set in a definite past; these things did not exist, and for the most part could not exist, and people realize that. The only ones that I can think of that are actually interesting are ones where the real-life technology was so far ahead of its time that getting it to physically work was the stumbling block. For example, Gibson & Sterling’s “The Difference Engine” is steampunk, and extraordinarily interesting- it’s basically set in a world where Babbage’s Difference Engine actually worked, giving modern-style computing to 1840s England. The theoretical underpinnings of his computer were sound; machining technology at the time was not up to the task of building the machine. It’s a lot easier to imagine Babbage finding one extraordinarily gifted machinist to make this device and having it work, than some unknown genius hero making steam jet-packs and all sorts of crazy optics that weren’t developed at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/35 "2011-09-08T15:53:39Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Yeah, I’m an old man who still does not automatically consider the long tail of entertainment sales life. For that matter I feel a little stupid for saying tickets “are getting expensive.” Prices have become ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/36 "2011-09-08T16:27:08Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > It looks like the upcoming _Three Musketeers_ has some steampunky stuff in it too. Hmm. Let me just check IMDb… _Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson_ Oof. _Starring Milla Jovovich_ Oof. _In 3D_ Strike three. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/37 "2011-09-08T16:31:07Z")
I think mainstream audiences have a problem with invented or parallel worlds, which is where steampunk stories are invariably set. Stories set in the future, past (even a fanciful version of the past), mythology, fairy tales or well-known literary worlds can be acceptable, but other than the Star Wars movies, I can’t think of a successful film set entirely in a world, unconnected to ours, invented specifically for the film. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/38 "2011-09-08T16:38:59Z")
I was at DragonCon this past weekend and if it’s any indication the fandom has reached critical mass. I think if one more person buys and wears a pair of brass and glass goggles to a Con it will officially collapse like a Jinga tower. ---
**Author:** ![GovernmentMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@GovernmentMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GovernmentMan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/39 "2011-09-08T16:42:06Z")
I don’t understand the neckbeard fascination with steampunk ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587/40 "2011-09-08T16:47:20Z")
As has been pointed out, the claims of “silly” are, well, silly. Silly has no bearing on success in Hollywood. Also I think the claims of expense are over-rated. Props can be cheap to make. I’ve done some set design work, for things to ‘read’ well to an audience props only have to have a passing resemblance (on the surface) to work. Check out this [steampunk Nerf gun](http://www.jeremyclough.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/steam1.jpg). Very cheap and easy to make but reads well in this photo. > [@drastic\_quench](#): > > It’s like making Window Dressing: The Movie. No aesthetic is that prominent or important. This, I believe, is it. Steampunk is the dressing - not the story. . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-steampunk-taken-off-cinematically/595587.md?page=3)