Quote:
Originally Posted by Brett
What is the "punk" in steampunk, that Girl Genius doesn't have it?
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Having been the sort of punk with pointy hair and leather, I'll bite. It has to do with the most fundamental (perhaps
only) "punk principle": Do it yourself. Adopt your way of dressing, playing guitar, living, etc. rather than the established way. Contrary to popular belief, it isn't about rejecting society . . . rather, it's about not accepting the prevailing norms as a script. You pick and choose the elements you want, and you leave behind the ones you don't want. It's entirely possible (if unlikely) for a punk to deconstruct everything and, through his own choices, end up picking what the rest of society did anyway; the difference is that the outcome was something he chose, not something that was imposed on him.
Steampunk is about a DIY view of science and technology – in more radical examples, inventors even seem to choose which scientific principles govern their inventions! In more recent times, steampunk also incorporates a DIY view of fashion and other aesthetics. It can coexist with a polite, Victorian view of society if its adherents
choose that path rather than have it thrust upon them. It feels more like "punk," I suppose, if they choose a Victorian-seeming aesthetic and/or moral sense in a society where those views don't prevail (e.g., today).
I think
GG somewhat lacks the sense of choice I'd expect in a "punk" genre. Everybody seems to be playing a part in a family history, a society, or a conspiracy. Nobody is blowing it all off, clearing his or her mind, and making choices. At best it has a little of the faux-punk edge of the naughty kid who acts out, which is about as "punk" as a vivid hair color on a supermodel in a fashion magazine that sells millions of issues (which is to say, not at all).