Welcome steamers, in this article dedicated to Diesel and Punk.
And why do some people think it's the most important steampunk spin-off genre of all?
When you work on alternative styles , these are the kinds of questions that come up often. With work, you can immediately break down the influences and subgenres used, like a seasoned stylist or designer. How often do you ask yourself the question when you run an online store to know if this or that object fits into a certain box, certainly quite often. In short, we have become an accidental authority on what is, and what is not, dieselpunk .
In the Steampunk Store team, we are cosplayers and fans of steampunk for a long time, and to tell you the truth we were using elements of dieselpunk long before there was ever a word "dieselpunk", and I saw many other names for it up until the 2000s.
So Dieselpunk, definition?
According to Wikipedia:
"Dieselpunk is a genre like its better-known cousin "steampunk", which combines the aesthetics of diesel technology from the interwar period to the 1950s with retro-futuristic technology and postmodern sensibilities.
Much like steampunk, the name "dieselpunk" is a derivative of the cyberpunk genre, the good old science fiction of the 1980s by William Gibson (Neuromancer). The term is used to represent the period - or "era" - from the interwar period to the 1950s, when diesel engines or not were the main technological advancement in Western culture. The suffix "-punk" attached to the name is representative of the countercultural nature of the genre in terms of its opposition to contemporary aesthetics. The term also refers to the family of names given to similar derivatives of cyber, such as steampunk.
Because it's from Wikipedia, people seem to think it's "the" definition.
Role-playing and war images as a starting point
The word was first used by Lewis Pollack when his role-playing game, Children of the Sun, was released in 2001. It looks like Steampunk, but the industrial revolution and the Victorian era give way to the troubled period of the world wars. A dark world dominated by war, the army, its codes and its iconography. A universe that is ultimately quite different from the world of the advent of steam, replaced by oil and electricity. A sentence sums it all up by fans: Because steam just wasn't dirty enough (because steampunk wasn't dirty enough, for the anglophobes).
Dieselpunk is a celebration of retro futurism from the 1920s to the 1940s. The genre requires imagination and, like any alternate history, reinterpretation of tomorrow's future through the eyes of yesterday. The visual aesthetic incorporates elements of art deco, film noir, prohibition, gangsters, and the Great War combined with science fiction , fantasy, magic, alternate history, and future technology to create a unique and distinct genre.
In short, after all my reading, writing, and observing over the years, I have discovered that Dieselpunk is whatever you or I say it is, as long as it reflects retro-futuristic elements of the 20s, 40s, and sometimes mid-50s.
Dieselpunk is simply the continuation of the aesthetics of the style of the 20s, 30s, and 40s, and the absolute cutoff is the early to mid 50s. Nothing more than that, no need to complicate it any further. It maintains any aspect of style from that specific period of human history, then you are free to incorporate science fiction and fantasy.
From there we distinguish two extremes in style: Dieselpunk, which I would call natural, and retro-future Dieselpunk:
- In natural Dieselpunk, people wear authentic vintage clothing or faithful reproductions of clothing from the period. British or Nazi army uniforms are common for example.
- The Dieselpunk retro-futurist is one of us who is passionate about what the future was like at that time and tries to recreate that style and produce those "SF" elements in everyday life.
Sky Captain and the World Tomorrow, an example of a successful dieselpunk film
Here are some more examples that suggest you might be dieselpunk....
- Any of you who love the safari and colonial look and are incorporating these elements into your daily wardrobe these days, in the 21st century?
- All those people who are into the military look of uniforms, military machines and accessories from World War II and who intertwine these objects in their daily lives?
- Men and women who love to dress up in period costumes and dresses and go to concerts dressed in leather, caps and makeup, and who love doing that more than anything?
- The one who in every aspect of life tries to recreate his world as if the style of the 20s to 40s was the norm (I know some) ... Maybe you are a dieselpunk?
- In fact, if you've ever worn a fedora and vintage style suit or a simple leather jacket with your modern clothes, and wondered if you're the only one or if there are more people out there, maybe you're a dieselpunk?
Steampunk, dieselpunk, cyberpunk, same fight?
Like other variations of cyber, Dieselpunk is more than just a specific style or aesthetic.
The " punk " aspect of Dieselpunk is an act of passive aggression against the modern establishment that dictates what everyone can and cannot wear. Specifically, the people who write the ridiculous "is this fashionable?", "is this has-been?" articles in fashion magazines, all those countless rags published for the notorious under-50 housewife. Dieselpunk is particularly against those women's fashion dictates that everything old is bad and everything new is good - and everything that is good now will be bad in just a few weeks.
We are openly against the self-appointed authority in a fashion industry that expects us to throw away all the clothes we bought last season and spend a fortune on this season's fashion, only to throw away this season's clothes when it's over and the next season comes around. We will not bow down to the cult of the "Catwalk".
Dieselpunk is a declaration of war against the establishment that demands conformity and in this it is very similar to the steampunk movement . It is a solid punch in the face to the people who demand that we dress in a specific way and kneel before the altar of hyper-consumption, it is a total repudiation of aspects of modern society that demean and belittle those who know that "new" does not always mean "better" in their attempt to accuse us of not always staying "cutting edge" and of being resistant to progress.
If you haven't guessed yet, there is - or should be - an anti-authoritarian element to dieselpunk. We reject the idea of a self-appointed "leader" or authority of any kind, it's a countercultural movement.
Being Dieselpunk is also a celebration of the brutal individualism of the aforementioned era, not so that we can live like hermits, but so that we can contribute more to the community. The stronger we are as individual dieselpunks, the better the community.
One of the most important things to remember when discussing what dieselpunk is and is not is that this debate is one of the most popular activities among dieselpunks. My definition of dieselpunk is meant to be more inclusive and allows for a mainstream approach to ensure that no one feels excluded from the dieselpunk, steampunk, and cyberpunk community. We are ultimately one family, envious of the past and its alternative style, struggling to be ourselves.
One thing is for sure, Dieselpunk will remain and grow as artists, writers, tinkerers, and all other creative people incorporate the aesthetics of the era's style into their projects and products.
Thank you Steampunks and Dieselpunks for reading this article, share it and have a good start to the school year!
See you soon Vaporists.
