Wow, I hadn't ever thought about point three as it regards the steampunk genre before, but it is startlingly accurate. So many of the dreams and ideas that seemed to drive SF--flying cars! robots everywhere! colonies on the moon!--look much, much farther away now than they did a few decades ago and it's a little grim to try to look/imagine forward, so steampunk lets you get that same "what if...?" joy while looking backwards or sideways instead.
I've wondered if there's something about steampunk in general that just seems more familiar for both readers and writers. Of course not all SF is hard, pure-tech SF, and it's not like mechanics and alternate history are easier to research and write about than, say, quantum theory--but they certainly feel more accessible to the average person. Or maybe that's just me. :|
Where as with steampunk you can't really be afraid of someone who's too into pocket watches.
I adore that sentence. ♥♥♥
...you know, I think I totally missed your original mention of the steampunk filter. Would you sneak me on, please?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-09-15 12:54 pm (UTC)I've wondered if there's something about steampunk in general that just seems more familiar for both readers and writers. Of course not all SF is hard, pure-tech SF, and it's not like mechanics and alternate history are easier to research and write about than, say, quantum theory--but they certainly feel more accessible to the average person. Or maybe that's just me. :|
Where as with steampunk you can't really be afraid of someone who's too into pocket watches.
I adore that sentence. ♥♥♥
...you know, I think I totally missed your original mention of the steampunk filter. Would you sneak me on, please?