At the risk of sounding like an old curmudgeon now that I'm a
freshly minted 29 year-old, I've been really impressed with the
development that Steampunk has enjoyed over the past 7 or so years
that I've been around and hosting this e-group. Looking back on our
archives, it's sort of neat to see how we've gone from LEAGUE OF
EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN and all these really elementary discussions
about what is Steampunk at all to having Steampunk bands and fashion
and movies and comics and things all over the place. It's gone from
Alan Moore and Walt Disney to Abney Park and Optimus Prime, and it's
been one hell of a trip.

But one thing I fail to understand is this idea cropping up here and
abouts that Steampunk is some kind of "movement"... That it is in
need of some kind of "manifesto", or that it is somehow
legitimately "counter-cultural". Granted, several years ago, few of
us could really have envisioned Steampunk as a culture at all, as
opposed to simply a genre. Actually, I'm still not entirely
convinced that it is more than a genre of Science Fiction whose more
ardent fans cosplay, join e-groups and maintain websites... Not
really any fundamentally different from Trekkies or Otaku.

Which is probably why I'm a little flumoxed by Steampunk as a
manifesto-weilding, counter-culture movement. In particular, I can't
think of any interest of mine that is MORE driven by consumer
entertainment products than Steampunk. It was Steampunk that got me
back into the evil empire of Disney, for instance. The movies, DVDs,
comic books, paperbacks, costumes, CDs... It may be outside most
people's common interests, and may even involve a heaping spoonful
of DIY, but it is still consumer entertainment product, and as such,
not particularly counter-cultural. Especially as a culture based on
no functional predicate... If we wear goggles and petticoats, it is
for no purpose other than aesthetics.

Given that Steampunk as a culture rose from the fusion of Steampunk
as a genre with Gothic, Rivet and Cyberpunk cultures, is that
perhaps where the drive to cast Steampunk as a counter-culture came
from? But are we not ultimately fooling ourselves into making much
ado out of what is basically a nerdy fetish? Does Steampunk really
signify anything more than the meeting place of Sci-Fi Romanticism
and Victorian aesthetic values? Does it "mean something" or is it
just "this thing" we like?

Thoughts?