Them Punks: The Reality of Cyber, the Rise of Steam

Since my work with SciFi4me began I’ve had to catch up on some science fiction films I’ve never seen before, essentials I should have seen years ago. Starting with the classic Blade Runner the theatrical cut, we are brought to the topic at hand, “Cyber Punk”.  What is “cyberpunk” you ask?   Its origin is dated back to the mid 80’s, according to  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cyberpunk, cyberpunk is a noun meaning: science fiction, featuring extensive human interaction with supercomputers and a punk ambiance.  To me, cyberpunk means extensive human interaction with supercomputers, a place where society is run on and functions on the use and success of computer technologies, and artificial intelligence.  The punk part is an 80’s/70’s thing.  Being only 10 when the cyberpunk classic Hackers came out, I went on to watch more films in the genre; Escape from New York, Escape from LA, Robocop, The Matrix trilogy, The Fifth Element, A.I., Equilibrium and more recent films like Surrogates, Gamer, and Repo Men etc.

I recently watched a cyberpunk essential, a film I thought would be too dated and hokey for me to enjoy: Johnny Mnemonic.  The film was thoroughly enjoyable, it reminded me how not long ago, people didn’t have 4G internet in the palm of their hand and the term “cybercafé” was still in use. Look around yourself in a public space; how many people are on their phone, not using it as a phone?  Nations are leading revolutions with Twitter and Facebook. We are living in a cyberpunk society, luckily though the trees are still green, we don’t have replicants running around and California has not detached itself from rest of the continent.

My day job is working with children, many of whom, when I was their age, the internet was brand new and we played games on giant floppy disks. Today the 6 year old child sits down at the computer, knows exactly where they want to go and if the connection isn’t instantaneous they think the computer is broken.  I’m 26 years old, and it is my theory that my generation was the last to play as a child without the internet as a staple for entertainment.  They say we are the “lost” generation; perhaps we are the “last” generation to have been children free of all the technology.  Sure, we had Nintendo, and “The Oregon Trail”, but compared to today’s standards, those games were rudimentary.

This brings us to what got me thinking about the film Wall-E.  Most people saw Wall-E as merely an environmental message, about consumerism and corporate earth as a whole. But Wall-E is a cyberpunk film of a different kind.  It is for children, yes, but it carries two messages.  Many cyberpunk films touch on the idea, that the more technology runs our lives, the more disconnected we become from our humanity and eachother.  What Wall-E also tells us, is that the more we are disconnected from each other, the more we are disconnected from our planet.

Disney Pixar’s Wall-E is more than an environmental message, it is a human message. Are we going to become so disconnected from one another, not looking at each other face to face, relying on our technology to do our tasks?  Will we become so distracted by the things that make us comfortable, we end up lost in space? The philosophy of Wall-E is a crucial one, the more we allow ourselves to become disconnected from each other, the more we become disconnected from the planet, and vice versa. This planet is our home, the place that was made and/or evolved for our survival as a species.  If we forget this, we may end up short squatty things that resemble a human, having forgotten what dirt is and drinking our breakfast, lunch and dinner from a cup.  We are living in a cyberpunk world, can we handle it?

The more our reality resembles that of “Cyberpunk”, the more popular the “Steampunk” culture becomes.  Steampunk is defined by Urban Dictionary as:

Steampunk is a subgenre of speculative fiction, usually set in an anachronistic Victorian or quasi-Victorian alternate history setting. It could be described by the slogan “What the past would look like if the future had happened sooner.” It includes fiction with science fiction, fantasy or horror themes.

The make believe technology of “Steampunk” is mechanical in nature, steam powered, cogs and gears.

Is this to fulfill a desire for “simpler” times, when our technology was not smarter than us, when we felt in control of our inventions? Is the rise of Steampunk a fantasy for a more romantic time?  A time when people put great effort into their appearance, and the world seemed larger.  The Victorian era was a time of great scientific discoveries, the world was on the precipice of huge change.  Does the rise of Steampunk tell us that while we love our technologies and what they can do for us, we wish that it was still special, that we could understand it more?  You look at a bicycle, its clear how it operates, but when most of us look at a smart phone, we have no idea.   Will we see more of these?

And less of these:

Steampunk was once a very underground genre, but now you may just see your mom wearing one of these:

If you want a better idea of what steampunk is, think of “The Time Machine”, Jules Verne, The League of Extraordinary Gentleman,  even the awful Will Smith film, Wild Wild West.  Now don’t confuse yourself, the classic Metropolis is not steampunk, that is very early cyberpunk.  If this is all too overwhelming for you, this wikipedia article makes it pretty clear.  Actually that’s a lie, but there is a lot of information in it.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk_derivatives

My brother asked me, why do they have to call it punk, if the genre is derived from a specific period of time?  My explanation was, perhaps the definition of punk has been altered yet again, to mean, adopting a style of dress or lifestyle.  A way to give it a label, to bring those with like minds together.  I’m sure I’m leaving out many references to said genres.  What is your take on this movement, what is your favorite of the “punk” derivatives?

On a personal note, I’m a fan of the Beatnik  culture, but that makes me the odd woman out.