This is an aside titled 'Steampunk Needs More Punk' dated 8/3/08

I don’t share Design Observer’s frustration with steampunk, but am dismayed at its prevalence for the same reason I’m not so keen on most space opera: it gets cliche. The best science fiction has an innovative and unexpected use of setting. Brazil was fantastic because is was fresh, as was City of Lost Children when it premiered. While there are ways to innovate within the literary genre, (Perdido Street Station comes to mind,) I’m not enthusiastic about upcoming steampunk movies, because we already know how it looks. I recently watched The Golden Compass, which is in many ways terrible. Online reviews declared its only redeeming aspect is the steampunk fashion and set design. But I couldn’t disagree more: had the director taken risks with the aesthetics (something Pullman’s material gave him plenty of room to do) and created a world as unexpected as the best of sf/fantasty — Dark City, Neverending Story, even Lemony Snicket — it might have made up for all the script’s omissions and failures.

Posted by Joanne on Aug. 3, 2008 Tagged: , , , ,

One Response to “Steampunk Needs More Punk”

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