User:Larry442010/Dieselpunk

Dieselpunk is a sub-genre of the pop surrealist art movement and a budding sub-culture that combines the aesthetics of the interbellum period through World War II, and ending before or at the early 1950s, with postmodern technology and sensibilities. First coined in 2001 as a marketing term by game designer Lewis Pollak to describe his role-playing game Children of the Sun, dieselpunk has grown to describe a distinct style of visual art, music, motion pictures, fiction, and engineering.

Origin
The name "dieselpunk" is a derivative of the 1980's science fiction genre cyberpunk, and is used to represent the time period - or "era" - when diesel-based locomotion was the main technological focus of Western culture. The "-punk" suffix attached to the name is representative of the counterculture nature of the genre with regards to its opposition of contemporary aesthetics. The term also refers to the tongue-in-cheek name given to a similar cyberpunk derivative, "steampunk," which focuses on science fiction set within the Victorian era.

The Diesel Era and Decodence
Dieselpunk draws its inspiration from two related sources: the diesel era and a characteristic referred to as "decodence."

The term "diesel era" is a period of time that begins with the start of the interbellum era, which covers the time between the end of World War I and the start of World War II. The interbellum era is central to one school of dieselpunk often labeled "Ottensian." In addition to the interbellum period, World War II also plays a major role in dieselpunk, especially in the school of the genre referred to as "Piecraftian." The exact ending of the diesel era is in some dispute in the dieselpunk community. Depending on the source it ends either at the conclusion of World War II or continues until the early part of the 1950s with the advent of such cultural icons as the Golden Age of Television and the replacement of Big Band and Swing music with Rock and Roll in popularity.

Dieselpunk isn’t limited to the historical events of the diesel era for inspiration. Another important aspect of dieselpunk is a characteristic termed "decodence." According the web site The Gatehouse, decodence (likely a portmanteau of "deco" and "decadence"), "embraces the styles and technologies of the era; it rejoices in a prolonged Jazz Age ambience characterized by great enthusiasm and hopes about the future."

Dieselpunk as a Subculture
A person defined as a dieselpunk draws inspiration and entertainment from the aesthetics of the diesel era to achieve independence from contemporary aesthetics by blending the literature, artwork, fashion, grooming styles, modes of personal transportation, music, and technology of the diesel era with contemporary sensibilities.

Part of dieselpunk's postmodern nature can be seen in the important role that the internet as a tool of international communication plays in its development. In addition to two prominent dieselpunk online communities, Dieselpunks and The Gatehouse's "Smoking Lounge", there are a growing number of online magazines dedicated to the genre including The Flying Fortress, Some Stuff Like That There, Dizelpanki and several blogs which are simply titled "Dieselpunk". Another active online magazine covering the dieselpunk movement is Vintage Future: Dieselpunk, which describes itself as "Retro-futuristic resources from the golden era."

While there are many web sites dedicated to the history of the diesel era, there are a few sites dedicated to topics that tie directly into dieselpunk. One such website of note is RetroTimes Production, which is an independent film production company dedicated to creating documentaries about "retro living, retro design, and retro style." A few sites are springing up that have a retro pulp feel as well, including Captain Spectre and The Lightning Legion, which is an online comic written and drawn in the classic serial pulp fiction style of the diesel era, and Thrilling Tales of the Downright Unusual, an interactive "choose your own adventure"-style pulp serial.

Dieselpunk as an Art Movement
Artwork (including visual arts, music, literature, and architecture) created in the dieselpunk style are heavily influenced by elements of the art movements most prevalent in Western culture during the diesel era such as:
 * Arts - Abstract Expressionism, Art Deco, Bauhaus, Constructivism, Cubism, Dada, De Stijl (Neo-Plasticism), Futurism, International Style, Surrealism
 * Music - Blues, Jazz, Ragtime, Cabaret, Swing, and Bluegrass
 * Literature - Symbolism, Stream of consciousness, Modernism, Pulp, Hardboiled Detective and Noir

Dieselpunk Fiction and Literature
Alternative history and World War II features prominently in dieselpunk literature. One of the most successful dieselpunk novels is Fatherland, written by Robert Harris, in which Germany defeated Continental Europe and the Soviet Union in World War II, with Great Britain as a German puppet state. The result is a Cold War between the United States and Germany rather than with the USSR. Examples of other dieselpunk novels are Shadow in the Mist by Brian Moreland, Tales of the First Occult War by Kevin Cooney, The Keep by F Paul Wilson, and Fiends of the Eastern Front by David Bishop.

There are several short stories that one might call dieselpunk. One such example is Lucky Strike by Kim Stanley Robinson which involves an alternative ending to the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. Another example of dieselpunk short story was The Death of Captain Future by Allen Steele, which won a Hugo Award. Both were published in The Best Alternative History Stories of the Twentieth Century edited by Harry Turtledove with Martin H. Greenberg.

Common Themes Found in Dieselpunk Fiction
A feature that was first identified by the online magazine The Flying Fortress is that dieselpunk can be divided into two primary themes or styles: Ottensian and Piecraftian. The dividing line between the two themes is commonly acknowledged as the start of World War II.

One theme, named "Piecraftian" after its proponent author "Piecraft", focuses on the aesthetics of the world wars and speculates on how human culture could theoretically cease to evolve due to constant, widespread warfare. According to Ottens and Piecraft this theme continues the aesthetics of the diesel era into later periods of history by describing a world where survival (largely based on a reliance on diesel power) is placed above aesthetical evolution (as seen in such dystopian movies as Mad Max ).

A second theme, named "Ottensian" after its proponent author Nick Ottens, focuses on a setting where the decadent aesthetics and utopian philosophies of the American "Roaring Twenties" continued to evolve unhindered by war or economic collapse. Ottensian dieselpunk fiction is primarily concerned with a positive vision of technology, where the utopian ideals predicted by the World’s Fairs of the times came to light. As a result Ottensian dieselpunk incorporates "an enthusiasm for the predictions about the future," and often shares elements with retro-futurism.

Dieselpunk and the Gaming Industry
Dieselpunk features prominently in the gaming industry, in both tabletop role-playing games and computer and console video games. Among role-playing games, GURPS Cliffhangers by Steve Jackson Games, Daredevils by FGU and Pulp Hero by Hero Games put the players into pulp action serials of the 1930's. Other games such as Operation: Fallen Reich by Fallen Publishing, which puts the players in a whimsically eccentric take on World War II, are light in tone, while games such as Call Of Cthulhu, published by Chaosium, can be dark and foreboding.

Dieselpunk video game titles have been extremely prominent in recent years, with the success of the popular Fallout and Bioshock series of games. World War II is also a popular theme in dieselpunk games. One of the more prominent of these was Activision's Return to Castle Wolfenstein; other games set in dieselpunk versions of the World War II era include Command and Conquer: Red Alert and Turning Point: Fall of Liberty.

Dieselpunk Music
Dieselpunk music combines elements of Blues, Jazz, Ragtime, Cabaret, Swing, and Bluegrass commonly found during the diesel era with contemporary instrumentation, production, and composition. Some commonly referenced examples of dieselpunk bands are: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Royal Crown Revue, Squirrel Nut Zippers, The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Indigo Swing, Wolfgang Parker, The End Times Spasm Band, and Lee Presson and the Nails.

Dieselpunk Cinema
With regard to cinema, dieselpark combines the tropes, character archetypes, and settings of diesel era fiction genres such as Serial Adventure, Noir, Pulp, and War with postmodern storytelling techniques and cinematography. Some commonly referenced examples of dieselpunk cinema include: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Dark City, Rocketeer, Inglorious Bastards, the Indiana Jones movie series, Sin City, Eraserhead, Brazil, and more recently, Daybreakers.

The dieselpunk style can also be found in animated pieces such as: The Big O, Batman: The Animated Series, Last Exile, The Detective Story (Animatrix), and B-17 (Heavy Metal).

Famous inspirations for dieselpunk cinema include Metropolis and Things To Come, thanks to their period visions of utopian culture and technology.

Though widely labeled as cyberpunk, the neo-noir movie Blade Runner may also be described as dieselpunk due its strong element of decodence. Tim Burton's 1989 movie Batman has also been referenced as a dieselpunk movie, and opinion supported by Ken Hanke in his book Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker who describes the look and setting of Batman as "The citizens, cops, people and the black-and-white television looks like it takes place in 1939."

Dieselpunk on the Small Screen
Recently, dieselpunk has also been showing up on television. Batman: The Animated Series, as mentioned previously, and it's deco pulp spinoffs Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League, ''et. al.'', were popular hits. The SyFy channel's Battlestar Galactica spin-off Caprica is a mix of dieselpunk and cyberpunk, and the in-story virtual game "New Cap City", which plays an important role in the series, is noir dieselpunk, with the virtual skys patrolled by zeppelin-borne P-40's. In 2010, Toyota created an ad series for their Avalon series that were decidedly dieselpunk. The first, "Train", is set in an art deco train station (complete with a Twentieth Century Limited-inspired locomotive), where the characters are wearing 40's-inspired clothes and a cover of Mr. Sandman by Pomplamoose plays in the background. The second, "Plane", depicts men and women in 40's-inspired aviation uniforms as a Douglas DC-3 flies in the background.

Dieselpunk Fashion
Dieselpunk fashion blends the styles commonly found during the diesel era with contemporary styles to create a fusion of both. The "punk" nature of the subculture comes from expressing a more complete presence in public akin to the fashion styles popular during the diesel era such as waistcoats, covered arms, hosiery, styles of shoes, and head wear to name a few. Dieselpunk emphasizes the inclusion of such accouterments to render one's look "complete," in defiance of modern custom. The blog Gearing Up is one of the few web sites dedicated to dieselpunk fashion.

Dieselpunk Visual Art
According to online magazine Dark Roasted Blend, in an article titled "Dieselpunk: Love Affair with a Machine", dieselpunk art "takes an interest in various bizarre machines, full of esoteric levers, cracked-glass meters - all visually intense and pretty sinister-looking, when photographed." The article references Japanese artist Shunya Yamashita having created one of the definitive examples of dieselpunk art with his work "I Can't Explain." The article also references Kow Yokoyama as a dieselpunk artist with his figurine series titled "Maschinen Krieger."

Other prominent artists in the dieselpunk movement include: Sam Van Olffen, Keith Thompson, Rob Schwager, Stefan Prohaczka, ixlrlxi, and Alexey Lipatov.