Steampunk, Nostalgia, and Why I Don't Think They Mix

"I have no patience for nostalgia. You know, people say 'two dollars for a Mars bar! Why, I remember when-' What? You remember what? Fucking slavery, shut up." -Dylan Moran

A lot of people describe steampunk as a "nostalgic" movement. This, as you will already know if you've read the title of this piece, strikes me as stupid. I've actually heard the nostalgia thing more from people outside of steampunk trying to describe or understand the movement, but I've definitely heard it from a few actual steampunks as well, so this article will be about refuting the idea that steampunk is, or should be, nostalgic, both for outsiders trying to figure out steampunk, and for steampunks who may not be thinking things through.

Presumably, people figure steampunk is nostalgic because of the roots it has in the past; it does, after all, generally draw from a 19th century source, and the aesthetic definitely has a lot of 19th century influence. They say, and at least a few steampunks I've heard talk agree, that there is, in steampunk, a fundamental yearning for the values of the 19th century. You'll hear people talk about things like "simplicity" and "honor," whatever the crap those are supposed to mean.

But is historical awareness the same as nostalgia? I would answer that question with a resounding, roof-shaking "no." I personally feel that "nostalgia," in relation to an historical time period, can be one of the most poisonous concepts possible, dependent as it so often is on selective memory, historical whitewashing, revisionism, and a privileged view of the past.

The fact is, though, that both in and out of steampunk I do occasionally come across people who say things like "I was born in the wrong era!" or "I should've been born in the (insert year here)." Sometimes , I'm firmly of the opinion that such people are talking straight out of their asses, like when they say it at a 1940s vintage dance party. I mean, yeah, the 40s fashion, music and dancing is great, and I sure do enjoy a quaint, old fashioned cocktail, but...uh, I am very, very, very glad I wasn't alive in the 1940s. You're not? I tend to just assume that people who say such things in that context just aren't thinking, and I don't even bother to argue the point.

When it comes up in steampunk, though, people seem a little more committed to the era than they do at "vintage" events; they'll often have personas and costumes that they've put a lot of thought and effort into, which forces me to give their supposed longing for the past a little more credence. So when steampunks talk about nostalgia, I listen. And I come to a logical conclusion, which is this: anyone claiming nostalgia for the 19th century is a white, heterosexual, middle-to-upper-class Christian male. One who is naturally immune to cholera.

Are there things about the 19th century that are fun? Of course there are! But that doesn't mean that it was an inherently "good" era, or an era preferable to the one in which we now live. Here's an example from outside of steampunk that I think illustrates the point: I myself am a fervent 19th century sailing enthusiast; I love working on tall ships of that era. But I would certainly not describe myself as nostalgic for the tall ships of the 19th century. After all, one of the ships I worked on was a re-creation of a ship you may have heard of; the Amistad. Let that sink in, and try to reconcile it with the idea of being nostalgic for the age of sail.

Do I love the feel of a wooden deck pitching and rolling under my feet, do I love skylarking in the rigging of a topsail schooner out at sea while the sun goes down, do I love bonding with a crew while we work and live together? Yes, or I wouldn't do it for the very little pay most tall ships offer. Do I believe in the education program that Amistad America has in place to inform people about the slave trade, and the Amistad uprising? Yes, totally. But, uh, do I wish I had been on the actual Amistad when she made her voyage, the one that ultimately took her from Cuba to New Haven, and put her in the history books and Steven Spielberg films forever? No, not even a little bit. Are you crazy? It's a goddamn horror story. A horror story that must not be forgotten, one that must be told, remembered, and understood, but not something any sane person would be nostalgic for. Working on the Amistad was about appreciating the ship itself, preserving the arts and traditions that go along with working a ship like that, and about remembering and teaching the public about what took place aboard the original. Awareness of the past demands both, and I think that, ultimately, is the difference between enthusiasm for history, and nostalgia.

I think what it's important to remember about steampunk is that almost any aspect of 19th century history, particularly those aspects of the British Empire, or the United States that tend to get romanticized, have a lot in common with the Amistad. A beautiful setting, perhaps. A fascinating, wonderful old form of technology. And, underlying it all, the pain and suffering of an oppressed people. Properly telling the story involves telling their story as much as it does focusing on what people might love about the era; if the modern day Amistad sailed around talking about daily life on a 19th century Cuban coastal trading vessel (which is what the ship was prior to 1841) with no mention of anything else, that would be doing a massive disservice to history, and be incredibly disrespectful to the people who were taken aboard the ship as slaves. It'd be a hell of a lot easier to be nostalgic about, but it would be a lie.

I don't think I should have to list here the various oppressive, horrible things about the 19th century. That's not really the point of this post; anyone even vaguely acquainted with the history of the 19th century already knows that some awful, awful things happened, many of them things whose effects the world still lives with today (slavery, imperialism, the oppression of women, etc). My point is that these are things that should not be ignored so that we can enjoy our nostalgia in peace and good conscience, they are things that should be remembered, explored, deconstructed, and understood. Playing with the past is a great way to do all that, and steampunk, with its openness to alternate histories and willingness to both celebrate and condemn historical figures and actions, as appropriate, offers a unique tool.

Those who would aim for nostalgia should think hard about what their idealization of history does. It ignores the crimes of the past, which is not only disrespectful to the memory of those who suffered and died as a result of 19th century imperialism and oppression, but it tells their modern day descendants that you feel they do not matter. Celebrate the British Empire while ignoring what it did on the Indian subcontinent, and you tell any Indian or Pakistani person who wishes to get into steampunk that this is a genre and a subculture that is willing to ignore them, that affords them no more respect than the British did their ancestors. Romanticize American westward expansion without acknowledging the genocide that was committed in the process, and you tell Native Americans that their culture, and their history can be forgotten in service of your preferred story. Idealize the morality of the Victorian age, and you tell women, and LGBT people that their rights and humanity are so unimportant that you are willing to ignore what life would have been like for them under the system you think of as "the good old days."

People who are into nostalgia will sometimes accuse those who try to get them to reign it in of being killjoys. I believe the term on the interwebs is "harshing the squee." I do not wish to harsh anyone's squee. For those who find their squee harshed by awareness of the full, complicated history on which they draw, think how any group marginalized by your willful blindness to their perspective must feel. Your squee is not the only squee that matters, and your nostalgia might be fun for you, but it lasts only as long as you refuse to examine it, and as long as it lasts, you are limiting the scope of people who can enjoy steampunk, and limiting the usefulness of steampunk as a way to explore history.












(And here's the part where I do a shameless piece of self-promotion. I'm organizing a pro-labor flash mob and rally at the Steampunk World's Fair this year. The idea here is that our understanding of the past can help us make the future better, and that recognizing the oppression of the worker that came with the Industrial Revolution, and carrying forward the energy of the labor movement that came out of that oppression can help us as we continue to fight for rights in the modern day. If you're coming to the SPWF, and you appreciate all that unions have done to make life livable, you should absolutely be coming to these:

The flash mob: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=140376736032332

The rally: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=123821261029999 )