Imagining a Better Future by Re-imagining the Past

Saturday, January 20, 2018

Dieselpunk: A New Cookbook Part 3: Decopunk

In my last post I wrote about a new Dieselpunk flavor that I called Gothic Dieselpunk. In this final installment I address another new flavor that has been gaining a lot of attention in the genre-punk community. It’s called “Decopunk”.


The following is from the official website for the LARP Attaway:

"Attaway considers its parent genre to be dieselpunk, with some important distinctions. It’s commonly accepted that dieselpunk can be divided into two halves, either before or after the start of World War II as a jumping-off point. The first focuses on a world continuously at war on a global scale (“Piecraftian”), while the second focuses more on the pre-war Jazz Age and the so-called “Roaring Twenties.” If it isn’t already apparent, this second half describes the nature of Attaway as a game world and as a LARP on the whole. This subgenre is called decopunk. It takes a positive outlook towards technology as a form of innovation for humanity’s overall benefit, with an upbeat (if not devil-may-care) attitude towards the future and a general air of Art Nouveau decadence. Steampunk author Sara M. Harvey describes the subgenre thusly: “DieselPunk is a gritty version of Steampunk set in the 1920s-1950s. The big war eras, specifically. DecoPunk is the sleek, shiny very Art Deco version; same time period, but everything is chrome!”
 

Decopunk is a drop-dead-gorgeous lounge singer in a black velvet dress, clutching the microphone she croons into with a slick chromed prosthetic arm.
 

Decopunk is a hard-boiled detective in a leather trenchcoat cracking his knuckles as he prepares to confront his mark atop the roof of the midnight monorail going uptown.
 

Decopunk is the smoke from a revolver curling up the arm of a woman in a perfectly tailored three-piece suit and fedora, standing over the body of a crime lord… and her former lover.
 

Attaway is Decopunk."
 

In my opinion it’s time for the Dieselpunk community to recognize decopunk as more than just Hopeful Dieselpunk. With its growth and increased popularity I believe that decopunk should be recognized as its own flavor. 

For a good definition I go with the given at the Ash Dancer blog:
"Decopunk is considered a subgenre of Dieselpunk set in a more 1920’s diesel powered world."

Everyone welcome the new flavor of Dieselpunk: Decopunk.

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