I'm the president of a nonprofit youth organization. Back in May, we threw a steampunk-themed ball and gala, and believe me, with the amount of work that ended up going into it, I had to care. The theme was decided on by vote, although it seemed that only the people who voted knew what the heck it was, and they got to explain over and over again.
We got permission from a local scrapyard to wander about and use discarded metal to make art and decorations which, while a ***** and probably dangerous in hindsight, was great fun and made some really cool props. We got donations for spare costume parts, etc, altogether making preparing for the dance just as fun as the actual event. Now the fun part - I'm fuzzy on how, but the local newspaper caught on and requested to interview me and the kids about the steampunk genre in general. The article used to be hosted online, but I regret that I was unaware they took it down after a brief time or I would link you to it as I only have the paper version. It was fun to hear everybody say what steampunk meant to them, with my own boundless enthusiasm glossing over "it is pretty neat" and "I dunno I just heard it online this year." "Check it out I glued some gears to this brass teapot!"
Oh, man. Everybody loved that teapot.
So I'll tell you what I told them; the past is gone, but deep down everybody is still in love with it. There are a lot of different definitions but most agree that steampunk is the envisioning of the past with the technology of today. There's a reason it focuses mainly on the Victorian era around the industrial revolution: this time represents the pinnacle of a spirit of advancement, with science and technology spreading out, for perhaps the first time, to touch the lives of absolutely everyone. New inventions came hard and fast and people just wanted more and more, ready to change, ready for their lives to become faster and better. That's an automatic appeal to most young people, I think, as it's practically the embodiment of breaking away from institution and being able, through machines, to live a more functional, independent life. It's the contrast of hard, grinding industry laid over the culture and poise of 19th century socialism. Lace and metal. S'beautiful.
Now, of course, it's an appeal to people like myself who simply enjoy messing about with wires and gears and cogs and find an intricate joy in taking things apart to see how they work. I like robots and engines and grease and giant turning gears underground, and that's just me. Steampunk is my thing.
I've exactly one (bad) photo of my costume, which was badass, our photographer didn't show up so I didn't get many monuments to our creativity before it was disassembled. Let me know if you want it, as I am not under the impression that anyone particularly cares to look at me without good reason.
My goodness can I ever ramble. Hope the panel is received well, it'd be nice to get the culture some more exposure.
