What is the ‘Steampunk Lifestyle’?

Happy New Year everybody.

This year I want to start a new series of articles. Someone asked me; “How does one live a Steampunk-lifestyle?” is not a easy question to answer, but surely worth talking about. However it needs an introduction.
First of all “lifestyle” is a very broad term, which is defined as; the way a person or group of people live. In other words everybody has a certain lifestyle which is based on their financial situation, (ecstatic) tastes, chooses in diet and even ideological or religious beliefs.
So, my intention is to inform the reader on several elements that could be considered part of the Steampunk lifestyle. However, I also what to debunk a number of misconceptions on Steampunk, as well as give my opinion on those misconceptions.

So, how do we define a Steampunk lifestyle? Now, Steampunk has it root in the dystopian future of cyberpunk, the old science fiction stories of Verne and Wells and our own nostalgic/romantic conceptions, the (victorian) past.
When the stories of Verne were translated to film in the nineteen-thirties we began to see the foundations of what we now call the steampunk ecstatic.

As the Steampunk community grew, popculture started to influence it’s designs and stories. The Borg from Star Trek, Doctor Who and Star Wars in general _ became important sources of inspiration for Steamers around the world.
Steampunk is very inclusive. Want to steampunk a car? Sure! Want to make a Steampunk Stardestroyer? That’s possible! Want to make a Steampunk Jesus? Already done. Kinda think of it, there should be a Steampunk-variant on rule 34. Please don’t Google rule 34 if you don’t know what it is (you will be flabbergasted). So, first rule of Steampunk, there are no rules.
“Then, what about all those Victorian Gentlemen and Ladies?” many ask. Well, what about them? Steampunk is ‘traditionally’ set in Victorian England. But Steampunk is anything but traditional. It is always changing. That is why it is so hard to define what Steampunk is.
The name itself is a play on ‘Cyberpunk’, coined by SF-writer K.W. Jester, for futuristic stories set in an alternate past. The idea of it was that most technology was steampowered. But these ‘what-if-stories’ soon expanded to differ era’s of our history were steampower made no sense anymore. To solve this problem, new genres were invented. Dieselpunk, atompunk, clockpunk and so on. These terms, in my opinion, have little practical value beyond their designation. All of them are ‘what-if stories’ in which technology has changed history as we know it. Only the era and ‘feel’ are different.      
So whenever I use the word Steampunk I actually mean ‘Retro-Futurism’ because, well that’s what it is. A combination of history and science-fiction that is most visible in the ecstatic.

So, is Steampunk just ecstatic’s. No, it isn’t. Is it escapism? Well, yes. But there could also be some underlying motivations. Like the movement itself, that elevates Steampunk beyond mere escapism. But that’s a subject for another time. However, there is one question I want to address here. Why are people so inspired by the past to begin with?

This and other elements of Steampunk often get outsiders and those new to the community confused. Some (critics) believe Steampunk to be a reaction against conformism, corporations and what not. There is some truth to this. However, It would be unwise to consider Steampunk a (structured) ideology (because it is not).
When you ask certain steamers, they will say the ‘movement’ helps them connect to a ‘better time’ when people were, ‘more polite’ and people had ‘integrity’. They believe in the ‘British Gentlemen’ and their code of honor and chivalry.
Bullocks is what I say to this cliché. But then again, I am a historian. I look at the past with scientific curiosity, not nostalgia-goggles (no pun intended).   
Still, basing a ideology on nostalgia is a bad idea all around, because nostalgia is how we want the past to have been, rather then it has been. Remember, we dropped certain policies and traditions for a reason.
That didn’t stop certain individuals though. Somewhere near the end of 2013 someone started a group on Facebook on political Steampunk, but it disappeared within ten minutes or so. Someone (or someone’s) probably pointed out to him that this is a horrible idea. For an ideology, based on something like Steampunk, to work is to ignore reality. And Steampunk is fantastical enough, thank you very much.

Is or should Steampunk therefor (be) devoid of beliefs and idea’s. Of course not. But, when talking about lifestyle, we tend to focus on the ecstatic’s because it is the first thing we see. But behind all that copper and dark leather there certainly are idea’s hidden. However, it differs from person to person.   

To conclude, Steampunk is a feeling. A feeling that echo’s throughout it’s community. It ranges from stories, to the design of objects and even music. It is so diverse and ever-changing it is hard to keep up with. Even for someone like me who writes about it on a daily basis. So for those who want to do something different in their lives or want to spice up their homes, be creative! Be inspired by the community. But please don’t try to do the same things that others have done before. Let your style tell us something about you, rather then letting the style dictate your tastes. There may be no rules, but you can’t fake good steampunk!