Steampanku vs Victorientalism
May. 29th, 2010 07:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
branchandrootSo, I'm at Marcon. There's a lot of steampunk this year (indeed, I yearn for a hat but have restrained myself thus far in light of my art bidding). And I've discovered that the theme for this year's Ohayocon will be steampunk.
This led, as such things do, to lamentations on the fact that steampunk is so direly Euro-centric and how much fun it would be to do actual Japanese steampunk.
Not, I pause to add, here, Victorientalism, which appears to consist primarily of the utterly, utterly clueless drive to reify the Orientalism of 19th C European authors who had never actually been in sniffing distance of any Asian country and merely used the specter thereof as a screen on which to project the results of dredging their own ids. *pauses to go find something to settle her nausea* Nor am I thinking of FMA and Castle in the Sky, which are explicitly set in Europe or Europe-analogues.
No, what I'm thinking of is more along the lines of what one aspiring author has dubbed steampanku: a re-imagining of Japanese history, especially late Edo and Meiji, with the addition of 'steam' and clockwork based technologies. See also, Samurai Seven, only a good deal more optimistic and less constrained by the urge to Extreme Pathos. More cheerful erasure of gender inequality as per speculative fiction that wants to make a point. Steam mecha. Air ships to navigate about the interior. The energy that was plowed into social containment mechanisms being let to run instead into technological advance (cue the steam arms-race, cue science as a method of social advancement and class laundering, cue the re-opening of the country being because Perry brought a rich bribe of favorable trade deals for coal [or handwavium, as steampunk really has zero history of technologically or economically sound underpinnings]).
I mean, seriously, Meiji practically is steampunk already, especially in terms of social ferment, the search for new modes of existence, the drive for modernization, and the value placed on "advancement". The fact that these things led to some very problematic moments both domestically and abroad is, itself, very in line with the sociopolitical critique at the roots of steampunk (not that you'd know it to look at these days...).
So, I envision, in broad strokes, the persona of an imported consultant during Meiji (since I'm leery of taking on a Japanese persona) who adopted, as some did, a certain amount of local dress. In costume terms, I think this would come out to a hip-length kimono on top (local, as I'm postulating shorter styles for tech class), full pants below (equally comfortable to those used to bloomers or hakama, suitable to tech class), sandals or low boots (since they would have to be removable reasonably easily; boots seem most appropriate to a Westerner persona, though) and a leather obi with suitable compartments, hangers, brass, whatever seems appropriate (also local style for techs). Possibly a watch-cuff, because they're cool.
What do you guys think?
ETA: Oo, of course, the striped kimono! Good, quiet middle class pattern and fabric (bonus that existing steampunk aesthetics lean heavily to stripes), and those odd sleeves that are a bit too long for a married woman but way too short for a girl having her come-out; perfect for a mature but unmarried tech chick.
This led, as such things do, to lamentations on the fact that steampunk is so direly Euro-centric and how much fun it would be to do actual Japanese steampunk.
Not, I pause to add, here, Victorientalism, which appears to consist primarily of the utterly, utterly clueless drive to reify the Orientalism of 19th C European authors who had never actually been in sniffing distance of any Asian country and merely used the specter thereof as a screen on which to project the results of dredging their own ids. *pauses to go find something to settle her nausea* Nor am I thinking of FMA and Castle in the Sky, which are explicitly set in Europe or Europe-analogues.
No, what I'm thinking of is more along the lines of what one aspiring author has dubbed steampanku: a re-imagining of Japanese history, especially late Edo and Meiji, with the addition of 'steam' and clockwork based technologies. See also, Samurai Seven, only a good deal more optimistic and less constrained by the urge to Extreme Pathos. More cheerful erasure of gender inequality as per speculative fiction that wants to make a point. Steam mecha. Air ships to navigate about the interior. The energy that was plowed into social containment mechanisms being let to run instead into technological advance (cue the steam arms-race, cue science as a method of social advancement and class laundering, cue the re-opening of the country being because Perry brought a rich bribe of favorable trade deals for coal [or handwavium, as steampunk really has zero history of technologically or economically sound underpinnings]).
I mean, seriously, Meiji practically is steampunk already, especially in terms of social ferment, the search for new modes of existence, the drive for modernization, and the value placed on "advancement". The fact that these things led to some very problematic moments both domestically and abroad is, itself, very in line with the sociopolitical critique at the roots of steampunk (not that you'd know it to look at these days...).
So, I envision, in broad strokes, the persona of an imported consultant during Meiji (since I'm leery of taking on a Japanese persona) who adopted, as some did, a certain amount of local dress. In costume terms, I think this would come out to a hip-length kimono on top (local, as I'm postulating shorter styles for tech class), full pants below (equally comfortable to those used to bloomers or hakama, suitable to tech class), sandals or low boots (since they would have to be removable reasonably easily; boots seem most appropriate to a Westerner persona, though) and a leather obi with suitable compartments, hangers, brass, whatever seems appropriate (also local style for techs). Possibly a watch-cuff, because they're cool.
What do you guys think?
ETA: Oo, of course, the striped kimono! Good, quiet middle class pattern and fabric (bonus that existing steampunk aesthetics lean heavily to stripes), and those odd sleeves that are a bit too long for a married woman but way too short for a girl having her come-out; perfect for a mature but unmarried tech chick.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-30 12:47 am (UTC)Which is where I go for ignoring historical gender inequality; part of the project of steampunk, if you approach it as such, is to envision a better world. That can take the form of "wouldn't it be good if that imperialist/colonialist stuff were, you know, not happening and let's see how that would work" or of "let us translate those things into an AU setting where we can highlight their problems more easily". I'm consistently drawn to the former in my fanwork of all kinds, which is why I especially like the aspect of steampunk that jettisons historical gender limitations.
And, while I certainly don't wish to try to take any special authority to critique gender inequality in another culture, I am, by the same token, not going to /refrain/ from critique just because the culture isn't the one I grew up in. I do my best to keep in mind the things I may not see because of my subject position (which one also has to do with one's home culture), but I'm still going to judge as best I can as I go, and keep revising as I find information. I feel that anything else is an ethical failure.
Mostly, it just ticks me off that the only Japanese steampunk that seems to be going /is/ completely uncritical Orientalism. I'm really not down with that, and for an anime con to have a steampunk theme... well. I'd like to contribute to that in a more thoughtful way than "oh, look, it's a geisha/dragon lady". *makes a face*