Tantavalist
Explorer
The whole "[genre]-punk" argument is pretty much pointless anyway, because it has nothing to do with Punk in any case other than the original usage of Cyberpunk.
When the Cyberpunk sci-fi genre first developed Punk was a thing in mainstream pop culture and so it was used in the title to differentiate it from the generally shiny Space Opera that had dominated sci-fi previously. It was very applicable then, since it was the Punk attitudes of the then-modern age carried into the future.
And then two of the biggest names in 80s Cyberpunk literature, William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, decided to collaborate on a novel that wasn't cyberpunk called The Difference Engine. Retro-sci-fi had been a thing before this with- for example- authors such a Moorcock and the Space 1889 RPG. But The Difference Engine popularised the concept of Victorian Steam-tech sci-fi in writers- and gave the genre a name. Because it was written by two people known for Cyberpunk many reviewers started calling it a "Steampunk" novel.
That's it. That's the origin of the term Steampunk. And while The Difference Engine could be argued to have the same Punk sensibilities as the other books by those authors later entries to this new genre focused on the Victorian society and steam-powered tech rather than any Punk attitude or philosophy.
After this, because people are lazy, any time some new genre that either imitated a style of sci-fi no longer relevant (Rocketpunk) or was a spin-off of the Cyberpunk genre (Biopunk, Nanopunk) they just use -punk as the descriptor.
TL;DR is that attempting to argue that something using a name with -punk stuck on the end should contain Punk sensibilities has missed the fact that for decades it's been divorced from what Punk originally meant. Attempting to assert otherwise is like arguing that calling someone "Gay" should mean they're "Happy" and cannot be used on anyone who is sad regardless of their sexual orientation.
(Sorry for the pseudo-rant but it always annoys me when the Punk in -punk argument comes up.)
When the Cyberpunk sci-fi genre first developed Punk was a thing in mainstream pop culture and so it was used in the title to differentiate it from the generally shiny Space Opera that had dominated sci-fi previously. It was very applicable then, since it was the Punk attitudes of the then-modern age carried into the future.
And then two of the biggest names in 80s Cyberpunk literature, William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, decided to collaborate on a novel that wasn't cyberpunk called The Difference Engine. Retro-sci-fi had been a thing before this with- for example- authors such a Moorcock and the Space 1889 RPG. But The Difference Engine popularised the concept of Victorian Steam-tech sci-fi in writers- and gave the genre a name. Because it was written by two people known for Cyberpunk many reviewers started calling it a "Steampunk" novel.
That's it. That's the origin of the term Steampunk. And while The Difference Engine could be argued to have the same Punk sensibilities as the other books by those authors later entries to this new genre focused on the Victorian society and steam-powered tech rather than any Punk attitude or philosophy.
After this, because people are lazy, any time some new genre that either imitated a style of sci-fi no longer relevant (Rocketpunk) or was a spin-off of the Cyberpunk genre (Biopunk, Nanopunk) they just use -punk as the descriptor.
TL;DR is that attempting to argue that something using a name with -punk stuck on the end should contain Punk sensibilities has missed the fact that for decades it's been divorced from what Punk originally meant. Attempting to assert otherwise is like arguing that calling someone "Gay" should mean they're "Happy" and cannot be used on anyone who is sad regardless of their sexual orientation.
(Sorry for the pseudo-rant but it always annoys me when the Punk in -punk argument comes up.)
