It bothers me more than a little the number of die-hards in the Steampunk community who balk at the mainstreaming of their movement. Case in point – some of the grumblings I heard over the new film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and its predecessor, Sherlock Holmes (2009).  “I don’t like this treatment,” one said, declining to go see A Game of Shadows.

 

 “Oh?” I asked, “What didn’t you like about the first film in the series?”

 

He replied. “Well, I only saw the trailer, BUT IT’S NOT STEAMPUNK!”

 

After looking at almost all of the Steampunkish films released this year, I think the resistance to this film in particular can be defined thusly: the ones who think it won’t be Steampunk enough for them perhaps fear they aren’t Steampunk enough for it.

 

The slick look and feel of Guy Ritchie’s A Game of Shadows is not strictly speaking Steampunk. Yes, a far share of Victorian images, clockworks and even a few sets goggles are in the film to be sure, but it’s first and foremost an action picture – reinforced by dozens of slow-mo money shots of the violence that varied from sickening to cartoonish.  To be honest, this tale is significantly less steamy than say Hugo, released in November, or the latest rendition of The Three Musketeers from earlier this year. But Sherlock Holmes, as originally written by Arthur Conan Doyle, is as much a founding father of Steampunk as Jules Vern, H.G. Wells, Mary Shelley and Charles Darwin. These writers, along with Doyle, were among the first to create characters (or in Darwin’s case - theories) who willfully remove themselves from their accepted place in society and say “I am more than the caste I was born into. My intelligence trumps my bloodline. I can take on the world and nature with my knowledge, insight and inventions.” No fear. No limits. Gimmie more adventure – please! That philosophy is quintessentially Steampunk. 

 

So why would any dyed in the wool Steampunks resist Holmes? Perhaps because the film is too good. The action, the costumes and even the violence achieve excellence that borders on the extreme. The visual effects, overseen by Chas Jarrett, bubble along, one perfect scene to the next, creating a seamless and unified world that carries the viewer from ballroom to brothel to train and back again. Every prop or object in the film is perfectly formed and rendered, no costume looks slapdash or hobbled together, every word of witty dialogue is perfectly paced and delivered through the seasoned chemistry of Jude Law and Robert Downey, Jr. No, this type of spit and polish ain’t come cheap (in a phrase). At an estimated $125 million production budget, we, like Holmes, expect to see everything, in digital detail. 

 

How’s an everyday Steampunk going to compete with the likes of that? Most won’t try, content to keep on doing as they have always done – even before Steampunk became the latest fashion – making original characters and costumes as time, creativity and money allow. But some will see the costumes and gadgets of Sherlock and Co., and they will bring their making and costuming A-game to try to match it – stitch and bolt. Some will even be able to exactly copy Moriarty or Watson whole cloth at the next Comic Con. Others, and this sticks in the craw of more than a few, will buy a cheaply-made, mass produced polyester Holmes costumes sealed in plastic and sold at Wal-Mart come next Halloween.

 

So what are we so afraid of? The mainstreaming of Steampunk in popular media diluting the core of the movement?  Perhaps, but at the same time this expanded vision of what Steampunk is may inspire others to chase the finery found in the illusion of the silver screen, raising the bar for what we can consider quality to be in Steam.

 

Sadly, as we broaden the bell of what Steampunk is, we inevitably leave the markets open on the bottom end as well – for cheap, derivative dreck.  (I’ve seen Arthur Christmas this weekend as well – and I’ve seen the gears glued onto Justin Bieber’s clothes in the pre-show mandatory watching of “Santa Clause is coming to town.” Don’t get me started.)  We can’t all be dressed to the 9’s – not without a few 2’s or 3’s for comparison.

 

To those hipsters out there that claim to be Steamier than thou, I say get a piston driven self unfolding ladder and get over yourself. Go see a good movie – like Sherlock Holmes: a Game of Shadows – and enjoy it for what it is. When you’ve seen it, you will know.

 

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The opinions of Emilie P. Bush are not necessary those of the Steampunk Chronicle.

 

Mrs. Bush has written two Steampunk novels: Chenda and the Airship Brofman and The Gospel According to Verdu. Look for her first children’s book Her Majesty’s Explorer: a Steampunk bedtime story, illustrated by William Kevin Petty, in the Spring of 2012.

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