Definitions of Steampunk (taken from the Internet and academic sources)

Below I have selected a few definitions of steampunk. Although many of them attempt to include meaningful commentary about what the genre hopes to achieve with regards to social commentary and a “reimagining of the past,” the importance of aesthetics is mentioned in all of them to truly highlight its importance to the genre. I have bolded the portions of the text that deal specifically with aesthetics:

“Steampunk refers to a subgenre of science fiction and sometimes fantasy—also in recent years a fashion and lifestyle movement—that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery”

There is no question that in Wikipedia’s definition, aesthetics is the focal point as it takes up the bulk of the explanation.

Citation: “Steampunk.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 11 Apr. 2015) Web. 09 Apr. 2015. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk>

Jess Nevins says that in the battle between the prescriptivists and the descriptivists, “The descriptivists are winning. ‘Steampunk’ appears as a designation for everything from the Western-flavored space opera Firefly (2005) to pseudo-Edwardian colonialist high adventure anime, from the industrial dance music of the band Abney Park to the current alternative fashion of mock-Victorian clothing” (513)

In this quotation, Jess Nevins is providing a myriad of popular culture references where steampunk is prominent. He does not actually explain why the examples he uses are “steampunk,” but he does take care to mention fashion, which is of course purely aesthetic.

Citation: Nevins, Jess. “Prescriptivists vs. Descriptivists: Defining Steampunk.” Science Fiction Studies 38.3 (2011): 513-518.

“The steampunk genre first emerged in the late 1980s as an increasingly popular offshoot of the science fiction and fantasy genres, gear-encrusted guns, corsets, airships, tiny hats and matching parasols have come to grace the covers of modern adventures and romances alike…Steampunk straddles some of the dividing lines between fantasy and science fiction as it looks to the re-imagined past with nostalgia” (59)

Lake in this example includes a number of stereotypical steampunk elements that can be found within the genre that alludes to a particular “look.” The examples he offers focus almost primarily on clothing and accessories with the exception of the mention of airships.

Citation: Lake, Jay. “Exploring the world of steampunk.” Writer’s Digest 94.3 (2014): 59-61.

“In its glibbest sense, it can be seen as a way of giving your personal technology a goth make-over. Imagine a top of the range computer pimped out to look like an old typewriter, or an iPhone dock that lets you answer your phone using an old brass and wood receiver. But at its deepest, it's a whole way of looking and living: and a colourful protest against the inexorable advance of technology itself”

Although Higham alludes to the idea of aesthetics in the genre as being shallow, this does not mean that the aesthetics are not a predominant feature. There is a reason, of course, for why it is mentioned first in his spiel!

Citation: Higham, William. “What the Hell is Steampunk?.” The Huffington Post. The Blog, 17 Oct. 2011. Web. 09 Apr. 2015.