Cyberpunk, steampunk, dieselpunk, <whatever>punk

#1

So this morning I was confronted with my own ignorance on a topic I felt I knew pretty well.

In this particular case, what is cyberpunk. Then, in doing a quick research on the topic, I found myself totally wrong.

So I guess I am asking, what is the “punk” of these settings?

My current musing is that the “establishment” is corrupt and sustained by a lie, while a vibrant counter culture that on the surface seems terrible actually has the moral high ground.

Is that the “punk” or is it something else?
Cyberpunk is the hyper-urban, man-machine mix where corporate overlords ensures us this is the high life.

Steampunk is a Victorian setting where the promises of mechanization are partially true, but at constant risk of take over from tyrannical forces.

Dieselpunk is steampunk but moved slightly forward in time with assembly line mas production and radio.

In this, only cyberpunk is typically dystopian, others are teetering into dystopia.

What do you think?

#2

Yeah your explanation has basically been my thoughts over the years.

#3

My 2c.
I think cyberpunk should be low-lives in a high-tech setting. But other *punks relate to cyberpunk as if it was just about tech: steampunk is robot arm powered by steam, etc.

#4

Addition:
If we use the definition centering low-lives, the HBO series Taboo would be sail-punk: misfits using state-of-the-art technology against organizations of power and wealth in the age of sail.

#5

The canonical definition of Cyberpunk matches your description pretty well. I’ve always used William Gibson’s quote “the street finds it own uses for things” to be kind of the driving force for counter-cultural punk expressionism: repurposing of things for an anti-corporate DIY aesthetic. See also punk rock music, for the same anti-corporate mentality and eschewing established “norms” for music generally.

Cyberpunk usually skews sci-fi future dystopia, and those are the most successful franchises (Shadowrun, Nueromancer, etc), but I don’t think it strictly needs to be any such specific combination. “Jacking in” and cybernetic modifications and corporate arcologies and the like are the lingua franca of most of the genre.

I’ve always seen Steampunk and Dieselpunk as more visual appropriation of the “punk” label, rather than any moral, political, or philosophical element. Certainly there can be (and is) a strong DIY culture in most of the Steampunk cosplay, but I’m otherwise ignorant of the genre as a platform for story telling. Steampunk, particularly, always seems to walk the line between Wild West, Victorian England, and robots. Dieselpunk would be the industrial revolution rather than the Wild West, I suppose.

#6

I guess PUNK is to fiction what METAL is to music.

#7

Or punk, in fiction, is like punk in music.