Remy Tost, October 31
Ok so steampunk was my THING when I was a junior and senior
in high school. I was the tool who went
to the small anime convention in my hometown and got that hair clip that had
plastic gears and feathers hot glued on it (and it wasn’t subtle) because I
desperately wanted to be apart of that Victorian steam world, man. And it’s not
like I don’t appreciate steampunk anymore, because I still do! I’m just picky
about it. No glued down gears on top hats. Or dumb plots.
Speaking of good plots; Blade Runner directed by Ridley
Scott was such an iconic movie at the time. God when I saw this for this week’s
movie of the week I was amazed by how well the pulled off all those special
effects when they had to paint this dark futuristic city. And it looked like it
was done effortlessly. I mean, those projections on those buildings looked like
they were done yesterday. The plot was
different and told a very honest story about of humanity and the struggles of
feeling and being alive. And the villain, Roy Batty was nothing like a
villain until the fight scene and when he killed Dr. Eldon Tyrell. Also kick
ass soundtrack, but I’m not surprised since Vangelis
did it.
Also while we’re on the subject of good plot movies;
Steamboy directed by Katsuhiro Otomo in 2004 was an amazing steampunk
animated film I saw a while back with my parents. This is a great adventure
movie starring a young boy, Ray Steam, with a mission to prevent a ball of energy from unleashing its destructive
power.
to his town in England in an alternate 19th
century. Wonderful visuals and characters, highly recommend. Also deals with relationships
and humanity. Not as intensely as Blade Runner but it’s still there. Which I
always find interesting when it comes to cyber and steampunk plots. Most
stories in these genres constantly question and prod at the idea of humanity,
feelings, emotions, and relationships, which are funny since these stories consist
of robotic life and machines.
So when I looked at the reading list and saw “Infernal
Devices” (1987) by K.W. Jeter I was instantly reminded of Cassandra
Clare’s The Infernal Devices Series (2010-2013). I read the first two books of
Clare’s series so I of course wanted to see what Jeter’s book was about and if
they had any similarities to each other.
So after reading Infernal Devices (1987) I gotta say
it was not what I expected. But I think that’s because Clare’s take is serious,
sometimes violent and leans towards the older teen genre (so some sexy moments,
teen angst and love triangles, basically). But Jeter’s was funny as well as
dark. And sure there where some sexy moments with George’s automaton double,
but not in the same way as Clare’s is. But both stories do have automatons, and
the setting is around the same time period, victorian naturally. But that’s
really it in terms of what they have in common. I enjoyed Jeter’s writing, it
was dark one page kinda campy the next and some of the creatures and characters
where more than I expected. Overall glad
read and glad it’s not like the series that shares it’s name; not that I don’t
like the series but glad all the same.
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