Gothic Horror, Monstrous Science and Steampunk
BODLEY, ANTONIE MARIE
MASTERS OF ARTS IN ENGLISH, WASHGINTON STATE UNIVERSITY, AUGUST (2009)
Abstract
Steampunk, as an emerging subgenre of Science Fiction, finds itself appearing in street fashion, subculture, movies, and books. With its motifs inspired from Gothic literature and the Victorian revival of Gothic, it is surprising to find that Steampunk maintains few of the frightening morals expected from the Supernatural and Horror foundation of Gothic. Instead, this new subgenre finds itself opposing and, ultimately, reversing the fundamental Gothic belief that uncontrolled science 
leads to dire consequences. While this ideological shift may seem unorthodox and even offensive to the literary tradition, contemporary readers and viewers of Steampunk are enthralled with this change in attitude toward science. Expressing these new ways to indulge in their nostalgia of the Victorian era while simultaneously maintaining visual and thematic inspirations from the Gothic, Steampunk departs from those traditions with a reversal of the negatively romantic view of science, technology, and the monsters.
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