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future a word also originating from latin according to the historical dictionary of science fiction the earliest use of any related term is 1981 when trouser press reviewed a concert where the band s lead singer resembles an interplanetary go go dancer the rest of the band looks similarly retro futurist drawing camp inspirations from both flash gordon movies and a mod swinging london look 5 the oxford english dictionary quotes an early use of the term in a bloomingdales advertisement in a 1983 issue of the new york times 6 the ad talks of jewellery that is silverized steel and sleek grey linked for a retro futuristic look an example more related to retrofuturism as an exploration of past visions of the future appears in a 1986 review of the film brazil in the new yorker critic pauline kael writes terry gilliam presents a retro futurist fantasy 7 history edit retrofuturism builds on ideas of futurism but the latter term functions differently in several different contexts in avant garde artistic literary and design circles futurism is a long standing and well established term citation needed but in its more popular form futurism sometimes referred to as futurology is an early optimism that focused on the past and was rooted in the nineteenth century an early twentieth century golden age that continued long into the 1960s space age 8 retrofuturism is first and foremost based on modern but changing notions of the future as elizabeth guffey notes retrofuturism is a recent neologism but it builds on futurists fevered visions of space colonies with flying cars robotic servants and interstellar travel on display there where futurists took their promise for granted retro futurism emerged as a more skeptical reaction to these dreams 9 it took its current shape in the 1970s a time when technology was rapidly changing from the advent of the personal computer to the birth of the first test tube baby this period was characterized by intense and rapid technological change but many in the general public began to question whether applied science would achieve its earlier promise that life would inevitably improve through technological progress in the wake of the vietnam war environmental degradations and the energy crisis many commentators began to question the benefits of applied science but they also wondered sometimes in awe sometimes in confusion at the scientific positivism evinced by earlier generations retrofuturism seeped into academic and popular culture in the 1960s and 1970s inflecting george lucas s star wars and the paintings of pop artist kenny scharf alike 10 surveying the optimistic futurism of the early twentieth century historians joe corn and brian horrigan remind us that retrofuturism is a history of an idea or a system of ideas an ideology the future of course does not exist except as an act of belief or imagination 11 characteristics edit retrofuturism incorporates two overlapping trends which may be summarized as the future as seen from the past and the past as seen from the future the first trend retrofuturism proper is directly inspired by the imagined future which existed in the minds of writers artists and filmmakers in the pre 1960 period who attempted to predict the future either in serious projections of existing technology e g in magazines like science and invention or in science fiction novels and stories such futuristic visions are refurbished and updated for the present and offer a nostalgic counterfactual image of what the future might have been but is not the second trend is the inverse of the first futuristic retro it starts with the retro appeal of old styles of art clothing mores and then grafts modern or futuristic technologies onto it creating a mélange of past present and future elements steampunk a term applying both to the retrojection of futuristic technology into an alternative victorian age and the application of neo victorian styles to modern technology is a highly successful version of this second trend in the movie space station 76 2014 mankind has reached the stars but clothes technology furnitures and above all social taboos are purposely highly reminiscent of the mid 1970s in practice the two trends cannot be sharply distinguished as they mutually contribute to similar visions retrofuturism of the first type is inevitably influenced by the scientific technological and social awareness of the present and modern retrofuturistic creations are never simply copies of their pre 1960 inspirations rather they are given a new often wry or ironic twist by being seen from a modern perspective in the same way futuristic retro owes much of its flavor to early science fiction e g the works of jules verne and h g wells and in a quest for stylistic authenticity may continue to draw on writers and artists of the desired period both retrofuturistic trends in themselves refer to no specific time when a time period is supplied for a story it might be a counterfactual present with unique technology a fantastic version of the future or an alternate past in which the imagined fictitious or projected inventions of the past were indeed real the import of retrofuturism has in recent years come under considerable discussion some like the german architecture critic niklas maak see retrofuturism as nothing more than an aesthetic feedback loop recalling a lost belief in progress the old images of the once radically new 12 bruce mccall calls retrofuturism a faux nostalgia the nostalgia for a future that never happened 13 themes edit although retrofuturism due to the varying time periods and futuristic visions to which it alludes does not provide a unified thematic purpose or experience a common thread is dissatisfaction or discomfort with the present to which retrofuturism provides a nostalgic contrast a similar theme is dissatisfaction with the modern world itself a world of high speed air transport computers and space stations is by any past standard futuristic yet the search for alternative and perhaps more promising futures suggests a feeling that the desired or expected future has failed to materialize retrofuturism suggests an alternative path and in addition to pure nostalgia may act as a reminder of older but now forgotten ideals this dissatisfaction also manifests as political commentary in retrofuturistic literature 14 in which visionary nostalgia is paradoxically linked to a utopian future modelled after conservative values 15 as seen in the example of fox news use of bioshock s aesthetic in a 2014 broadcast 16 17 retrofuturism also implies a reevaluation of technology unlike the total rejection of post medieval technology found in most fantasy genres or the embrace of any and all possible technologies found in some science fiction retrofuturism calls for a human scale largely comprehensible technology amenable to tinkering and less opaque than modern black box technology retrofuturism has two main viewpoints that it stems from either an optimistic viewpoint or a pessimistic view retrofuturism which stems from an optimistic viewpoint tends to be an imagined futuristic society that comes from an advancement in technology in order to explore for the sake of science retrofuturism is not universally optimistic and when its points of reference touch on gloomy periods like world war ii or the paranoia of the cold war it may itself become bleak and dystopian this pessimistic retrofuturism is often imagined with technological advancement either being the downfall of humanity or being the last hope for humanity in such cases the alternative reality inspires fear not hope though it may still be coupled with nostalgia for a world of greater moral as well as mechanical transparency it has been argued that retrofuturism through finding hope in the disappointment and dystopia and using that hope to push towards a brighter future can be optimistic similarly the visions of utopias depicted in retrofuturistic pieces can re instill that hopefulness in audiences that have lost it 18 genres edit this section does not cite any sources please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources unsourced material may be challenged and removed august 2016 learn how and when to remove this message genres of retrofuturism include cyberpunk steampunk dieselpunk atompunk and raygun gothic each referring to a technology from a specific time period the first of these to be named and recognized as its own genre was cyberpunk originating in the early to mid 1980s in literature with the works of bruce bethke william gibson bruce sterling and pat cadigan its setting is almost always a dystopian future with a strong emphasis either upon outlaws hacking the futuristic world s machinery often computers and computer networks or even upon post apocalyptic settings the post apocalyptic variant is the one usually associated with retrofuturism where characters will rely upon a mixture of old and new technologies furthermore synthwave and vaporwave are nostalgic humorous and often retrofuturistic revivals of early cyberpunk aesthetic citation needed the term steampunk was among 19 20 the early subgenres recognized emerging in the late 1980s it presents a generally more optimistic and brighter outlook compared to cyberpunk steampunk is typically set in an alternate history closely resembling our own from the late 18th century particularly the regency era onwards up to approximately 1914 however it diverges from history in that it envisions 20th century or even futuristic technologies powered by steam one of the recurring themes in this genre is the fascination with electricity as a mysterious force often considered a utopian power source of the future it s occasionally portrayed as having mystical healing properties akin to how nuclear energy was perceived in the mid 20th century steampunk shares similarities with the original scientific romances and utopian novels of authors like h g wells and jules verne the modern form of steampunk literature can be traced back to works such as mervyn peake s titus alone 1959 ronald w clark s queen victoria s bomb 1967 michael moorcock s a nomad of the time streams series 1971 1981 k w jeter s morlock night 1979 and william gibson bruce sterling s the difference engine 1990 in the realm of cinema early examples include the time machine 1960 and castle in the sky 1986 an early instance of steampunk in comics can be found in the franco belgian graphic novel series les cités obscures initiated by creators françois schuiten and benoît peeters in the early 1980s on occasion steampunk blurs the lines with the weird west genre citation needed the most recently named and recognized retrofuturistic genre is dieselpunk aka decodence the term dieselpunk is often associated with a more pulpish form and decodence named after the contemporary art movement of art deco with a more sophisticated form set in alternate versions of an era located circa in the period of the 1920s 1950s early examples include the 1970s concept albums their designs and marketing materials of the german band kraftwerk see below the comic book character rocketeer first appearing in his own series in 1982 the wolfenstein series of video games and films such as brazil 1985 batman 1989 the rocketeer 1991 batman returns 1992 the hudsucker proxy 1994 the city of lost children 1995 and dark city 1998 especially the lower end of the genre strongly mimic the pulp literature of the era such as the 2004 film sky captain and the world of tomorrow and films of the genre often reference the cinematic styles of film noir and german expressionism at times the genre overlaps with the alternate history genre of a different world war ii such as with an axis victory design and arts edit although loosely affiliated with early twentieth century futurism retrofuturism draws from a wider range of sources to be sure retrofuturist art and literature often draws from the factories buildings cities and transportation systems of the machine age but it might be said that 20th century futuristic vision found its ultimate expression in the development of googie architecture or populuxe design as applied to fiction this brand of retrofuturistic visual style began to take shape in william gibson s short story the gernsback continuum here and elsewhere it is referred to as raygun gothic a catchall term for a visual style that incorporates various aspects of the googie streamline moderne and art deco architectural styles when applied to retrofuturistic science fiction environments although raygun gothic is most similar to the googie or populuxe style and sometimes synonymous with it the name is primarily applied to images of science fiction the style is also still a popular choice for retro sci fi in film and video games 21 raygun gothic s primary influences include the set designs of kenneth strickfaden and fritz lang citation needed the term was coined by william gibson in his story the gernsback continuum cohen introduced us and explained that dialta a noted pop art historian was the prime mover behind the latest barris watford project an illustrated history of what she called american streamlined modern cohen called it raygun gothic their working title was the airstream futuropolis the tomorrow that never was 22 aspects of this form of retrofuturism can also be associated with the late 1970s and early 1980s the neo constructivist revival that emerged in art and design circles designers like david king in the uk and paula scher in the us imitated the cool futuristic look of the russian avant garde in the years following the russian revolution with three of their 1970s albums german band kraftwerk tapped into a larger retrofuturist vision by combining their futuristic pioneering electronic music with nostalgic visuals kraftwerk s retro futurism in their 1970s visual language has been referred to by german literary critic uwe schütte a reader at aston university birmingham as clear retro style 23 and in the 2008 three hour documentary kraftwerk and the electronic revolution irish british music scholar mark j prendergast refers to kraftwerk s peculiar nostalgia for the future clearly referencing an interwar progressive germany that never was but could ve been and now due to their influence as a band hopefully could happen again design historian elizabeth guffey has written that if kraftwerk s machine imagery was lifted from russian design motifs that were once considered futuristic they also presented a compelling if somewhat chilling vision of the world in which musical ecstasy is rendered cool mechanical and precise 24 kraftwerk s three retrofuturist albums are kraftwerk s 1975 album radio activity showed a 1930s radio on the cover its inlay which for its later cd re release was widely expanded as a booklet illustrated in the same nostalgic style showed the band photographed in black and white with old fashioned suits and hairdos and the music in its instrument...