retro-futurism

Information about retro-futurism

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The jet pack, an icon of the future, appearing on an August 1928 issue of Amazing Stories science-fiction magazine.


Retro-futurism, retrofuturism or retro-future (terms combining "retro" and "futurism" or "future") can refer to two distinct concepts:
  • A return to, and an enthusiasm for, the depictions of the future produced in the past (most often the early through mid 20th century), both in science fiction and in nonfiction futurism of the time, which often seem dated by modern standards.
  • An ideology combining retrograde social and economic views with techno-utopianism.[1]
This article focuses entirely on the first definition.

The word retrofuturism was coined by Lloyd Dunn in 1983, according to a fringe art magazine published from 1989-1993.[2]

Characteristics and examples

The setting of retro-futuristic stories is sometimes a utopian society; its spirit of optimism and embracing of the status-quo is a contrast with cyberpunk, although in many cases the utopianism is presented in an intentionally ironic or campy light.

Retro-futuristic stories need not always be set in the future; in some cases they may be set in alternate versions of the past in which the dreams of science fiction writers and illustrators were a reality, as with the movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, set in an alternate 1939. Some also use "retro-futurism" to describe stories set in a largely recognizable past or present, but in which during the course of the story some "futuristic" technology reminiscent of older science fiction stories is introduced by a brilliant inventor or alien species, as in The Rocketeer or The Iron Giant.

Some steampunk works can be seen as retro-futurism, based on a 19th-century vision of futuristic technology. However, in many cases steampunk involves steam- or clockwork-powered versions of more advanced technologies that we know about today but which did not figure in 19th-century fictional visions of the future, such as the mechanical computers of The Difference Engine, whereas retro-futurism typically is based on the visions of actual science fiction of the time.

There are also many works which take styles and genres of past eras and place them in a futuristic setting, such as the Old West elements in Firefly or the 1940s film noir elements in Blade Runner, but these would not generally be seen as retro-futuristic because they are not based on a specific past era's vision of the future.

Notable filmic precursors

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The Jetsons are a classic example of a 1960s precursor to retro-futurism.


These films and cartoons have heavily influenced the visual styles of retro-futurism.

Retro-futuristic films/television

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Giant robots from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

Notable literary precursors

Retro-futuristic literature

Retro-futuristic video and computer games

Retro-futurism in role-playing games

Retro-futuristic music videos

Design and arts

A great deal of attention is drawn to fantastic machines, buildings, cities, and transportation systems. The futuristic design ethic of the early 20th century tends to solid colors, streamlined shapes, and mammoth scales. It might be said that 20th century futuristic vision found its ultimate expression in the development of googie or populuxe design. As applied to fiction, this brand of retro-futuristic visual style is also referred to as Raygun Gothic.

Notable artists

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Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy

Architecture

Main article: Googie architecture
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An example in Shanghai of a retro-futuristic design in architecture
Retro-futurism has appeared in some examples of postmodern architecture. In the example seen at right, the upper portion of the building is not intended to be integrated with the building but rather to appear as a separate object - a huge flying saucer-like space ship only incidentally attached to a conventional building. This appears intended not to evoke an even remotely possible future, but rather a past imagination of that future, or a reembracing of the futuristic vision of googie architecture.

Hoaxing

The familiarity of genuine retro-futuristic depictions of the present era from past decades lends a measure of credibility to the retro-futuristic hoax. Such a hoax may involve photoshopping elements from genuine period images into combinations which did not exist at the time, together with a fictional caption adjusted to give the appearance of aged newsprint. A notable example by the user Lukket of Fark.com fooled a number of news outlets.[3]

Books on retro-futurism

  • Astrofuturism: Science, Race, and Visions of Utopia in Space ISBN 0-8122-1847-7
  • Future Perfect ISBN 3-8228-1566-7
  • Out of Time: Designs for the Twentieth Century Future ISBN 0-8109-2939-2
  • Yesterday's Tomorrows: Past Visions of the American Future ISBN 0-8018-5399-0
  • The History of the Future: Images of the 21st Century ISBN 2-08-013544-9
  • Futuropolis: Impossible Cities of Science Fiction and Fantasy ISBN 0-903767-22-8
  • Retrofuturism: The Car Design of J Mays ISBN 0-7893-0822-3
  • Where's My Jetpack?: A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future that Never Arrived ISBN 1-59691-136-0

References

1. ^ Carrico, Dale (2005). "Neo-Conmen and Retro-Futurists". Retrieved on 2007-02-13.
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ See :Image:Lukket-50s-computer-HOAX.jpg for details of the hoax.

External links

Literary sci-fi punk genres
Cyberpunk — Postcyberpunk — Steampunk — Biopunk
Other themes
Retro-futurism — Cyberprep — Transrealism
Retro is a term used to describe the culture of the past.

Usage

“Retro” can be used to simply mean “old fashioned” or old, functioning much like “timeless” or “classic”.
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Futures studies reflects on how today’s changes (and continuities) become tomorrow’s reality. It includes attempts to analyze the sources, patterns, and causes of change and stability in order to develop foresight and to map alternative futures.
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In a linear conception of time, the future is the portion of the time line that has yet to occur, i.e. the place in space-time where lie all events that still will or may occur.
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twentieth century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1901 and ended on December 31, 2000, according to the Gregorian calendar. Some historians consider the era from about 1914 to 1991 to be the Short Twentieth Century.
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worldwide view of the subject.
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Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi
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Futures studies reflects on how today’s changes (and continuities) become tomorrow’s reality. It includes attempts to analyze the sources, patterns, and causes of change and stability in order to develop foresight and to map alternative futures.
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Reactionary (or reactionist) is a political epithet, generally used as a pejorative, originally applied in the context of the French Revolution to counter-revolutionaries who wished to restore the real or imagined conditions of the monarchical Ancien Régime.
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Techno-utopianism or technoutopianism refers to any ideology based on the belief that advanced science and technology will eventually bring about an utopia or, more precisely, a techno-utopia, a future society with ideal living conditions for all its citizens.
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Lloyd John Dunn (b. November 10, 1957, Harlan, Iowa, USA) is an artist who produces work for a variety of media, including film, video, audio, print, and the web. At the University of Iowa he studied Linguistics (BA 1981), before going on to graduate school in Film, Photography and
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Utopia (from Greek: οὐ no, and τόπος, place, i.e. "no place" or "place that does not exist," as well as "perfect place") is a fictional island near the coast of the Atlantic Ocean written about by Sir Thomas More as the
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Cyberpunk is a science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life". The name, derived from cybernetics and punk, was originally developed as a marketing term and coined by Bruce Bethke in his short story "Cyberpunk" published in 1983[1]
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Irony is a literary or rhetorical device, in which there is a gap or incongruity between what a speaker or a writer says and what is generally understood (either at the time, or in the later context of history).
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Camp is an aesthetic in which something has appeal because of its bad taste or ironic value.

A part of the anti-academic defense of popular culture in the 1960s, camp came to popularity in the 1980s with the widespread adoption of Postmodern views on art and culture.
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Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a film released on September 17, 2004 in the United States. It was written and directed by Kerry Conran, in his directorial debut.
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The Rocketeer is a 1991 superhero adventure film produced by Walt Disney Pictures/Touchstone Pictures[1] and directed by Joe Johnston.
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The Iron Giant is a 1999 animated science fiction film, directed by Brad Bird, produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation, and released by Warner Bros. Pictures.
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For the comic book, see .


Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction which came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s.
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The Difference Engine

Cover of first edition (hardcover)
Author William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre(s) Alternate History, Steampunk novel
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American Old West comprises the history, myths, legends, stories, beliefs and cultural meanings that collected around the Western United States in the 19th century. Most often the term refers to the late 19th century, between the American Civil War and the 1890 closing of the
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Firefly is an American science fiction television series created by writer/director Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, under his Mutant Enemy Productions.
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Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s
1940 1941 1942 1943 1944
1945 1946 1947 1948 1949

- -
- The 1940s decade ran from 1940 to 1949.
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Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s.
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Metropolis is a silent science fiction film created by the famed Austrian-German director Fritz Lang. It was produced in Germany in the Babelsberg Studios and released in 1927 during the height of the Weimar
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Just Imagine is a humorous science-fiction movie musical presented by 20th Century Fox in 1930, directed by David Butler, to console audiences distressed by the Great Depression.
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Things to Come is a 1936 British science fiction film, produced by Alexander Korda and directed by William Cameron Menzies. The screenplay was written by H. G.
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Flash Gordon is a 1936 film serial which tells the story of three people from Earth who travel to the planet Mongo to fight the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless.
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Serials, more specifically known as Movie serials or Film serials, were short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a feature film. Known as "chapter plays," they were extended motion pictures broken into a number of segments called "chapters" or
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Buck Rogers is a fictional pulp character who first appeared in 1928 as Anthony Rogers, the hero of two novellas by Philip Francis Nowlan published in the magazine Amazing Stories. Rogers is best known from the long-running syndicated newspaper comic strip.
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Superman animated cartoons, commonly known as the "Fleischer Superman cartoons" were a series of seventeen animated Technicolor short films, released by Paramount Pictures between 1941 and 1943, based upon the comic book character Superman.
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Commando Cody was the hero in a 12-episode science-fiction serial made in 1952 by Republic Pictures entitled Radar Men from the Moon, which was followed up 1953 with the 12 episode .
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