When I was thinking about starting this Lemmy community, I tried writing down every single Weird West work I’d seen, read, or played. In that list, I added Wild Wild West. But now that I think about it, I’m not sure if I’d call it a Weird Western.
Most Weird West works involve some sort of supernatural or fantasy element added to a Wild West setting. But does steampunk count as supernatural or fantasy? I mean, technically there weren’t any giant steam-powered spiders in the Wild West but is that “weird” enough to qualify? The fact that it was steam-powered makes it harder for me to call it sci-fi. Besides, if I call Wild Wild West a Weird Western, does that mean Back to the Future Part 3 is a Weird Western too? I’m at the point where I’m questioning the definition of the genre to determine whether or not to post something.
Here’s a trailer, and I’m sorry if watching it gets that theme song stuck in your head. The movie isn’t streaming anywhere though.
In my opinion steampunk is 100% fantasy. It is all form, no function, purely aesthetic.
The technology aspect could possibly be considered science fiction, but I’d argue that steampunk tech is about style, not function, so should be considered fantasy.
Wikipedia goes both ways, calling it sci Fi and fantasy, so perhaps it can be both.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_steampunk_works
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk
Even within sci fi there’s a divide between “hard” and “soft”, where the former puts emphasis on plausible technology and the latter can be little more than an aesthetic.
The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling is an example of hard steampunk.
I’ve read Gibson but not that one, I’ll check it out. Thanks!
Science fantasy is also a genre. I would usually say it’s acience fiction though. Star Wars is more form than function that most steampunk, but people (usually) don’t debate that. It’s just soft sci-fi.