Cancelled 24-A204 Steampunk: Vintage Futures – Mike Perschon
NOTE: This course was cancelled due to low enrollment.
“What is steampunk?” Going beyond the standard default definitions of “Victorian science fiction”, “yesterday’s tomorrow today”, or some equally vague description, this course provides an historical exploration of its literary and cinematic origins. Contrary to popular opinion, steampunk’s direct inspiration is arguably far more cinematic than literary, a reaction to the many film adaptations, pastiches, and knockoffs of the scientific romances of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. Films such as Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) and George Pal’s Time Machine (1960) and the television series The Wild Wild West (1965) all influenced the style we now know as steampunk. This course goes beyond those cinematic and literary roots to explore steampunk today in the world of fashion, comics, video games, anime, and culture around the world. Come visit the past that never was with a professor who literally got his PhD in steampunk.
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Instructor:Â Dr. Mike Perschon
Mike Perschon is an associate professor of English at MacEwan University, where he teaches film, graphic novels, and speculative fiction. Mike holds graduate degrees in comparative literature from the University of Alberta, where his MA thesis was on fairy tale films and his PhD dissertation identified and explored key features of steampunk. Much of his scholarly work continues to focus on steampunk and he is the author of Steampunk FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About the World of Goggles Airships and Time Travel. He is also the host of the podcast Triple Bladed Sword, where he talks about his research into the fantasy, science fiction, and horror we read, watch, and play.
