Steampunk Case

What constitutes steampunk? Is it the Technology? The setting? The struggle between two groups? An isolated hero? To me the answer lies in a mix of all of those. The question "Is Cowboys and Aliens Steampunk?" was debated very fiercely in our class. Both sides made many good arguments and in the end a vote was taken and the decision was made that it is in fact not steampunk. I do not agree with this verdict at all. I believe that Cowboys and Aliens is steampunk and I come to this conclusion not just because I feel that way, but because I have facts to back it up.

My first piece of evidence to prove that Cowboys and Aliens is steampunk is the issue of class struggle. There are many different levels of class struggle that go on in the movie that in the big picture helps define Cowboys and Aliens as steampunk. The first struggle lies in the conflict that exists between the cowboys and Indians. This struggle is very important because both sides see the other as a lower class than themselves. This struggle is later repeated as the aliens are destroying the planet. The aliens feel that the humans are beneath them and they can do whatever they want to the humans. The fight that comes from this struggle is one that unites two classes against a third. This uniting of classes and fighting of classes is a good sign of steampunk.

My second piece of evidence to prove that Cowboys and Aliens is steampunk is the overall nature of the hero. In steampunk the hero is, in most cases, an isolate person. They either travel by themselves or work by themselves. In the case of this movie, the hero is actually a criminal that has lost everything that is dear to him. He ventures out into the battle initially on his own. Even after the battle takes place and peace exists, the hero travels off on his own.

My Third piece of evidence to prove that Cowboys and Aliens is steampunk is the setting in which the movie takes place. In the world of steamounk there are two widely accepted settings for steampunk and those settings include the Neo-Victorian era and the Weird West. After examining the movie is easy to see that this movie would fall into the category of Weird West.

My final piece of evidence to prove that Cowboys and Aliens is Steampunk is the technology that was used. The advanced technology that the Aliens had and that the hero used could easily be considered ray gun. This is very important as the concept of ray guns is widely accepted in the word of steampunk.

Now to wrap it all up. By taking all the information that I have laid out in this paper we can slowly piece together and answer to the major question, "Is Cowboys and Aliens steampunk"? If you are a diehard steampunker your answer would probably be, "no it is not". However, I challenge those people to look at my arguments. This movie takes place in the right setting, has a hero that can be identified as an isolate individual, experiences