Retrofuturism

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

Retro-futurism, retrofuturism, retro-future or retrofuture, terms combining "retro" and "futurism" or "future", can refer to two distinct concepts: A style of design and art or an ideology.

Retrofuturistic design is a return to, and an enthusiasm for, the depictions of the future produced in the past (most often the 1920s through 1960s), both in science fiction and in nonfiction futurism of the time, which often seem dated by modern standards.

A retrofuturistic ideology is a paradoxical synthesis of retrograde cultural, economic, political and/or social views with techno-utopianism, and is usually known as “reactionary modernism”.

This article focuses entirely on the first definition.

Etymology

The word "retrofuturism" was coined by Lloyd Dunn in 1983, according to a fringe art magazine called Retrofuturism, which was published from 1988-1993.

Characteristics

Retro-futuristic settings fall into two main categories. The first is a total vision of the future as seen through the eyes of the past, often a utopian society characterized by high technology (relative to the base time), unusual or exaggerated artistic, architectural and fashion styles, and an abundance of consumer goods; 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 camp light.

Several films and television series of the past, which can be characterized as straightforward futurism in their own time, have been mined by artists and authors of the present to evoke retro-futuristic styles.

The second type of setting are altered but recognizable versions of the past in which the exaggerated technological innovations which science fiction writers and illustrators imagined might be compatible with their own times (e.g. as created by a brilliant scientist) were indeed real. Examples include Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, set in an alternate 1939 which includes ray-guns, robots, and rocket-ships, which are rare and not characteristic of the technological fabric of the society as a whole; The Rocketeer franchise, set in 1938, whose "futuristic" element is an experimental jet pack. Retrofuturistic elements have appeared in games such as BioShock (2007) and throughout the Fallout series.

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, a catchall term for a visual style that incorporates various aspects of the Googie, Streamline Moderne and Art Deco architectural styles when applied to retro-futuristic 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. Raygun Gothic's primary influences include the set designs of Kenneth Strickfaden and Fritz Lang. It is thought that 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."

In fashion

Futuristic clothing is a particular imagined vision of the clothing that might be worn in the distant future, typically found in science fiction and science fiction films of the 1940s onwards, but also in journalism and other popular culture. The garments envisioned have most commonly been either one-piece garments, skin-tight garments, or both, typically ending up looking like either overalls or leotards, often worn together with plastic boots.

In many cases, there is an assumption that the clothing of the future will be highly uniform, either because of extremely mass-produced clothing, the imposition of uniforms by some totalitarian regime (such as in Brave New World), or by default, because the author has failed to envisage that the processes of fashion may continue into the far future.

There is typically little consideration in these visions of futuristic clothing that one-piece skin-tight garments might be unflattering to those with less than ideal body shapes, presumably because the author either assumes that the health of the general population will have improved through nutritional education, availability of nutritious foods, or genetic engineering in the future, or -- again -- because of a failure of imagination.

The cliché of futuristic clothing has now become part of the idea of retro-futurism. Futuristic fashion plays on these now-hackneyed stereotypes, and recycles them as elements into the creation of real-world clothing fashions.

"We've actually seen this look creeping up on the runway as early as 1995, though it hasn't been widely popular or acceptable street wear even through 2008," said Brooke Kelley, fashion editor and Glamour magazine writer. "For the last 20 years, fashion has reviewed the times of past, decade by decade, and what we are seeing now is a combination of different eras into one complete look. Future fashion is a style beyond anything we've yet dared to wear, and it's going to be a trend setter's paradise."

Architecture

Main article: Googie architecture

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.

See also

• Peak civilization anachronism
• Steampunk
• Atomic Age
• Space Age
• Paleofuture.com
• Bonk Business

Further reading

• 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
• Future Primitive and Other Essays by John Zerzan ISBN 1-57027-000-7
• Wasn't the Future Wonderful by Onosko ISBN ISBN-10: 0525475516

External links

• "Retro future" on Wiktionary