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Retrofuturism (adjectiveretrofuturistic,retrofuturist, orretrofuture) is a movement in the creative arts emphasizing and harking back to depictions of thefuture as produced in earlier eras. Iffuturism is an artistic movement anticipating upcoming technological advancements, retrofuturism is the remembering of that anticipation.[1] Characterized by a blend of old-fashioned "retro styles" with futuristic technology, retrofuturism explores the themes of tension between past and future, and between the alienating and empowering effects oftechnology. Primarily reflected in artistic creations and modified technologies that realize the imagined artifacts of its parallel reality, retrofuturism can be seen as "an animating perspective on the world".[2]
Retro-futurism became especially prevalent in the early 2020s in terms of culture, transport, architecture, and entertainment.[3][4]
The word retrofuturism is formed by the addition of the prefix "retro" from the Latin language, which gives the meaning of "backwards" to the word "future", a word also originating from Latin.
According to theHistorical Dictionary of Science Fiction, the earliest use of any related term is 1981, whenTrouser Press reviewed a concert where the band's lead singer "resembles an interplanetary go-go dancer.... The rest of the band looks similarly retro-futurist, drawing camp inspirations from both Flash Gordon movies and a mod, 'swinging London' look."[5] TheOxford English Dictionary quotes an early use of the term in a Bloomingdales advertisement in a 1983 issue ofThe New York Times.[6] The ad talks of jewellery that is "silverized steel and sleek grey linked for a retro-futuristic look". An example more related to retrofuturism as an exploration of past visions of the future appears in a 1986 review of the filmBrazil inThe New Yorker; criticPauline Kael writes, "[Terry Gilliam] presents a retro-futurist fantasy."[7]
Retrofuturism builds on ideas offuturism, but the latter term functions differently in several different contexts. In avant-gardeartistic,literary anddesign circles, futurism is a long-standing and well-established term.[citation needed] But in its more popular form, futurism (sometimes referred to asfuturology) is "an early optimism that focused on the past and was rooted in the nineteenth century, an early-twentieth-century 'golden age' that continued long into the 1960s'Space Age".[8]
Retrofuturism is first and foremost based on modern but changing notions of "the future". As Elizabeth Guffey notes, retrofuturism is "a recentneologism", but it "builds on futurists' fevered visions of space colonies withflying cars,robotic servants, andinterstellar travel on display there; where futurists took their promise for granted, retro-futurism emerged as a more skeptical reaction to these dreams."[9] It took its current shape in the 1970s, a time when technology was rapidly changing. From the advent of the personal computer to the birth of the firsttest tube baby, this period was characterized by intense and rapid technological change. But many in the general public began to question whether applied science would achieve its earlier promise –that life would inevitably improve through technological progress. In the wake of theVietnam War,environmental degradations, and theenergy crisis, many commentators began to question the benefits of applied science. But they also wondered, sometimes in awe, sometimes in confusion, at the scientific positivism evinced by earlier generations. Retrofuturism "seeped into academic and popular culture in the 1960s and 1970s", inflectingGeorge Lucas'sStar Wars and the paintings of pop artistKenny Scharf alike".[10] Surveying the optimistic futurism of the early twentieth century, historians Joe Corn and Brian Horrigan remind us that retrofuturism is "a history of an idea, or a system of ideas—an ideology. The future, of course, does not exist except as an act of belief or imagination."[11]
Retrofuturism incorporates two overlapping trends which may be summarized asthe future as seen from the past andthe past as seen from the future.
The first trend, retrofuturism proper, is directly inspired by the imagined future which existed in the minds of writers, artists, and filmmakers in the pre-1960 period who attempted to predict the future, either in serious projections of existing technology (e.g. in magazines likeScience and Invention) or inscience fiction novels and stories. Such futuristic visions are refurbished and updated for the present, and offer a nostalgic, counterfactual image of what the future might have been, but is not.
The second trend is the inverse of the first: futuristicretro. It starts with the retro appeal of old styles of art, clothing, mores, and then grafts modern or futuristic technologies onto it, creating a mélange of past, present, and future elements.Steampunk, a term applying both to the retrojection of futuristic technology into an alternative Victorian age, and the application of neo-Victorian styles to modern technology, is a highly successful version of this second trend. In the movieSpace Station 76 (2014), mankind has reached the stars, but clothes, technology, furnitures and above all social taboos are purposely highly reminiscent of the mid-1970s.
In practice, the two trends cannot be sharply distinguished, as they mutually contribute to similar visions. Retrofuturism of the first type is inevitably influenced by the scientific, technological, and social awareness of the present, and modern retrofuturistic creations are never simply copies of their pre-1960 inspirations; rather, they are given a new (often wry or ironic) twist by being seen from a modern perspective.
In the same way, futuristic retro owes much of its flavor to earlyscience fiction (e.g. the works ofJules Verne andH. G. Wells), and in a quest for stylistic authenticity may continue to draw on writers and artists of the desired period.
Both retrofuturistic trends in themselves refer to no specific time. When a time period is supplied for a story, it might be a counterfactual present with unique technology; a fantastic version of the future; or an alternate past in which the imagined (fictitious or projected) inventions of the past were indeed real.
The import of retrofuturism has, in recent years, come under considerable discussion. Some, like the German architecture critic Niklas Maak, see retrofuturism as "nothing more than an aesthetic feedback loop recalling a lost belief in progress, the old images of the once radically new".[12]Bruce McCall calls retrofuturism a "faux nostalgia"—the nostalgia for a future that never happened.[13]
Although retrofuturism, due to the varying time-periods and futuristic visions to which it alludes, does not provide a unified thematic purpose or experience, a common thread is dissatisfaction or discomfort with the present, to which retrofuturism provides a nostalgic contrast.
A similar theme is dissatisfaction with the modern world itself. A world of high-speed air transport, computers, and space stations is (by any past standard) "futuristic"; yet the search for alternative and perhaps more promising futures suggests a feeling that the desired or expected future has failed to materialize. Retrofuturism suggests an alternative path, and in addition to pure nostalgia, may act as a reminder of older but now forgotten ideals. This dissatisfaction also manifests as political commentary in Retrofuturistic literature,[14] in which visionary nostalgia is paradoxically linked to a utopian future modelled after conservative values[15] as seen in the example of Fox News' use ofBioShock's aesthetic in a 2014 broadcast.[16][17]
Retrofuturism also implies a reevaluation of technology. Unlike the total rejection of post-medieval technology found in mostfantasy genres, or the embrace of any and all possible technologies found in some science-fiction, retrofuturism calls for a human-scale, largely comprehensible technology, amenable to tinkering and less opaque than modern black-box technology.
Retrofuturism has two main viewpoints that it stems from either anoptimistic viewpoint or a pessimistic view. Retrofuturism which stems from an optimistic viewpoint tends to be an imagined futuristic society that comes from an advancement in technology in order to explore for the sake of science. Retrofuturism is not universally optimistic, and when its points of reference touch on gloomy periods likeWorld War II, or the paranoia of theCold War, it may itself become bleak and dystopian. This pessimistic retrofuturism is often imagined with technological advancement either being the downfall of humanity or being the last hope for humanity. In such cases, the alternative reality inspires fear, not hope, though it may still be coupled with nostalgia for a world of greater moral as well as mechanical transparency. It has been argued that retrofuturism, through finding hope in the disappointment and dystopia, and using that hope to push towards a brighter future, can be optimistic. Similarly, the visions of utopias depicted in retrofuturistic pieces can re-instill that hopefulness in audiences that have lost it.[18]
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Genres of retrofuturism includecyberpunk,steampunk,dieselpunk,atompunk, andRaygun Gothic, each referring to a technology from a specific time period.
The first of these to be named and recognized as its own genre was cyberpunk, originating in the early to mid-1980s in literature with the works ofBruce Bethke,William Gibson,Bruce Sterling, andPat Cadigan. Its setting is almost always a dystopian future, with a strong emphasis either upon outlaws hacking the futuristic world's machinery (often computers and computer networks), or even uponpost-apocalyptic settings. The post-apocalyptic variant is the one usually associated with retrofuturism, where characters will rely upon a mixture of old and new technologies. Furthermore,synthwave andvaporwave are nostalgic, humorous and often retrofuturistic revivals of early cyberpunk aesthetic.[citation needed]
The term "steampunk" was among[19][20] the early subgenres recognized, emerging in the late 1980s. It presents a generally more optimistic and brighter outlook compared to cyberpunk. Steampunk is typically set in an alternate history closely resembling our own from the late 18th century, particularly the Regency era onwards, up to approximately 1914. However, it diverges from history in that it envisions 20th-century or even futuristic technologiespowered by steam.
One of the recurring themes in this genre is the fascination with electricity as a mysterious force, often considered a utopian power source of the future. It's occasionally portrayed as having mystical healing properties, akin to how nuclear energy was perceived in the mid-20th century. Steampunk shares similarities with the original scientific romances and utopian novels of authors likeH. G. Wells andJules Verne.
The modern form of steampunk literature can be traced back to works such asMervyn Peake's "Titus Alone" (1959),Ronald W. Clark's "Queen Victoria's Bomb" (1967),Michael Moorcock's "A Nomad of the Time Streams" series (1971–1981),K. W. Jeter's "Morlock Night" (1979), and William Gibson & Bruce Sterling's "The Difference Engine" (1990). In the realm of cinema, early examples include"The Time Machine" (1960) and "Castle in the Sky" (1986).
An early instance of steampunk in comics can be found in the Franco-Belgian graphic novel series "Les Cités obscures," initiated by creatorsFrançois Schuiten andBenoît Peeters in the early 1980s. On occasion, steampunk blurs the lines with the Weird West genre.[citation needed]
The most recently named and recognized retrofuturistic genre is dieselpunk aka decodence (the term dieselpunk is often associated with a more pulpish form and decodence, named after the contemporary art movement ofArt Deco, with a more sophisticated form), set in alternate versions of an era located circa in the period of the 1920s–1950s. Early examples include the 1970s concept albums, their designs and marketing materials of the German bandKraftwerk (see below), the comic-book characterRocketeer (first appearing in his own series in 1982), theWolfenstein series of video games, and films such asBrazil (1985),Batman (1989),The Rocketeer (1991),Batman Returns (1992),The Hudsucker Proxy (1994),The City of Lost Children (1995), andDark City (1998). Especially the lower end of the genre strongly mimic the pulp literature of the era (such as the 2004 filmSky Captain and the World of Tomorrow), and films of the genre often reference the cinematic styles offilm noir andGerman Expressionism. At times, the genre overlaps with thealternate history genre of a differentWorld War II, such as with anAxis victory.
Although loosely affiliated with early-twentieth century Futurism, retrofuturism draws from a wider range of sources. To be sure, retrofuturist art and literature often draws from the factories, buildings, cities, and transportation systems of the machine age. But it might be said that 20th century futuristic vision found its ultimate expression in the development ofGoogie architecture orPopuluxe design. As applied to fiction, this brand of retrofuturistic visual style began to take shape in William Gibson's short story "The Gernsback Continuum". Here and elsewhere it is referred to asRaygun Gothic, a catchall term for a visual style that incorporates various aspects of the Googie,Streamline Moderne, andArt Deco architectural styles when applied to retrofuturisticscience 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.[21] Raygun Gothic's primary influences include the set designs ofKenneth Strickfaden andFritz Lang.[citation needed] The term was coined byWilliam 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 wasThe Airstream Futuropolis: The Tomorrow That Never Was."[22]
Aspects of this form of retrofuturism can also be associated with the late 1970s and early 1980s the neo-Constructivist revival that emerged in art and design circles. Designers like David King in the UK and Paula Scher in the US imitated the cool, futuristic look of the Russian avant-garde in the years following the Russian Revolution.
With three of their 1970s albums, German bandKraftwerk tapped into a larger retrofuturist vision, by combining their futuristic pioneering electronic music with nostalgic visuals. Kraftwerk's retro-futurism in their 1970s visual language has been referred to by German literary critic Uwe Schütte, a reader atAston University, Birmingham, as "clear retro-style",[23] and in the 2008 three-hour documentaryKraftwerk and the Electronic Revolution, Irish-British music scholar Mark J. Prendergast refers to Kraftwerk's peculiar "nostalgia for the future" clearly referencing "an interwar[progressive] Germany that never was but could've been, and now[due to their influence as a band] hopefully could happen again". Design historian Elizabeth Guffey has written that if Kraftwerk's machine imagery was lifted from Russian design motifs that were once considered futuristic, they also presented a "compelling, if somewhat chilling, vision of the world in which musical ecstasy is rendered cool, mechanical and precise."[24] Kraftwerk's three retrofuturist albums are:
From their 1981 albumComputer World onwards, Kraftwerk have largely abandoned their retro notions and appear mainly futuristic only. The only references to their earlier retro style today appear in excerpts from their 1970s' promo clips that are projected in between more modern segments in their stage shows during the performance of these old song.
Retrofuturistic 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 eitherone-piece garments,skin-tight garments, or both, typically ending up looking like eitheroveralls orleotards, often worn together with plastic boots. In many cases, there is an assumption that the clothing of the future will be highlyuniform.
Thecliché of futuristic clothing has now become part of the idea of retrofuturism. 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 andGlamour 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."[14]
Retrotronics is use of old electrical and electronics components that are used by enthusiasts for design, aesthetic and decoration. Popularretrotronics components arevacuum tube,transistors,capacitors,reed switch andNixie tube.[25]
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In early 2020's multiple automotive companies such asHyundai,Renault,Honda have introduced retro designed automobile concepts and production models.
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Retrofuturism has appeared in some examples ofpostmodern architecture. To critics such as Niklas Maak, the term suggests that the "future style" is "a mere quotation of its own iconographic tradition" and retrofuturism is little more than "an aesthetic feedback loop"[26] 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 hugeflying saucer-likespace 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 ofGoogie architecture.
The once-futuristicLos Angeles International AirportTheme Building was built in 1961 as an expression of the then newjet andspace ages, incorporating what later came to be known as Googie and Populuxe design elements. Plans unveiled in 2008 for LAX's expansion featured retrofuturist flying-saucer/spaceship themes in proposals for new terminals andconcourses.[27]
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