Jump to content

Retrofuturism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Loremaster (talk | contribs) at 13:34, 30 December 2005. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Retro-futurism (a portmanteau word combining "retro" and "futurism") or retro-future can refer to two different but not incompatible things:

  • A return to, and an enthusiasm for, the depictions of the future produced in the first half of the 20th century, which often were based on a lack of scientific knowledge and a great deal of imagination and speculation.
  • An ideology combining retrograde cultural and economic views with techno-utopianism, whose implemenation would result in an increasingly dystopian society in the future.

Literature

The setting of retro-futuristic stories is sometimes a utopian society; its spirit of optimism and embracing of the status-quo is a complete contrast with cyberpunk. Retro-futurism is also different from steampunk, although the two had things in common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when modern technology was still young. Of course, novels, stories, and films from the early 20th century are futuristic for the time. Retro-future literature usually refers to settings in the late 20th, or 21st century, e.g. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Film and literature

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.

Artists who have worked with a futuristic style admired by retro-future enthusiasts

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.

Books on retro-futurism

  • Astrofuturism: Science, Race, and Visions of Utopia in Space ISBN 0812218477
  • Future Perfect ISBN 3822815667
  • Out of Time: Designs for the Twentieth Century Future ISBN 0810929392
  • Yesterday's Tomorrows: Past Visions of the American Future ISBN 0801853990
  • The History of the Future: Images of the 21st Century ISBN 2080135449
  • Futuropolis: Impossible Cities of Science Fiction and Fantasy ISBN 0903767228
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Retrofuturism&oldid=33249282"