A particular emphasis on the word "dread"
September 24, 2015 6:18 PM Subscribe
Dreadpunk feels like a perfectly natural term for the recent trend in Gothic-inspired horror and fantasy. Typified by the popular series Penny Dreadful, the word implies a subversive take on fog-drenched Victoriana, tales of the supernatural mixed with late 19th-century aesthetics, and the recent wave of Gothic horror like The Woman In Black and Crimson Peak.
Are we stuck with -punk now? Because it seems kind of gatecore.
posted by uosuaq at 7:00 PM on September 24, 2015 [26 favorites]
posted by uosuaq at 7:00 PM on September 24, 2015 [26 favorites]
I thought "dreadpunk" was fantasy and horror inna Rasta stylee.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:03 PM on September 24, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by octobersurprise at 7:03 PM on September 24, 2015 [5 favorites]
*scratches head* Not only does this genre seem somewhat post hoc, if the list of examples is any indication, but also the works identified as examples (and sometimes as inspirations) don't add up to the definition. (Evelina?! The heck?!)
posted by thomas j wise at 7:08 PM on September 24, 2015
posted by thomas j wise at 7:08 PM on September 24, 2015
You know, I've already plugged Kim Newman's Anno Dracula here recently, but this strikes me as an appropriate time...
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:11 PM on September 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:11 PM on September 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
Yeah, the definition is trying very hard to separate itself into something, but not getting there. The definitions given aren't coherent and bleeds too easily into other genres.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:27 PM on September 24, 2015
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:27 PM on September 24, 2015
BAM BAM BAM
"Hey, Dad, what's the ma --"
"EXPLAIN DREADPUNK."
"What?"
"DREADPUNK. EXPLAIN IT."
"Typified by the popular series Penny Dreadful, the word implies a subversive take on fog-drenched Victoriana, tales of the supernatural mixed with late 19th-century aesthetics, and the recent wave of Gothic horror like The Woman In Black and Crimson Peak."
God DAMN IT!
GOD DAMN IT GOD DAMN IT GOD DAMN IT
posted by edheil at 7:29 PM on September 24, 2015 [9 favorites]
"Hey, Dad, what's the ma --"
"EXPLAIN DREADPUNK."
"What?"
"DREADPUNK. EXPLAIN IT."
"Typified by the popular series Penny Dreadful, the word implies a subversive take on fog-drenched Victoriana, tales of the supernatural mixed with late 19th-century aesthetics, and the recent wave of Gothic horror like The Woman In Black and Crimson Peak."
God DAMN IT!
GOD DAMN IT GOD DAMN IT GOD DAMN IT
posted by edheil at 7:29 PM on September 24, 2015 [9 favorites]
I can't see "dreadpunk" without thinking "Bad Brains".
posted by ardgedee at 7:31 PM on September 24, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by ardgedee at 7:31 PM on September 24, 2015 [7 favorites]
I'm....not really into it.
posted by Existential Dread at 7:35 PM on September 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Existential Dread at 7:35 PM on September 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
I found Penny Dreadful to be awesome. Great sets, actors, & storylines.
Given the atmosphere, I think I'd have called that Gothic Horror due to including Frankenstein, Dracula, witches, and other classic horror elements.
Punk? ::shakes head::
posted by CrowGoat at 7:52 PM on September 24, 2015
Given the atmosphere, I think I'd have called that Gothic Horror due to including Frankenstein, Dracula, witches, and other classic horror elements.
Punk? ::shakes head::
posted by CrowGoat at 7:52 PM on September 24, 2015
I found Penny Dreadful to be awesome. Great sets, actors, & storylines.
The storylines were a bit weak the 2nd season, but still fun. What the show does great is atmosphere. I would not call that atmosphere dreadpunk.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:57 PM on September 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
The storylines were a bit weak the 2nd season, but still fun. What the show does great is atmosphere. I would not call that atmosphere dreadpunk.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:57 PM on September 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
The list of influences doesn't include Neverwhere? Is this a room-elephant-ignoring society?
posted by gurple at 8:27 PM on September 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by gurple at 8:27 PM on September 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
The list of influences doesn't include Neverwhere?
Or Vampire: The Masquerade (and, by extension, White Wolf's "World of Darkness" setting generally). Or Cthulhu By Gaslight. Or a decent chunk of Alan Moore's comics. Or any of Paul Di Filippo's genre-bending fare.
Looks like someone wrote their term paper by copying someone else's bibliography without doing any research of their own.
posted by belarius at 9:52 PM on September 24, 2015 [7 favorites]
Or Vampire: The Masquerade (and, by extension, White Wolf's "World of Darkness" setting generally). Or Cthulhu By Gaslight. Or a decent chunk of Alan Moore's comics. Or any of Paul Di Filippo's genre-bending fare.
Looks like someone wrote their term paper by copying someone else's bibliography without doing any research of their own.
posted by belarius at 9:52 PM on September 24, 2015 [7 favorites]
Isn't this just trad goth? What am I missing?
posted by doop at 10:50 PM on September 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by doop at 10:50 PM on September 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
Dreadpunk's not (un)dead!
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:57 AM on September 25, 2015
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:57 AM on September 25, 2015
This is like how "selfie" now means "any still photograph", right?
Not prescriptivist about this here, but just trying to wrap my old-man head around it.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 1:11 AM on September 25, 2015
Not prescriptivist about this here, but just trying to wrap my old-man head around it.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 1:11 AM on September 25, 2015
So if you got fiction with ray guns and space ships and vulcans is that wonderpunk or awepunk
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:20 AM on September 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:20 AM on September 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
You don't call Dredd, punk. Dredd calls you.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:45 AM on September 25, 2015
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:45 AM on September 25, 2015
Why do we have to have stupid new names for *everything*? What's wrong with the term 'gothic'?
posted by GallonOfAlan at 2:23 AM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by GallonOfAlan at 2:23 AM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
I feel like I can guess the age of the author because as everyone has said, there are already words for this.
posted by Kitteh at 2:47 AM on September 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 2:47 AM on September 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
I don't need a word for this for the same reason that fish don't need a word for water.
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:52 AM on September 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:52 AM on September 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
This thread is so Beanpunk.
posted by leotrotsky at 3:59 AM on September 25, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by leotrotsky at 3:59 AM on September 25, 2015 [8 favorites]
Why do we have to have stupid new names for *everything*? What's wrong with the term 'gothic'?
posted by Gothic An hour ago [+]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:16 AM on September 25, 2015
posted by Gothic An hour ago [+]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:16 AM on September 25, 2015
Can't wait until someone decides to name a style involving a lot of spiky hair and liberal use of thorn clothing, patches and safety pins. I'd call it punkpunk.
posted by lmfsilva at 4:44 AM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by lmfsilva at 4:44 AM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
You know, I've already plugged Kim Newman's Anno Dracula here recently
(It's worth pointing out that Anno Dracula is a series, set in fiction from the tail end of Victoria's reign through to the present day. My personal favourite is The Bloody Red Baron, set during WWI, and featuring Von Richthoven's squadron of giant mutated vampires; although there's also Dracula Cha Cha Cha, set broadly in Fellini and Ian Fleming, and Johnny Alucard, set in more modern pop culture, as well as other short stories. He's also done mutant Sherlock Holmes stories - Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbervilles and stories about The Diogenes Club. Newman is excellent).
posted by Grangousier at 5:08 AM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
(It's worth pointing out that Anno Dracula is a series, set in fiction from the tail end of Victoria's reign through to the present day. My personal favourite is The Bloody Red Baron, set during WWI, and featuring Von Richthoven's squadron of giant mutated vampires; although there's also Dracula Cha Cha Cha, set broadly in Fellini and Ian Fleming, and Johnny Alucard, set in more modern pop culture, as well as other short stories. He's also done mutant Sherlock Holmes stories - Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbervilles and stories about The Diogenes Club. Newman is excellent).
posted by Grangousier at 5:08 AM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
I feel like I can guess the age of the author because as everyone has said, there are already words for this.
What troubles efforts at online communication is that some people were born yesterday.
(I also loved Anno Dracula, tho, I thought the conceit, uh, paled, in the books that followed.)
posted by octobersurprise at 5:59 AM on September 25, 2015
What troubles efforts at online communication is that some people were born yesterday.
(I also loved Anno Dracula, tho, I thought the conceit, uh, paled, in the books that followed.)
posted by octobersurprise at 5:59 AM on September 25, 2015
"Perhaps the coolest thing about Dreadpunk as a concept is that it's clearly already well-developed and undergoing exploration by creators across mediums. Now it just has a name."
Ha ha ha ha! Good thing someone finally figured out what to call all this subversive dark romantic stuff. All those people lurking about in their black clothes since the 80s reading Poe will finally know what to buy.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 6:01 AM on September 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Ha ha ha ha! Good thing someone finally figured out what to call all this subversive dark romantic stuff. All those people lurking about in their black clothes since the 80s reading Poe will finally know what to buy.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 6:01 AM on September 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
involving a lot of spiky hair and liberal use of thorn clothing
I think this is simply called "being Charles de Lint" or, possibly, Jacqueline Carey (depending on the specific thorns, of course).
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:07 AM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
I think this is simply called "being Charles de Lint" or, possibly, Jacqueline Carey (depending on the specific thorns, of course).
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:07 AM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
"Pope Francis today, received a rapturous welcome from Jesuspunk and non-Jesuspunk alike ..."
posted by octobersurprise at 6:16 AM on September 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by octobersurprise at 6:16 AM on September 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Okay, I can half see the desire for a term that pinpoints a precise thing people are doing with modern takes on gothic horror. But I don't really feel like this essay actually tells me what kind of "transgressive" things they're doing that require the "-punk" suffix.
My next project is intended to be a dark urban fantasy. If this term takes hold and people end up calling it "dreadpunk" I may have to slap someone.
posted by egypturnash at 7:48 AM on September 25, 2015
My next project is intended to be a dark urban fantasy. If this term takes hold and people end up calling it "dreadpunk" I may have to slap someone.
posted by egypturnash at 7:48 AM on September 25, 2015
ANyway the difference between this and traditional gothic is the 'subversive' element - which appears to be there may be people of color or LGBT people treated like people in the story?
posted by Mister_A at 8:20 AM on September 25, 2015
posted by Mister_A at 8:20 AM on September 25, 2015
Was Woman in Black any good?
Which version? The original novel, the play, the recent movie version with Daniel Radcliffe, or the BBC radio play?
posted by Kitteh at 8:23 AM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Which version? The original novel, the play, the recent movie version with Daniel Radcliffe, or the BBC radio play?
posted by Kitteh at 8:23 AM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Normcore: dressing like an Eddie Bauer catalog model
Normpunk: Cheers cosplay
posted by Existential Dread at 8:46 AM on September 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
Normpunk: Cheers cosplay
posted by Existential Dread at 8:46 AM on September 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
A-and leave dread alone, too.
posted by Grangousier at 4:01 PM on September 25, 2015
posted by Grangousier at 4:01 PM on September 25, 2015
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