History Main / DieselPunk

* A lot of WWII tech of the type actually used also qualifies. Prime examples include the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Lancaster Avro Lancaster]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_PBY_Catalina Catalina]], many tanks including the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Char_B1 Char B1-bis]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3_Lee Grant]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilda_II Matilda]], and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_Medium_Mark_II Vickers]] (and most tanks, particularly British ones, really), and the khaki or black uniforms, with their [[CommissarCap peaked caps]], berets, or Brodie helmets. Pretty much all early war British equipment would count.

* ''Film/{{Dark City|1998}}'' (1998) seems at first to be set in a stylised version of 1940s/1950s America, but gradually reveals itself to be a SciFi film which is not set in America at all.

* ''Film/DarkCity'' (1998) seems at first to be set in a stylised version of 1940s/1950s America, but gradually reveals itself to be a SciFi film which is not set in America at all.

* ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'' (2007), also the book.

* The ''Hikūshi'' light novels with their emphasis on World War II-style air combat:
** ''Literature/ThePrincessAndThePilot''
** ''Literature/ThePilotsLoveSong''
** ''Literature/ToaruHikushiENoSeiyaku''

Dieselpunk is a PunkPunk genre of SpeculativeFiction based on the [[TheRoaringTwenties 1920s]]-[[TheForties 1940s]] period, spiced up with retro-futuristic innovations and occult elements. The Dieselpunk narrative is characterized by conflict vs the [[CrapsackWorld undefeatable]] ([[LostWorld nature]], [[CityNoir society]], [[CosmicHorrorStory cosmic powers]]), heavy use of technology, and GreyAndGrayMorality. The protagonists are often HeroicNeutral and have low social status.

Generally, Dieselpunk can take inspiration from [[TheRoaringTwenties 1920s]] [[GermanExpressionism German Expressionist films]], FilmNoir, [[TheGreatDepression 1930s]] {{Pulp Magazine}}s and {{Radio Drama}}s, and [[TheForties 1940s]] [[CrimeFiction Crime]] and [[MilitaryAndWarfareComics wartime comics]], period propaganda films and newsreels, wartime pinups, and other entertainment of the early [[The20thCentury 20th century]]. As this covers a broad spectrum, the precise sources of inspiration can vary greatly between dieselpunk works. Like SteamPunk, Dieselpunk is a genre dictated primarily by its aesthetics rather than by its thematic content. Both grime and glamour have their place in dieselpunk. Vehicles may have exposed engines and customized exteriors.

Dieselpunk overlaps with TwoFistedTales and RaygunGothic, but differs mostly in its PunkPunk themes. TwoFistedTales explore settings such as HeroicFantasy and SpaceOpera that are not properly a part of Dieselpunk, and RaygunGothic tends to reference a period both chronologically and technologically more advanced or just shinier and more optimistic. Typically, Dieselpunk roots itself in urban and wartime settings of the 1920s to the late [[TheForties 1940s]], both literally and figuratively "down to earth".

* Most of UsefulNotes/TheSovietTwenties' sci-fi:
** ''The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin'', a.k.a. ''The Garin Death Ray'', (1926-1927) by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksey_Nikolayevich_Tolstoy Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy]]. It falls between Diesel Noir and Diesel Weird War, as the author manages to poke some fun at TheRoaringTwenties and UsefulNotes/TheSovietTwenties between the lines and also to imagine a dystopian world where Capitalist and Socialist-Revolutionary forces fight each other with poison gas, airships and [[DeathRay Death Rays]].

* Arguably, ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'' (1957) which seems to be taking place in an AlternateUniverse [[TheForties 1940s]] where WWII never happened, most of the world went Communist, and ''someone'' invented, then destroyed, a futuristic power generator that converts atmospheric static electricity into direct current. The setting qualifies, but the theme is D'Punk inside out, with typical protagonist/antagonist roles reversed.

* ''Series/TalesOfTheGoldMonkey'' (1982-1983), a single-season series from TheEighties of the Deco and TwoFistedTales variety.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' (2012-2014), a sequel series to ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', is a FarEast ScienceFantasy, UrbanFantasy variant of this, complete with [[MundaneUtility power plants being staffed by people with lighting powers]]. It's particularly apparent in Republic City, a CultureChopSuey of various [[TheRoaringTwenties 1920s-era]] metropolises with the Asian aesthetics accentuated. The soundtrack has been described as "1920s New Orleans jazz but if it were invented in China".

Although the Dieselpunk aesthetic can overlap with RaygunGothic, and though Dieselpunk is known for featuring Tesla technology and Wunderwaffen-style super-weapons, Dieselpunk typically does ''not'' include transistor-based technology, other electronics or atomic power. In fact, another PunkPunk genre label, {{Atompunk}}, was coined to describe fiction in this mode. Atompunk (such as the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series and the comic book ''Fear Agent'') takes inspiration from 1950s-era aesthetics and fashions such as Googie architecture and Jetsons-style technology, which typically lie outside the bounds of Dieselpunk. The analogue sci-fi of ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'' and ''Film/ThingsToCome'' are closer to the Dieselpunk tradition as it stands.

[[folder:ComicBooks]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' -- Usually classified as {{Atompunk}}, but takes place in a retrograde enough world to qualify (a world with atomic power but without the transistor[[note]]Effectively, at least. Transistors ''were'' invented, but only a couple of years before the atomic war, so the overwhelming majority of electronics uses vacuum tubes[[/note]]). It's actually [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] in that the inefficient technology ended up depleting resources faster, thus causing the conflicts that lead to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt The Great War]].
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout|1}}'' (1997)

* ''VideoGame/GadgetPastAsFuture'' is a 90's point-and-click adventure game set in an Art-Deco styled nation only known as "The Empire" where bits of meteorite that fell to the Earth containing an unknown substance (called xenium in the art book) became the country's primary fuel source to power not only some of the trains, but also many of the titular gadgets seen throughout such as the Sensorama, which was originally intended by the Empire's dictator to be a brainwashing device, and the Ark, an excavating drill that can transform into a plane. Players take on the role of a government agent hired to investigate a group of scientists who claim that a planet-destroying comet is rapidly approaching.

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Nine}}'' (2009) especially when we see parts of the backstory.

Vastness is key. This was the age of the [[UsefulNotes/{{Airships}} Zeppelin,]] the [[CoolBoat dreadnought battleship]] and the [[CoolBoat ocean liner,]] the [[CoolPlane flying-boat airliner,]] and the skyscraper. It also saw the first multinational corporations (in the modern sense), large-scale social engineering, and mass political movements. UsefulNotes/WorldWarI was still fresh in memory as the Great War, the most colossal conflict in the history of mankind. Man is dwarfed by his creations and things are subsumed into abstractions.

** ''Film/IndiannaJonesAndTheDialOfDestiny''(2023)

** ''Film/IndiannaJonesAnfTheDialOfDestiny''

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Animation/WarOfTheWorldsGoliath'' takes place in an alternate 1914 on the cusp of World War I, with walking tanks and giant heavily armed airships thanks to retroengineered alien technology.

[[index]]
* Pretty much any FilmNoir or crime film of the period
* The surreal dystopian writing of Creator/FranzKafka, e.g. ''Literature/TheMetamorphosis'' (1915)
* Some of the works of [[Creator/KarelCapek Karel Čapek]]
** ''Theatre/{{RUR}}'' (1921)
** ''Literature/WarWithTheNewts'' (1936)

* The ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'' comic (1931-).
* ''Film/{{Frankenstein|1931}}'' (1931) and ''Film/BrideOfFrankenstein'' (1935)

* ''Non-Stop New York'' (1937): Noir intrigue TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture on a [[{{Zeerust}} futuristic]] Streamline Moderne Flying Boat.

* ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' (1948) by Creator/GeorgeOrwell
* The [[http://www.luft46.com/ Luft '46]] and [[http://www.unrealaircraft.com/ UnrealAircraft]] websites offer some pretty stunning examples of the aviation technology innovations that inspired futurists of that time and dieselpunk authors of our time.

* ''Webcomic/EvenDeathMayDie'' (formerly ''Strange Aeons''): [[http://strangeaeons.comicdish.com/]]: Nazis, Lovecraft, noir and pulpy intrigue set in a crazy-ass Art Deco MegaCity.

* ''Literature/RunningWithRats'' is a dieselpunk fantasy about a group of rebels against a slave society.
* ''Literature/SixChances'' is a dieselpunk fantasy featuring weapons fueled by [[LifeEnergy vitae]] and [[PsychicLink psychic links]] between individuals who are on opposite sides of war that is on the horizon.

* The Disney cartoon ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' (1990-1991) and its 1930s pulp adventure style was a high-flying, lighthearted brand of diesel.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' (1992-1995, 1997-1999). To a lesser extent ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' keeps some of Superman's timeless feel from the 30/40's.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'' (2002-2006). Though it's a little more leaning towards RaygunGothic than Diesel.

* ''WesternAnimation/ArcherDreamland'', the eighth season of ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'', takes the super-spies cum drug lords cum detectives back to 1940s Los Angeles.
** But even more dieselpunkish than ''Archer: Dreamland'' is the parent series' ''next'' season, ''WesternAnimation/ArcherDangerIsland'', a pulp adventure that winds back the clock some more to the late 1930s (this is all a coma dream in the real Archer's head), set mostly on a French-colonial Polynesian Pacific island.