Steampunk and the Mainstream

Last night was a veritable feast of the eyes for the closing ceremony of the Paralympics. In the beginning VT I was interested that the first person on screen look slightly steampunk and then came the vehicles! Giant mechanical beasts, a ship and a clock with huge working gears. Oh my yes THIS was steampunk.
Even the graphics on screen had gears, steam and cogs. To say I was excited as the spectacle unfolded would be an understatement.
The amazing creations were from an art group known as The Mutoid waste company who started in the 80s and specialise making fantastic sculptures from old cars and influenced by the film Mad Max.

  

It is always interesting when a subculture ( yes Steampunk is a subculture) is depicted in the mainstream. We have yet to have a full blown representation of Steampunk in the mainstream. Closest we got so far is a few movies with mechanical elements such as Wild Wild West and Stardust to name a few.
The closing ceremony was so original and exciting to watch even though most of it was a Cold Play concert.

Also did anyone else notice the pagan elements? The show it's self was a festival of the flame, (fire festival) Flame throwers were used to scorch a circle with symbols on to the grass.
The spirits of the elements were called (calling of the quarters) and a huge sun mask which looked like a green man burned high above.

Well done Kim Gavin, I was presently surprised and well done to all the amazing athletes, the volunteers and everyone else who made this a summer of sport to remember.