That Old Razzle Dazzle: Starbat's Musings on the Raypunk Aesthetic
Just so you know, The Loonatic and I have some serious differences in how we think about raypunk, despite the fact that we agree on many of the movies and books that we consider raypunk. This post is a discussion of how I think about raypunk, including a little information about many of the movies that I think epitomize the aesthetic. The Loonatic has a more in depth discussion of the individual merit of some of these movies.
Okay, so my aesthetic sense of raypunk comes from two inter-related but still somewhat unique themes. The first theme comes from, of course, the seminal 1950's science fiction greats, like Forbidden Planet and Cat-Women of the Moon. Like the superhero comics of the day, these movies rely on bright colors and clean, geometric shapes to convey sleek futuristic scenes. In general, morality was fairly simple in these movies. However, the plots often chose to tell stories of exploration, wonder, and sometimes tragedy, rather than simple good versus evil confrontations. For example, Forbidden Planet (loosely based on Shakespeare's The Tempest) follows the crew of a space ship when it checks in with a wayward scientist and his daughter. The film slowly reveals the emotional instability of the isolated scientist, and discusses the dangerous depths of the human psyche. The ending isn't exactly happy or unhappy, nobody really "won," but the movie is one of the pillars of science fiction filmography.
Cat-Women of the Moon is an even older movie, more akin to the "Weird Tales of the Future" style of post-WW2 science fiction than later high-order science fiction. It's a simple enough movie about the last survivors of an alien race who plot to steal an Earth exploratory vessel and take over our world. The visual impact, however, is amazing. The Cat-Women wear bold but simple catsuits and jewelry, elaborate hairstyles, and they exude sensuality.
However, this isn't the only branch of science fiction that I would call "raypunk." Instead, there is also a recurrent type of raypunk film produced after the fifties, which I might characterize as decadent raypunk. Instead of relying mainly on simple, monochromatic outfits and set pieces, decadent raypunk adds more elaborate costumes and sets, but retains the love of clean lines, monolithic structures, and dream-like scenery.
This type of raypunk is perhaps best encapsulated by the 1980 Flash Gordon movie, 1968's Barbarella, and the 1984 version of Dune. Although 16 years separates these films, they have many of the same stylistic elements, including a heavy emphasis on elaborate, metallic accents, sweeping robes and form-fitting costumes, and over-the-top villains.
Ahem, I will now try to describe each of these three movies in a single screenshot and a single sentence.
Also on the list of decadent raypunk films, I would include the 1983 Hercules movie with Lou Ferrigno. I know this seems like the odd man out, as such a movie should be a simple swords and sandals flick rather than science fiction. Certainly this movie has a veneer of that aesthetic. However, this version of the hero rides through space as well as the Mediterranean, and the story revolves around Minos attempting to overthrow the gods using "science," birthing a spectacular fantasy/science-fiction hybrid of a cheeseball film. It's a riot of color, miniskirts, terrible special effects, and the occasional robot, with an art style that fits in with the decadent raypunk themes.
I would also like to highlight The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Although it acted as a parody of sci-fi tropes, it had many of the same visual cues as other raypunk movies on this list, including a excess of spandex and glitter, over-the-top villains, and the gloriously raypunk costumes that Riff Raff and Magenta wear at the end. In addition, the musical returns to the "Weird Tales" style of morality, wherein good and evil meet, but the ending avoids the simple triumph of good over that evil.
Admittedly, all of these movies so far are at least 30 years out of date, which contributes in some way to the dated raypunk aesthetic (look, there was limited CGI technology, which meant that spacey-techno-shit had to be conveyed almost exclusively through glitter). However, I would like to end this discussion by putting forward some modern (and very CGI-dependent) movies that I think still have a lot of the same visual cues and themes as the 50s-80s raypunk films. Namely, 2017's Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and 2015's Jupiter Ascending. Right off the bat, I would like to note that I don't actually like either of these movies that much. But, both are visually stunning and bring to life the acid-trip color and mind-bending sense of space and enormity that I associate with raypunk.
In conclusion (Uh, do I have a conclusion?), raypunk for me is a generation-spanning and multidimensional aesthetic based on grandiose and glittering set-pieces and costumes, as well as a large dose of the "sex sells" mindset.
Movies referenced here:
Barbarella (1968)
Flash Gordon (1980)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Hercules (1983 Lou Ferrigno version)
Cat-Women of the Moon (1953)
Dune (1984 and 2000)
Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Okay, so my aesthetic sense of raypunk comes from two inter-related but still somewhat unique themes. The first theme comes from, of course, the seminal 1950's science fiction greats, like Forbidden Planet and Cat-Women of the Moon. Like the superhero comics of the day, these movies rely on bright colors and clean, geometric shapes to convey sleek futuristic scenes. In general, morality was fairly simple in these movies. However, the plots often chose to tell stories of exploration, wonder, and sometimes tragedy, rather than simple good versus evil confrontations. For example, Forbidden Planet (loosely based on Shakespeare's The Tempest) follows the crew of a space ship when it checks in with a wayward scientist and his daughter. The film slowly reveals the emotional instability of the isolated scientist, and discusses the dangerous depths of the human psyche. The ending isn't exactly happy or unhappy, nobody really "won," but the movie is one of the pillars of science fiction filmography.
Cat-Women of the Moon is an even older movie, more akin to the "Weird Tales of the Future" style of post-WW2 science fiction than later high-order science fiction. It's a simple enough movie about the last survivors of an alien race who plot to steal an Earth exploratory vessel and take over our world. The visual impact, however, is amazing. The Cat-Women wear bold but simple catsuits and jewelry, elaborate hairstyles, and they exude sensuality.
 |
| I'm pretty sure the only cat-like thing about the Cat-Women is that they wear catsuits. Which is kind of weird. |
 |
| Look at that gorgeous, almost Assyrian-style furniture. And look at that perfect representation of gender roles in raypunk: Woman-the-Good-and-Submissive stands caught between Woman-the-Evil-Temptress and Man's Expectations |
However, this isn't the only branch of science fiction that I would call "raypunk." Instead, there is also a recurrent type of raypunk film produced after the fifties, which I might characterize as decadent raypunk. Instead of relying mainly on simple, monochromatic outfits and set pieces, decadent raypunk adds more elaborate costumes and sets, but retains the love of clean lines, monolithic structures, and dream-like scenery.
This type of raypunk is perhaps best encapsulated by the 1980 Flash Gordon movie, 1968's Barbarella, and the 1984 version of Dune. Although 16 years separates these films, they have many of the same stylistic elements, including a heavy emphasis on elaborate, metallic accents, sweeping robes and form-fitting costumes, and over-the-top villains.
Ahem, I will now try to describe each of these three movies in a single screenshot and a single sentence.
 |
| Midwest norms meet seductive space society, can't handle it |
 |
| Sexy Good meets Sexy Evil. That's it, that's the plot of Barbarella |
 |
| Space messiah drones on while his mother and girlfriend become increasingly annoyed and Captain Picard hallucinates |
Also on the list of decadent raypunk films, I would include the 1983 Hercules movie with Lou Ferrigno. I know this seems like the odd man out, as such a movie should be a simple swords and sandals flick rather than science fiction. Certainly this movie has a veneer of that aesthetic. However, this version of the hero rides through space as well as the Mediterranean, and the story revolves around Minos attempting to overthrow the gods using "science," birthing a spectacular fantasy/science-fiction hybrid of a cheeseball film. It's a riot of color, miniskirts, terrible special effects, and the occasional robot, with an art style that fits in with the decadent raypunk themes.
 |
| Look at the glorious mismatch in those costumes. And I know, I picked a screenshot from the movie Hercules that doesn't actually have Hercules in it, but lets just assume that Hercules is accurately represented by the phallic object in the room |
I would also like to highlight The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Although it acted as a parody of sci-fi tropes, it had many of the same visual cues as other raypunk movies on this list, including a excess of spandex and glitter, over-the-top villains, and the gloriously raypunk costumes that Riff Raff and Magenta wear at the end. In addition, the musical returns to the "Weird Tales" style of morality, wherein good and evil meet, but the ending avoids the simple triumph of good over that evil.
Admittedly, all of these movies so far are at least 30 years out of date, which contributes in some way to the dated raypunk aesthetic (look, there was limited CGI technology, which meant that spacey-techno-shit had to be conveyed almost exclusively through glitter). However, I would like to end this discussion by putting forward some modern (and very CGI-dependent) movies that I think still have a lot of the same visual cues and themes as the 50s-80s raypunk films. Namely, 2017's Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and 2015's Jupiter Ascending. Right off the bat, I would like to note that I don't actually like either of these movies that much. But, both are visually stunning and bring to life the acid-trip color and mind-bending sense of space and enormity that I associate with raypunk.
 |
| Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets: way prettier than it is fun, interesting, or intelligent |
 |
| I love that the Jupiter Ascending wedding is basically Thranduil's palace in space |
In conclusion (Uh, do I have a conclusion?), raypunk for me is a generation-spanning and multidimensional aesthetic based on grandiose and glittering set-pieces and costumes, as well as a large dose of the "sex sells" mindset.
Movies referenced here:
Barbarella (1968)
Flash Gordon (1980)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Hercules (1983 Lou Ferrigno version)
Cat-Women of the Moon (1953)
Dune (1984 and 2000)
Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
Jupiter Ascending (2015)
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