Raygun Gothic

Raygun Gothic is a catchall term for a visual style that incorporates various aspects of the Googie, Streamline Moderne and Art Deco architectural styles when applied to retro-futuristic science fiction environments. Academic Lance Olsen has characterised Raygun Gothic as "a tomorrow that never was". [cite journal |last=Olsen |first=Lance |title="The Future of Narrative": Speculative Criticism: or Thirteen Ways of Speaking in an Imperfect Tense |journal=ParaDoxa |volume=4 |issue=11 |pages=375 |id= |url=http://paradoxa.com/excerpts/4-11intro.htm |accessdate= 2007-11-03 ] The style has also been associated with architectural indulgence, and situated in the context of the golden age of modern design due to its use of features such as "single-support beams, acute angles, brightly colored paneling" as well as "shapes and cutouts showing motion" The term was coined by William Gibson in his story "The Gernsback Continuum":cite web |url=http://americancity.org/updates/blog/2008/raygun-gothic/ |title=Raygun Gothic and Populuxe Culture: The Next American City, Today! |date=2008-01-14 |accessdate=2008-01-21 |work=The Next American City ]

Although Raygun Gothic is most similar to the Googie or Populuxe style and sometimes synonymous with it, the name is primarily applied to images of science fiction — it describes the typical mad scientist laboratory as seen in films like "Bride of Frankenstein" and Fritz Lang's "Metropolis", as well as the architecture of The Jetsons and, more recently, Futurama and Dexter's Laboratory. The style is also still a popular choice for retro sci-fi in film and video games, such as the designs for the film "Mars Attacks!" and the video game "Fallout". Raygun Gothic's primary influences include the set designs of Kenneth Strickfaden and Fritz Lang.

Citations

References

*cite book | last = Alonso | first = Carlos | title = Julio Cortázar | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge | year = 1998 | isbn = 9780521452106

External links

* [http://project.cyberpunk.ru/lib/burning_chrome/ Etext of William Gibson's "Burning Chrome" (contains "The Gernsback Continuum")]
* [http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Set/4159/labhist.html Young Frankenstein's Lab History (includes images of Strickfaden's original sets)]