Raygun Gothic Explained

Raygun Gothic is a catchall term for a visual and architectural style that, when applied to retrofuturistic science fiction environments, incorporates various aspects of the Googie, Streamline Moderne and Art Deco architectural styles. Academic Lance Olsen has characterised Raygun Gothic as "a tomorrow that never was".^[1] It is inspired by Space Age, raypunk and atompunk subcultures.

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".

Origin

The term was coined by William Gibson in his 1981 story "The Gernsback Continuum":^{[2] [3]}

See also

• Mid-century modern
• Populuxe
• Space Age
• Tomorrowland
• Atompunk
• Dieselpunk

Notes

4.^ "Loki"(2021).

References

• Book: Alonso, Carlos . Julio Cortázar . Cambridge University Press . Cambridge . 1998 . 978-0-521-45210-6 .

Notes and References

1. Olsen . Lance . 'The Future of Narrative': Speculative Criticism: or Thirteen Ways of Speaking in an Imperfect Tense . ParaDoxa . 4 . 11 . 375 . 2007-11-03 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20071108214635/http://paradoxa.com/excerpts/4-11intro.htm . 2007-11-08 .
2. Web site: Raygun Gothic and Populuxe Culture: The Next American City, Today! . 2008-01-14 . 2008-01-21 . The Next American City . https://web.archive.org/web/20080221151839/http://americancity.org/updates/blog/2008/raygun-gothic/ . 2008-02-21.
3. "The Gernsback Continuum" in Book: Gibson, William . Burning Chrome . Arbor House . New York . 1986 . 978-0-87795-780-5 . Burning Chrome (short story collection) .