The convoluted darkness of imagination

...whats a better term for steam punk, than steam punk? Its not that I dislike the term, I just don't think it suits the genre very well because when you look at the list of films and books attributed to this genre, most of them are not 'punk' (which I take to mean 'anti establishment') in any way. Take HG Wells 'War of the Worlds' for example, its always on the list, but how can a Martian invasion be interpreted as 'punk'? And where is the steam for that matter? It turns out the phrase was coined in a letter to a magazine by one obscure sci fi author in an attempt to describe his 'style' and that of two or three other authors and from that meager begining, spun out of control until today its about as established a genre as it possible to be. The term now encompasses a huge amount of literature, films and art and is widely interpreted to fit any manner of works without any real consensus on what the term means, or why it exists at all. Steampunk seems to be a genre without meaning beyond a certain 'look'. Its akin to the French cinema of the late eighties which was coined 'cinema du look', because it discarded plot, acting and subtext in favour of mere style. The images existed without any context beyond the need to look fabulous. I noted Luc Besson's films in particular met with a lot of criticism because they were 'too pretty' rather than well written. I liked that then because I never really cared much for stories which bored me anyway, but with the rise of CGI I've felt a growing distance between myself as the viewer, and the artists who fall back on visuals to make up for shoddy story telling.
For me, ambience is very important. So important in fact that I feel it ought to be taught in art schools along side composition. Ambience is what your trying to recreate with art (unless you have a genuine god complex and you believe you are capable of originality). Ambience however, does not rely on mere visuals. Visuals are important, of course, but vision without context is a form of blindness. Vision without context in art is impossible. For art to function, you need to have context.

Steampunk, like film noir is a genre based on a certain style, but do the words steam and punk really fit the style? I don't think they do. 'Steam' I can accept. Its the premier eccentric power source of the retro worlds which make up the steam punk style, it has the volatile character and heavy industrial aura that is required.

'Punk' on the other hand... Punk in this instance is derived from cyberpunk, another style of science fiction, this one easier to comprehend from the perspective of being anti establishment because cyberpunk looks forward where as steampunk doesn't. If anything steam punk looks backwards, or maybe sideways... Which ever way it gazes though, it does not look with eyes rebelling against 'an establishment'. By its nature, steampunk is pure escapism and unless human instutions now establish reality then there is no way a genre like steampunk can be considered 'punk'.

That leaves the obvious question and the obvious counter question. The obvious question is, what would be a better name for the genre? The obvious counter question would be, who cares?

I quite like the idea of making a new genre name because I would like to make a role playing game which incorporates a lot of the style of steampunk, but without being classed as steampunk.