The White Doll - Steampunk -

"The crowds outside had been gathered all morning to see the dirigible as it would be brought out of the hanger. Staring off into nowhere, she stood awaiting the word from the Professor, to pull the lever releasing the pressure lines attached to the Gondola..." Is the impression I get upon impact.

The Paulson Lighter-Than-Air ship building company had been one that preferred women for employees; the Professor preferred them because of their insight, and intuitiveness in the building process. She had started here as a youth, cleaning the offices, and moved her way onto the building floor as a senior airship technician. The Professor saw more than just her doll like beauty; he saw the beauty of her vision into the future.

The vision is unmistakably Steampunk, and there is no doubt in the viewer’s mind, if the viewer has any knowledge of the genre itself. I went with a 4 here because I would have liked to have seen a "gear" representation somewhere in the shot. It is the only thing the vision is missing to make it complete.

The originality is a strong 5. As the author noted, the Steampunk genre is very patriarchal, and the Victorian softness of it has always taken a backset. Bringing the "Lady" up to the front, and allowing her to show strength control, is something that needs to be done much more in the genre. Look at Mina Harker in "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", she played a very strong role, ergo the general Steampunk population has shown that a woman’s beauty can be powerful and dominant as well.

The technique is well deserving of a 4 1/2. I would have liked to have seen the shot pulled back away from the model just the tiniest bit, and the gears I mentioned earlier included as the part of the backstory of the shot. The vision could have picked up a half-star as well if there had been a touch more backstory.

The impact gets a 4 here as well for the same reasons the vision and technique missed that half-star, the backstory. Everything is great; it just seems starved for more iconic representation of the genre.

Overall this image is great, heck I purchased a print for display in my girl’s room, so it can't be all that bad huh?