I mentioned previously that I would "later" write about the place of the strongman and physical culture in steampunk. Well, now is later, and I shall illustrate this most important aspect. Physical culture not only belongs in steampunk because it was and emerging and popular trend during the mid-to-late 19th century, but because strength and ability are indeed a must for the intrepid adventurer and explorer.
As a quick recap, what is physical culture? It is the concept of physical education as set in the 19th (and early 20th) century. Physical culture included many schools of thought and many methods, all ranging from simple posture and breathing to rugged military drills, and everything in between. The concept of exercise separate from lifestyle, and as a lifestyle came largely from the observation that as affluence grew, so did ill health. The activities and diets of our struggling selves had kept us relatively strong, and with new, foreign foods becoming more available, and with work being mechanized and eased, people started becoming flabby as a regular trait (something that has continued to today.) Of course, there were a great many things they did not know, and much we still do not know, so the search for a more precise understanding of the human being continues.
Now, where does this all fit in with steampunk? Indeed, many places. Let us look at a few reasons and examples to illustrate this point. First, in the world of industrial fantasy, you have far more than just clockwork machinery and steam power. Man power still existed as a necessity. From the rural countryside, to the boiler rooms in the factories, strength of body was necessary to heave bushels of produce and lug massive wrenches and kettles. The bodies of the labor class would be made of the very iron they worked on. And the military class, putting the overly extravagant works to use, would be packing dozens of extra pounds to their bodies in the name of dominance. The noble class? They would not be seen as sickly in comparison to their subjects (though, historically, they were every bit as sickly.) They would take up leisure activity, hunting, boxing and other sport. All of this demand would lead worthy (and many unworthy) instructors to supply. The military, lettered expeditioners, and noble sportsmen would be first in line for the uptake of exercise, sport, and combat instruction. The labor class would be relegated to carnival stuntmen, and market square performers. This area would be most open to the charlatans taking advantage. The snake oil salesmen selling opiates, poisons, and placebos as health tonics, the illegitimate strongmen hefting empty bells, and the sweet talking performers selling convenient devices to shape them up in minutes a day!
Perhaps, though, there would be enthusiasts simply seeking a quiet life who would take on one or two students out of some bond or kinship. Not all instructors belonged to the circus, military, or royal academies. No, there were certainly the quiet strongmen who put their muscle to use working on the great boilers, and spinning cogs, who aided the farmers in the harvest in exchange for a simple meal. You see, strength and ability do not require grand display, and there are many who would not seek fame.
If I may continue with this limited listing, there is then my favorite type of strongman, the one of the wild. The explorer and adventurer. The great traveling hunter, archaeologist, geologist, or even reporter. Those who traveled the world through personal riches, jobs and commissions, and even military charters understood the need for a fit body. One could simply not hunt in the jungles of Africa, investigate the Central American native ruins, and dig the Gobi Desert without a modicum of fitness. Many of these men (and women) would be up on their boxing and wrestling, be accustomed to hefting weighted loads of gear and supplies, long treks through uncivilized routes, running from predators, chasing down prey, etc. It was a life to be reckoned with, and those who survived were as cast of marble as the ancient Greek statues. Those well-enough-to-do would carry membership to known academies, while the lucky peasantry would be forged from a life of labor. There would certainly be dabbling in foreign cultural practices, such as those of India and China under the Crown, or of the Native Americans, and immigrant infusion in the Union, and on the frontier. A wonderful real world example of this is Georges Hebert, a French Navy-man, who saw native Africans escaping from a natural disaster, once gave this quote:
Their bodies were splendid, flexible, nimble, skillful, enduring, resistant and yet they had no other tutor in gymnastics but their lives in nature.
Combining the gymnastic practices of the day with a regimen of moves based on the necessities of survival, he created the Natural Method, the prime tenet of which is:
The final goal of physical education is to make strong beings. In the purely physical sense, the Natural Method promotes the qualities of organic resistance, muscularity and speed, towards being able to walk, run, jump, move on all fours, to climb, to keep balance, to throw, lift, defend yourself and to swim.
In the "virile" or energetic sense, the system consists in having sufficient energy, willpower, courage, coolness, and firmness.
In the moral sense, education, by elevating the emotions, directs or maintains the moral drive in a useful and beneficial way.
The true Natural Method, in its broadest sense, must be considered as the result of these three particular forces; it is a physical, virile and moral synthesis. It resides not only in the muscles and the breath, but above all in the "energy" which is used, the will which directs it and the feeling which guides it.
This lineage survives today through military practices world wide, and the popular parkour movement. This kind of strength and training would be most greatly employed by the intrepid explorer, either by rote, or by instinct and lifestyle. His life might be made simpler by auto rifles, steam chariots, clockwork investigative lenses, but his body would be old fashioned sinew and bone. A strength belied by his frame, and an ability unmatched by the noble savants. This the the realm in which I play, and live. I employ the wild strength of the mountain and forest, and of the trained hands and feet. What is your strength? Are you the quiet doctor who performs his daily routine upon waking, or perhaps of the gentry studying at the academies? Do you belong to the carnival or circus, or perhaps just a laboring hand earning his way through work? Please, tell me your strength, leave a comment, and join the discussion. Good Journey.
No comments:
Post a Comment