Mortal Engines draws on many of the cultural ideas of Victorian-era Britain while putting a steampunk spin on them. During Britain’s Victorian era (1837-1901), British influence was felt across the world as Britain used colonies throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa to advance through a technological age. While Mortal Engines is set in a dystopian Europe, London in the story mirrors Victorian Britain’s colonialism and forced labor. As London advances across the Hunting Grounds, it overtakes smaller towns, repurposing any technology as its own and assimilating citizens into London’s workforce against their will. Once brought into the fold, people in the lower ranks of society are worked tirelessly under terrible conditions, all in the name of progress and power for London’s elite few.

The steampunk genre is often set against the backdrop of London’s Victorian era, depicting the excitement of new inventions and elegance of high society, typically omitting the less glamorous elements that made Victorian Britain’s quick growth possible. In particular, steampunk rarely pays attention to the downsides of uncontrolled advancement. Mortal Engines, however, subverts steampunk and the glossy image of Victorian London by taking a more realistic view of fast-moving progress, the unwilling labor behind such growth, and the destruction of resources when the problem of waste is pushed aside in favor of advancement.