| dc.description.abstract | This thesis uses textual analysis to determine how Omegaverse fanfiction makes use of
utopian and dystopian elements to critique gender roles and patriarchal power structures.
Omegaverse (short for ‘Alpha/Beta/Omega Universe’) is a world-building trope that applies
wolf pack dynamics to human biology and society. By creating a new gender system,
Omegaverse separates traditional gender roles from physical sex and reintroduces a magnified
version of these same roles under new descriptors. In doing so, fans have created a system
that can be used to write entertaining stories that may also function as a feminist critique.
With the use of utopian and dystopian elements, these stories express attitudes toward and
desires for the patriarchal societies we live in. That is why this study analyses Omegaverse
within the tradition of Feminist Critical Dystopia, a genre that is known to express feminist
critique through the means of fiction. This thesis uses three works produced in the Stranger
Things fandom as its case study. The analysis revealed that Omegaverse is similar to feminist
dystopia in the kind of conflicts it depicts, namely anxieties over societal oppression and loss
of bodily control to technology and biology. Omegaverse’s conception of patriarchy appeared
more complex than those of feminist dystopia produced during the first and second wave of feminism.
In its depiction of gender oppression, these fanworks can be seen as reflective of fourth-wave
feminism, a natural progression onto the traditionally published dystopia of the 20th century.
Although the works appear to be set in a dystopian society, they usually have a happy ending.
By allowing the characters to find the perfect love in an imperfect world, the works express a
utopian desire for a healthy, equalitarian relationship. By examining how societal and
interpersonal gender relations are represented in Omegaverse fanfiction, this study contributes
to the existing body of literature around Omegaverse, fan practices and feminist dystopia. | |
