GamerGate to Capitol Hill: Speculative Fiction and the Alt-Right

The connection between the Alt-Right and speculative fiction (SF) is clearly visible through the political slogans and
dog whistles used by the movement. Quotes from film Starship Troopers (1997, based on Heinlein's 1959 novel)
were used in UKIP's Alt-Right influenced 2019 election campaign. Meanwhile "God Emperor Trump" (referencing
the Dune series 1965-1985) became a popular Alt-Right meme, and the extremist group which attempted to kidnap
the governor of Michigan called themselves "Wolverine Watchmen", a name referencing two different superhero
comics. SF comprises the sub-genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror (Wilkins 39), and its connection to the
far-right can be traced back through the themes of classic SF texts such as Lovecraft's fear of the racialised other,
Tolkien's volkish pastoralism, and the machismo of early pulp science fiction. This project will explore the
relationship between the Alt-Right and SF, examining how the movement interacted with the super-genre as fans.
By combining close textual analysis with a series of interviews with participants in online fan communities (OFCs), I
will map the themes of these texts and examine how Alt-Right interpretations may differ from or reflect the
mainstream, with the broader aim of examining the role played by SF in far-right radicalisation within the OFCs that
celebrate these works.
My work will focus on the years 2014 to 2021, from GamerGate, which mainstreamed the movements, to the
eventual outcome of its violent rhetoric, the Capital Hill riot. This project is limited to studying Alt-Right fan activities
in the UK and US, as although a global movement, the Alt-Right's figureheads primarily originated in those two
countries.
Research background and questions
GamerGate was a 2014 online campaign where video game fan communities began harassed women working in
the games industry; it heralded future patterns of the Alt-Right using online harassment as a mode of...