Conclusions and Next Steps

Through this case study we can see that AU works are more popular to write about than canon works overall. We attribute this to the large LGBTQ+ following the show has. Some of the more popular AU fics that Supergirl has are “Alternate Universe – No Powers” and “Alternate Universe – College/University”. Canon works seem to be more popular after the end of a show due to alternate ending and future fics being written post finale. There seems to be no correlations with increased negativity or positivity in canon or AU works. This can be attributed to the inability of Docuscope to find emotions that are not explicitly said. 

In terms of next steps, I would take the time to go through all of the tags to create a more accurate graph over the years. I would also scrape more fanfictions to have a better sample size. In terms of the negative vs positive sentiments I would try to find a better program that can pick up on negative events and actions rather than just emotions. Lastly, I would go through some of the comments on the works to see if they discussed the source material.