ABSTRACT
A campaign of Iris West type is a key aspect of the Iris West Defense Squad. Self-tasked with the responsibilities of protecting and defending the blackness of the television character as well as the actress who portrays her, these fans transformed their adoration of their love object into something of a political action. Louisa Stein posits that the labor fans employ for their love objects results in voluminous waves of creative work across the digital landscape. Media fans have come to be known as digitally resourceful and community oriented. Inspired by their love of a specific media text or of media culture in general, fans use digital networks like LiveJournal, YouTube, Tumblr, and Polyvore to build communities and to share and respond to their creative work. The connection between affect and fandom communities doing work is useful for considering the manner by which fans structure their in-group status as well as corporately decide how to publicly "feel".
