A history of how media fandoms viewed their communities, their own and the media industry’s relationship to their favourite works can be caught in ‘save our show!’ campaigns. There is an affective relationship here that stands in opposition with the copyright holder’s legal (and sometimes perceived to be only legal) claim.
Although the fans’ styles differed considerably, their themes overlapped: those seeking to use copyright law to silence fandom or assert copyright claims against new works featuring Sherlock Holmes were inauthentic, greedy, and morally bankrupt.
Rosenblatt, B. (2017). The Great Game and the Copyright Villain. Transformative Works and Cultures, 23. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2017.0923
In this framing, the copyright holder might not be the same as a creative author of the intellectual work or in some other way distanced from it (for example, through claims that the creators changed the story based on their expectations for the financial success of certain storylines). On the other hand, these fans can offer their affective ownership.
Savage (2014) shows how fans expressed their love for their favourite show through letter writing campaigns. Because of this affective connection and understanding, they hoped to convince the decision makers that they can help the show more effectively.
Savage, C. (2014). “Chuck” versus the ratings: Savvy fans and “Save our show” campaigns. Transformative Works and Cultures, 15. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2014.0497
Affective ownership is, of course, only one aspect of how fans relate to their canon but it is also important for us to note how this affective ownership relates to the modern concept of copyright as a legal and economic concept, instead of an intellectual one.