ABSTRACT

Chapter 4 considers “Chat” posts from microblogging site Tumblr. On Tumblr, Chat posts are texts in which a single author represents a short interaction among imagined users, much like a playwright represents a monologue or a dialogue taking place between different characters. These artful verbal expressions are understood through Bakhtin’s notion of polyphony, as different voices are brought together to generate complex and dynamic meanings. Chapter 4 also considers the intertextual dimensions of Chats, by discussing the cultural products, practices, and larger social discourses most commonly drawn upon in their creation. The most popular of these Chats (which often receive hundreds of thousands of reblogs and/or “likes”) draw on a wide range of cultural references in order to create improbable, and often humorous, scenarios. Yet only those readers who share similar backgrounds and interests as the creator of the Chat - and are thus able to make the necessary cultural associations to interpret the Chat’s message - can understand the humorous dimensions of these digital texts. This chapter is organized thematically, by popular content or discourse strategies found in Chats, with separate sections addressing youth culture, register incongruity, popular and digital cultural references, and political themes.