So, now that we've established how to read Tumblr and why the orthographic and syntactical choices are strange but impactful, the content of what you're going to find on Tumblr comes into play.
However!
While some of the things that Tumblr users discuss and reference fall into broad patterns, there really aren't any hard and fast rules about what you'll encounter on the site.
As I mentioned previously, Tumblr is split into subcategories and subcategories of those subcategories. The content is essentially as varied as any other content you might find on the internet.
But that doesn't really matter.
There are some common styles of representing content that is common across a great deal of Tumblr, creating a unified, common experience no matter where you end up on the site. In the end, it's the style rather than the content itself that is making meaning.
As I mentioned previously, Tumblr is split into subcategories and subcategories of those subcategories. The content is essentially as varied as any other content you might find on the internet.
But that doesn't really matter.
There are some common styles of representing content that is common across a great deal of Tumblr, creating a unified, common experience no matter where you end up on the site. In the end, it's the style rather than the content itself that is making meaning.
A) Intertextual references
Often, memes on Tumblr are short-lived, and it can be difficult to keep up with inside jokes. At times, this can play into the larger community-aspect of the website, since it allows for a small level of gatekeeping when the jokes are referential to other posts on Tumblr or on other parts of the internet. Most Tumblr users are fairly internet-savvy and can keep up. Other references aren't always a guaranteed inside joke though, and might reference something from history or pop culture. Content on Tumblr relies heavily on layered meaning and nuanced understanding to outside content, otherwise the meaning is lost.
B) Aesthetic
This might be the portion that most closely resembles dada-- both in terms of the collage work that can come from it, and also the nonsense that it depicts. The goal really isn't to interpret the content, it's more about humor or confusion or even just evoking an emotion or a reaction from the viewer. Like with a great deal of Tumblr, being sensical isn't really the goal.
Granted, the posts on Tumblr that are more concerned with falling into a certain aesthetic aren't necessarily collages, like on the left, though it is one of the more common stylings. Instead, Tumblr aesthetic is broad, ranging from excessive digital artifact and pixelation, to mishmash images paired with nonsense text, to styles from other decades, like 80s vaporwave.
Like with a great deal of Tumblr content, a focus on aesthetic seems to be a doorway in some regards for a breakdown of meaning. It's easy to laugh at, because sometimes it's an image of a politician kissing a lizard, but it's not simple to make sense of, since that was never really the purpose.
Like a great deal of other Tumblr content, too, Tumblr users are very aware that they are doing this and that it can come off as formulaic.
Granted, the posts on Tumblr that are more concerned with falling into a certain aesthetic aren't necessarily collages, like on the left, though it is one of the more common stylings. Instead, Tumblr aesthetic is broad, ranging from excessive digital artifact and pixelation, to mishmash images paired with nonsense text, to styles from other decades, like 80s vaporwave.
Like with a great deal of Tumblr content, a focus on aesthetic seems to be a doorway in some regards for a breakdown of meaning. It's easy to laugh at, because sometimes it's an image of a politician kissing a lizard, but it's not simple to make sense of, since that was never really the purpose.
Like a great deal of other Tumblr content, too, Tumblr users are very aware that they are doing this and that it can come off as formulaic.
C) "Relatable" Content
I put relatable in quotes above because, in all reality, there is nothing that should be relatable about some of this content. It's nonsense. It's garbage. It doesn't actually speak to some sort of universal truth. There's actually a phrase for this, where you and it's "shitposting."
Similar to the nonreality of the aesthetic that Tumblr users can sometimes strike, text posts can often inhabit the same nonreality. While this post on the left isn't traditional advice, more than 12,000 people have agreed that it is something that they'd be willing to endorse. Something about this content has struck these users as being advice worth sharing.
Similar to the nonreality of the aesthetic that Tumblr users can sometimes strike, text posts can often inhabit the same nonreality. While this post on the left isn't traditional advice, more than 12,000 people have agreed that it is something that they'd be willing to endorse. Something about this content has struck these users as being advice worth sharing.
For outsiders, this might be one of the most confusing elements of Tumblr.
Much of Tumblr's content, humorous and otherwise, comes back to mental illness and dysfunctional coping mechanisms. Knowing Tumblr's demographics and the prevalence of mental health issues among younger generations, it's not entirely unsurprising that this is viewed as being relatable content. The content not only satirizes the allegedly familiar feelings of depression and self-loathing, but it also plays on the behaviors that accompany them, such as sharing them (or oversharing them?) openly online or lifestyle changes.
To me, this is one of the largest markers of Tumblr being a community. I know for certain that not everyone that shared the post about depression has clinical depression, and yet they shared it anyway.
Much of Tumblr's content, humorous and otherwise, comes back to mental illness and dysfunctional coping mechanisms. Knowing Tumblr's demographics and the prevalence of mental health issues among younger generations, it's not entirely unsurprising that this is viewed as being relatable content. The content not only satirizes the allegedly familiar feelings of depression and self-loathing, but it also plays on the behaviors that accompany them, such as sharing them (or oversharing them?) openly online or lifestyle changes.
To me, this is one of the largest markers of Tumblr being a community. I know for certain that not everyone that shared the post about depression has clinical depression, and yet they shared it anyway.
So... what does it all mean? Or rather, how does it mean anything?
You pose a challenging question, Hypothetical Reader.
Ultimately, these rhetorical methods of communications — although nontraditional, often confusing or nonsensical, sometimes funny, and often surreal — make meaning through NOT making meaning. The unreality that they present, the silly shared orthographic elements, the way that Tumblr users convey themselves while working against communication norms, all of it builds a picture of a desire for fresh content,some humor, and a shared space for alternative self-expression.
That said, though -- this is not new.
Tumblr is not the first place to use nonsense for a purposeful communication, and this Original Content is not, in fact, Original Content.
Through surrealist art and art movements of the past, we've seen the same tactics used again and again to bring meaning to things that don't naturally have meaning. We inscribe what we want on what we see. We find people willing to interpret it in the same way, and we band together to make more nonsense together, understanding each other the whole time.
In essence, it's the same thing that the artists from the dada movement did.
Ultimately, these rhetorical methods of communications — although nontraditional, often confusing or nonsensical, sometimes funny, and often surreal — make meaning through NOT making meaning. The unreality that they present, the silly shared orthographic elements, the way that Tumblr users convey themselves while working against communication norms, all of it builds a picture of a desire for fresh content,some humor, and a shared space for alternative self-expression.
That said, though -- this is not new.
Tumblr is not the first place to use nonsense for a purposeful communication, and this Original Content is not, in fact, Original Content.
Through surrealist art and art movements of the past, we've seen the same tactics used again and again to bring meaning to things that don't naturally have meaning. We inscribe what we want on what we see. We find people willing to interpret it in the same way, and we band together to make more nonsense together, understanding each other the whole time.
In essence, it's the same thing that the artists from the dada movement did.