Scherzen mit Bild und Text. Medienbilder und Mediendesign in komischen Verwendungszusammenhängen

Joking with Image and Text. Media Images and Media Design Used in Humoristic Contexts 

Based on the assumption that comicality is the result of a communicative and interactive game, an interpretation further developed by approaching the issue from the perspective of media linguistics, the paper examines structural patterns in humorous visual communication in the media. It demonstrates that the formal characteristics of images do not determine their aptitude as an element of a humorous contribution: comicality results from the interplay of images originally created in non-comical contexts and texts that are later added. The device is not new; it emerged together with photomontage in the early 20th century. Due to the easily accessible treatment of images, recent times have seen a downright explosive (“viral”) spreading of this type of humorous communication on the internet. In order to understand the meaning of satirical or humoristic contributions the relevant visual and textual elements must correlate. Formal characteristics are less significant for satire and jokes than the way in which the original elements were initially intended and the function they have in the context of the new contribution.