Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, TikTok has emerged as a pivotal platform, where creators utilize its compressed video formats to mediate the harsh realities of war zones. In this article, we examine 97 videos produced by 12 Ukrainian and Russian TikTok creators in response to the 2022 war in Ukraine. We focus on the playful embodiment of trauma using digital ethnography, analyzing creators’ practices and their interconnected memetic communication on TikTok. We identified the use of play through three dynamic practices where platforms, bodies, and trauma converge: (1) the utilization of POV (point-of-view) aesthetic in shareable templates to convey the realities of war from engaging first-person perspectives; (2) the incorporation of dance as a means of embodied creative expression and amplification of trauma; and (3) the harnessing of platform features to facilitate whimsical dialogues with followers about life under war. We argue that playfulness is entrenched in and enacted through platform vernacular modes, driving creators to forge communal ties during adversities and shape the ongoing representation of trauma and its accelerated visibility in digital spaces. We present the concept of playful trauma as a framework for understanding the structural dissonance that arises when creators utilize their bodies alongside platform-specific humorous, ironic, or subversive dialects to perform and amplify the gravity of trauma. This tension provides a unique space for creators to convert their shared experiences of grief and resilience into participatory coping mechanisms. In doing so, they subject and harness their playful platformed body as both the medium and the message, documenting injustices, bearing witness, and galvanizing crowds into action during times of war.

中文翻译：

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有趣的创伤：TikTok 创作者和战时平台化身体的使用


在俄罗斯入侵乌克兰期间，TikTok 已成为一个关键平台，创作者利用其压缩视频格式来调解战区的严酷现实。在本文中，我们研究了 12 名乌克兰和俄罗斯 TikTok 创作者为应对 2022 年乌克兰战争而制作的 97 个视频。我们专注于利用数字民族志来有趣地体现创伤，分析创作者的实践以及他们在 TikTok 上相互关联的模因交流。我们通过平台、身体和创伤汇聚的三种动态实践来确定游戏的使用：（1）在可共享模板中利用 POV（观点）美学，从引人入胜的第一人称视角传达战争现实； (2) 将舞蹈作为体现创造性表达和放大创伤的手段； (3) 利用平台功能促进与追随者就战争下的生活进行异想天开的对话。我们认为，游戏性是根深蒂固的，并通过平台白话模式来体现，促使创作者在逆境中建立社区联系，并塑造创伤的持续表现及其在数字空间中加速的可见性。我们将“有趣的创伤”的概念作为一个框架，用于理解当创作者利用他们的身体以及平台特定的幽默、讽刺或颠覆性方言来表演和放大创伤的严重性时，会出现结构性失调。这种紧张关系为创作者提供了一个独特的空间，将他们共同的悲伤和复原经历转化为参与性应对机制。在此过程中，他们将俏皮的平台身体作为媒介和信息，记录不公正现象，见证并激励人群在战争时期采取行动。