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“This is so Vine coded”

Genre, nostalgia, and strategies of multimodal intertextuality on TikTok

 | University of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

This article was made Open Access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license through payment of an APC by or on behalf of the author.

Published online: 17 March 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00143.cal
Abstract
For several years, social media users have compared TikTok and the defunct short-video platform Vine through references to specific Vine videos and by attributing “Vine energy” to Vine-like tiktoks. Based on qualitative coding of 201 tiktoks and analysis of their comments, this article examines both discourse practices. I analyze how TikTok users create intertextual references to Vine and offer a taxonomy of communicative modes and platform features employed for multimodal cross-platform intertextual reference. I identify the semiotic features shared by tiktoks with “Vine energy,” which I argue constitutes a distinct short-form genre, and demonstrate that they are based on a partial collective memory of Vine. Using the framework of media(ted) nostalgia, I argue that fans’ positively biased participatory media texts have indelibly shaped how Vine is remembered on TikTok. Through my analysis I show that vine references and “Vine energy” comments both index “knowledgeable fan” identity and create affiliation between TikTok users through expression and recognition of shared knowledge.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical context
    • 2.1Short-video as genre
    • 2.2Multimodality
    • 2.3Intertextuality and media references
    • 2.4Media(ted) nostalgia, digital memory, and participatory fan media
  • 3.Data and methods
    • 3.1TikTok
    • 3.2Data collection
    • 3.3Data sets and analysis
      • 3.3.1Vine references
      • 3.3.2Vine energy
  • 4.Findings and analysis
    • 4.1Vine references
      • 4.1.1Explicit mentions of Vine
      • 4.1.2Vine knowledge required
      • 4.1.3Frequency of vine references
      • 4.1.4Vine references as pragmatic acts
    • 4.2Vine energy
      • 4.2.1“Vine energy” comment types
      • 4.2.2“Vine energy” video content
      • 4.2.3“Vine energy” comments as pragmatic acts
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
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