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Article published In: Understanding Chinese Social Media
Edited by Sumin Zhao and Chaoqun Xie
[Internet Pragmatics 4:2] 2021
► pp. 272–294

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“The murderer is him ✓”

Multimodal humor in danmu video comments

 | Universitat Pompeu Fabra
 | Universitat Pompeu Fabra
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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.

Published online: 16 October 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00038.zha
Abstract
This paper analyzes humorous comments created through a popular viewing-and-commenting system used in China and Japan, known as danmu (or danmaku). This system enables its users to superimpose anonymous comments on the video frame, which are displayed in subsequent viewing. We collected 327 user-selected ‘funniest’ screenshots of comments from danmu video sharing sites. Using content and discourse analysis, we re-contextualized the comments and identified main mechanisms of humor. Results show that speakers make fun of the plot, characters and of each other, relating to the video frame, Chinese culture and Japanese fandom. They rely on non-aggressive but rather playful teasing, allusions and retorts, and apply multimodal resources such as color, layout, and symbols to enhance the humorous effect. Our study contributes to the emerging research focus on multimodal humor (. 2016. Humour and Relevance. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), social semiotics and a discursive approach to danmu-mediated communication.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Humor and the danmu language
  • 3.Multimodality and semiotic modes of danmu
  • 4.Data collection and analysis
  • 5.Constructing humor through multimodal resources
    • 5.1Making fun of the plot
    • 5.2Making fun of the characters
    • 5.3Making fun of each other
  • 6.Discussion and conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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