Humor is often considered a universal element of human communication, yet its expressions and interpretations are deeply embedded within specific cultural contexts. In the age of globalization and transnational media consumption, the cultural boundaries of humor have become increasingly relevant, particularly in the realm of international cinema. This paper explores the distinct mechanisms and cultural assumptions underlying humor in Chinese and Western comedy films. Drawing on humor theories such as incongruity theory and relief theory, as well as Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and Hall’s context theory, this study employs comparative textual analysis to examine selected representative films from both cultural spheres including Kung Fu Hustle (Stephen Chow), Hi, Mom (Jia Ling), Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson), and Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen). The analysis focuses on four major dimensions of humor: linguistic play, situational and physical comedy, sociocultural references, and audience reception. It reveals that while some comedic devices (e.g., slapstick and exaggeration) may cross cultural lines, others—such as wordplay, political satire, and culturally specific references—often result in misinterpretation or reduced comedic effect when transplanted across cultures. The findings suggest that comedy serves as a potent yet fragile tool of cultural expression, one that resists easy translation and adaptation. This study highlights the importance of cultural sensitivity in the global distribution of comedy films and offers implications for international film translation, media localization, and transnational audience engagement strategies.
Attardo, S. (1994). Linguistic theories of humor. Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter.
Bakhtin, M. M. (1984). Problems of Dostoevsky's poetics (C. Emerson, Trans.). University of Minnesota Press. (Original work published 1929)
Berry, C., & Farquhar, M. (2006). China on screen: Cinema and nation. Columbia University Press.
Chen, L., & Chang, K. (2024). A corpus-based approach to the reception of Chinese television dramas streamed overseas. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11, Article 417. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-02897-7
Chiaro, D. (Ed.). (2010). Translation, humor and the media: Volume 2. London, UK: Continuum.
Davies, C. (1990). Ethnic Humor Around the World: A Comparative Analysis. Indiana University Press.
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2018). The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research (5th ed.). Sage Publications.
Gibson, J. (2019). An Introduction to the Psychology of Humor. Routledge.
Hall, E. T. (1976). Beyond Culture. New York: Anchor Books.
Han, C. Q. (2015). The portrayal of family in early Chinese melodrama films. Critical Arts, 29(3), 419–436. https://doi.org/10.1080/02560046.2015.1059557
Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimensionalizing cultures: The Hofstede model in context. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1), 8. https://doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1014
Hoskins, C., & Mirus, R. (1988). Reasons for the US dominance in international trade in television programmes. Media, Culture & Society, 10(4), 499–515. https://doi.org/10.1177/016344388010004006
King, G. (2002). Film comedy. Wallflower Press.
Koivukoski, J. (2022). Political humor in the hybrid media environment: Studies on journalistic satire and amusing advocacy [Doctoral dissertation, University of Helsinki].
Kuipers, G. (2006). Good Humor, Bad Taste: A Sociology of the Joke. Mouton de Gruyter.
Li, L., & Deng, Z. (2016). Marketing via Micro-film in Chinese Academic Libraries. Libri, 66(3), 239 – 250. https://doi.org/10.1515/libri-2016-0030
Lionis, C. (2021). Humor and the Commodification of Suffering. Third Text, 35(5), 605–623. https://doi.org/10.1080/09528822.2021.1985250
Marsudi, Sampurno, M. B. T., Hasan, L. N., Kusumandyoko, T. C., & Julianto, I. N. L. (2024). Cross-Cultural Enchantment: Exploring the Role of Humor in Indonesian and Malaysian Comedy Films; [Encantamento intercultural: Explorando o papel do humor nos filmes de comédia da Indonésia e da Malásia]. E-Revista de Estudos Interculturais, 2024(12). https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85194286082&partnerID=40&md5=bfe42e401277a985fb4b501db3de8eac
Morreall, J. (2009). Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor. Wiley-Blackwell.
Mulyadi, M., Yusuf, M., & Siregar, R. K. (2021). Verbal humor in selected Indonesian stand up comedian’s discourse: Semantic analysis using GVTH. Cogent Arts and Humanities, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2021.1943927
Qorie, T., Subandi, S., Masrur, M. F., & Rudiansyah. (2025). Representation of feminism in the movie Hi, Mom! ???????? by Jia Ling. In Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Arts and Humanities 2024 (IJCAH 2024) (pp. 1279–1285). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-317-7_124
Stavovy, T. (2017). The evolution of psychoanalytic thought: A brief view through the lens of Western art and history: Freud and beyond. Australasian Psychiatry, 25(3), 239–242. https://doi.org/10.1177/1039856217690281
Szeto, M. (2007). The politics of historiography in Stephen Chow's "Kung Fu Hustle". Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media, (49). https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc49.2007/Szeto/
Tager, J. (2017). Kung Fu Hustle (2004) / An essay in film. Medium. https://medium.com/@jonathantager.jt/kung-fu-hustle-2004-a-film-review-72f600c27905
Vandaele, J. (2001). Humor in Translation. In The Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, edited by Mona Baker, 147–152. London: Routledge.
Yu, P. (2020). Translating humor using subtitles (Chinese to English) [Doctoral dissertation, Cardiff University]. ORCA Cardiff University. https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/141717/
Zhang, Y. (2015). “Stephen Chow’s Nonsensical Aesthetic: From Margins to Mainstream.” Journal of Chinese Cinematic Arts, 12(3), 88–104.
Zhu, P. (2019). Maoist laughter. Hong Kong University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvfc56nw
Zillmann, D., & Cantor, J. R. (1977). Affective responses to the emotions of a protagonist. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 13(2), 155–165.
Zolczer, P. (2014). Translating humor in audiovisual media. European Journal of Humor Research, 4(1), 76–92.
Lulu, Z., Sampurno, M. B. T., & Ismail, M. (2025). Cultural Boundaries in Humor Across Chinese and Western Comedy Films. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 15(6), 1163–1176.
Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s)
Published by Knowledge Words Publications (www.kwpublications.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
