Adaptive agency: the satire genre and the motives behind its use in the era of social media in China

Unlike previous studies analyzing the effect of being exposed to satire, this study adopts a meta-discursive approach to explore the generic features of Chinese satire and the underlying motives and reference frames behind satire use. Drawing on the satire scripts collected from 33 stand-up comedians, I integrated computer-aided topic modeling, discursive historical analysis, and semi-structured interviews to examine how the satirical target is constructed as well as the rationales behind the uses of satire. My findings suggest that most of the Chinese satire analyzed is related to micropolitics in personal social circles, such as gender norms, parent-child relationships, and employment conflicts. These satirical thoughts originate from the satirist's aversion to inconsistency between words and actions, the release of past trauma, and the performative presentation of morality. I further argue that these reference frames consistently manifest an adaptive agency that satirists simultaneously adapt to the rules while also reestablishing norms in an unconventional way.