2. Scary clowns, really?
Clowns have long been a staple in circuses and other venues.; the image of
the clown is embedded in the psyches of children and adults all over the
globe. They are lighthearted, funny, and harmless.
Right?
I never thought much about clowns (though I hated and feared the Three
Stooges, who have clownlike attributes) but in the 1990s, I noticed that my
teenaged sons had not only an aversion to clowns, but a not so joking fear of
them. This attitude existed among their friends, as well. When I asked
why, there were two reasons: Stephen King’s miniseries IT and the movie
Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
These were teens who did not flinch at Night of the Living Dead or the
monster jumping out of the backseat of the car in Twilight Zone, the Movie.
So, why scary clowns?
3. After thinking about this issue, I concluded that the scare value is largely
based on the supposed “safety” of clowns; they are supposed to be
harmless, but seeing them in a different, scary venue is like your sweet old
granny turning on you. This is the same type of scare that I had as a child
when watching the movie Black Sunday wherein the young heroine is crying
by the bier of her father—the father has been turned into a vampire and
suddenly awakens to go after her.
If you cannot trust your father, whom can you trust? If clowns such as
Pennywise (It) are bloodthirsty killers and aliens LOOK like clowns but are
not harmless, can you trust any clown?
Since that time, I have met many other who are afraid of clowns, including
students in this class! On further research, I also found that this is not an
anomaly.
4. Studies Show . . .
It has been assumed that all children (and adults) everywhere like
clowns, but research shows otherwise; there is even a name for it:
coulrophobia, the fear of clowns and mimes (“What is Coulrophobia?”)
Other studies support the idea of scary clowns:
A study of children in hospitals concludes, “All 250 respondents, who ranged
in age from 4 to 16, thought clowns frightening—with the older patients
finding them particularly unnerving. Penny Curtis, a senior lecturer at
Sheffield, said, “We found that clowns are universally disliked by children.
Some found them quite frightening and unknowable” (“Study Reveals Kids’
Fear of Clowns”).
The studies suggest that children find the very “things” that make clowns
clownish are frightening: the make-up and clothing.
.
5. The trickster
Finding the mythic roots
of scary clowns is not as
simple as finding those of
vampires and
zombies, Clowns abound
in literature, but they are
not always called
“clowns.” Fools and
jesters are forerunners of
clowns—their purpose
was to amuse the king
and the nobility, and they
wore motley—precursors
to clown costumes.
6. The Joker has been a well known image for generations of card-players, and
the image is taken directly from court jesters. However, the joker is also an
adaptation from The Fool in the tarot deck.
Despite their titles, fools of the king were not always foolish. In King
Lear, the fool is the wisest person in the play. In Tennyson’s Idylls of the
King, the fool is the first character who sees trouble in Camelot and warns
Arthur—to no avail.
7. The Joker
The joker in Batman is no laughing matter—the most recent is much scarier
than the 1960’s TV series character played by Cesar Romero.
8. Loki: the Ultimate Trickster
In Greek myth, Hermes is a trickster, but his trickery (though frustrating) is
not of an “evil” bend; on the day he is born, he steals Apollo’s
cattle, covering up the theft by having the cows walk backwards.
In Norse myth, the trickster is Loki, and his shenanigans are much more
serious. Although Loki might not have been so maligned in early myth (he
and Odin are sometimes called “brothers” and Loki, a male mother, gives his
offspring, Sleipnir (an eight legged horse), to Odin. Loki’s nature takes a
turn for the worse, though, and not only is he responsible for the death of
Baldur, he refuses to cry for the dead god which prevents his resurrection.
Loki is a key figure in bringing about Ragnarok, the Destruction of the Gods.
9. Depictions of the Norse
gods from the time period in
which they were “active”
are difficult to find; in this
eighteenth century
rendition, his garb is closely
related to that of traditional
jesters/jokers.
10. However . . .
This class IS on MYTH and monsters, but as we have seen, modern myths
are often greatly changed—or evolved—from their roots. The clown is a
trickster like Loki, but has generally been cleaned up and made into a genial
character such as this guy:
11. Sadly, there are those who took advantage of this cleaned up image to lure
children into unspeakable horror and eventual death.
John Wayne Gacy as
Pogo, the Clown.
Earlier in the semester, I posed the question of whether people can be monsters
or if they “merely” commit monstrous acts. Gacy brings me back to my original
supposition that when the familiar, the accepted, and even the beloved, become
monstrous, it makes us question our ability to trust. Thus, Cujo, the family pet
becomes a monster (albeit not his fault)—is this harder to deal with than being
bitten by a stray?
12. Is Gacy any less scary than other clowns, or is because we know his nature
that makes him appear “evil”?
