Clowns and their kin

Monsters or misunderstood?

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?

Scary clowns, really?

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.

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.

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Studies Show . . .

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.

The trickster

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.

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.

The Joker

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.

Loki: the Ultimate Trickster

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.

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:

However . . .

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?

Is Gacy any less scary than other clowns, or is because we know his nature that makes him appear “evil”?

Boo

“Study Reveals Kids’ Fear of Clowns.” Finding Dulcinea. Finding Dulcinea. 20 Jan. 2002. Web. 15 Nov. 2012 <http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/ entertainment/Study-Reveals-Kids--Fear-of-Clowns.html>.

“What is Coulrophobia?” WiseGeek. WiseGeek. N.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2012 <http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-coulrophobia.htm>.

Works cited