Bad clown

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Bad clown in the narrower sense denotes a concept in storytelling and a characteristic of the character of the clown . In a broader sense, it describes a social phenomenon, the horror clown phenomenon (there also the terms horror clown or horror clown ). Although the clowns are by their origin comic performers and are intended to amuse and entertain people, the image of the evil clown has developed in pop culture by counteracting the playful trope of the clown through the use of horror elements and black humor .

designation

The figure of the evil clown, engl. evil clown , also (psycho-) killer clown , creepy clown or scary clown , has been a stereotype of American pop culture since the 1980s , which the Swiss artist-biographer Richard Weihe based on the white clown ( Harlequin , Pierrot : serious and intelligent) and the red clown (stupid August: warm-hearted and stupid) called "black clown" (occasionally also "gloomy clown": malicious, threatening), as "the monster turned clown", as the "type of evil, murderous killer clown ", its level of popularity "With potent sponsorship from Hollywood" is now greater than that of lovable clowns.

Origins

Enrico Caruso as the murderous Canio in Pagliacci

The origin of the modern archetype of the evil clown is unclear. The type appears during the 19th century, for example in works like Edgar Allan Poe's Hop-Frog , which Jack Morgan of the University of Missouri-Rolla believes originated in the Bal des Ardents , a disaster in 1393 in the French Royal court is to be sought.

Evil clowns also occupy a small niche in the drama , appearing in La femme de Tabarin , a work by Catulle Mendès from 1874, and in Ruggero Leoncavallo 's Pagliacci , which is said to be a plagiarism of Mendès' play; both work with the character of the evil clown.

The modern character of the evil clown was made popular by Stephen King's novel It , published in 1986 and made into a film in 1990 under the title Stephen King's It . Another expression is associated with the American serial killer and rapist John Wayne Gacy, arrested in 1978 , who became known as the killer clown after it was revealed that he had entertained children at parties and other events as Pogo the clown . Gacy had not committed the crimes while wearing the costume.

The evil clown archetype plays with the feeling of aversion that is one of the hallmarks of the anxiety disorder coulrophobia . Joseph Durwin argues that "the concept of the evil clown" plays an additional role in pop culture; “The widespread hostility” it evokes is a cultural phenomenon that cannot be explained by a phobia alone.

A study by the University of Sheffield concluded that “clowns are generally not liked by children. Some found them quite terrifying and aloof. ”The reason may be that the type of clown makeup hides their faces, making them a threat with the disguise; and a California State University psychology professor , Northridge , notes that young children are "very reactive to familiar bodies with unfamiliar faces." This natural aversion to clowns makes the evil clowns effective in a literary or fictional context as is desirable for the clown's perceived antagonistic threat in a villainous character.

The American skeptic Benjamin Radford, who published the work Bad Clowns in 2016 and is considered an expert in this field, writes that clowns have been viewed throughout history as tricksters, fools and much more, but that they were always in control and could afford to to speak their mind openly. When writing Bad Clowns , Radford suggested that professional clowns in general don't like bad clowns very much. They regard them as "the rotten apple in the barrel, the ugly sight and smell of which makes the rest of the apples suspicious" and do not want to promote and propagate coulrophobia. Yet, as Radford discovered, there have been evil clowns throughout history: the Harlequin , the King's Fool, and Pulcinella . Radford argues that the evil clowns "have the ability to adapt to the times," and that the modern evil clown, for example, has evolved into an internet troll . They may no longer wear clown costumes, but they still interact with people for their own entertainment, insulting, teasing or saying what they think is the truth, often like the court jester and clowns dip the "human weakness" of theirs Taking advantage of victims. Radford says that while evil clowns permeate the media in movies, TV, music, comics, and more, the number of “good clowns” outweighs the bad. Research shows that most people are not afraid of clowns and actually like them, and that the evil clowns are "the exception and not the rule."

Interpretations

The concept of the evil clown is related to the irrational fear of clowns known as coulrophobia . The cultural critic Mark Dery theorized the postmodern archetype of the evil clown in the Cotton Candy Autopsy: Deconstructing Psycho-Killer Clowns chapter of his book The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink .

In the era of pop culture, the image of the crazy or deviant clown is often painted. Dery analyzed various characters: "Pogo the Clown", played by serial killer John Wayne Gacy ; the obscene clowns of the "Cacophony Society", a group of the Situationist International ; the character Joker (in Batman ); the grotesque art of RK Sloane; the sick and funny Bobcat Goldthwait comedy Shakes the Clown and "Pennywise" the dancing clown in Stephen King's It .

With the help of Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of the carnival scene, analytical psychology and historical writings on the images of the fool in myth and history and on the mixing of ecstasy and fear in the information age, Dery claims that the evil clown is an icon of our time. Clowns are often portrayed as murderous psychopaths in haunted American houses.

Wolfgang M. Zucker points out the similarities between the appearance of a clown and the cultural representations of demons and other infernal creatures, noting the clown's chalk-white face, in which the eyes almost disappear while the mouth is enlarged to a macabre appearance, like the mask of death.

Modern legends and incidents

Phantom clowns

The corresponding modern saga of the evil clown we meet in reality is known as "Phantom Clowns". It was first reported in Brookline , Massachusetts in 1981 that men dressed as clowns tried to lure children into a van. The fear of such clowns spread across the US in the Midwest and Northeast . The phenomenon emerged in Phoenix, Arizona in 1985, West Orange, New Jersey in 1991, and Honduras in 1995. Later sightings included Chicago, Illinois, in 2008. The explanations for this phenomenon range from Stephen King's book It, to the criminal acts of serial killer John Wayne Gacy , to contemporary fears of ritual violence . No adult or police officer had ever seen the evil clowns, although a rogue called " Northampton Clown " was cited as an example of a real evil clown. More complaints of evil clowns have been reported in France and the United States, possibly inspired by the American Horror Story: Freak Show .

Murder of Marlene Warren

In Wellington , Florida, on May 26, 1990, Marlene Warren opened her front door to a brown-eyed clown who was carrying flowers and balloons. He shot her in the face and drove off in a white Chrysler LeBaron . The murder was solved after 27 years with the help of modern DNA technology. So it turns out that the perpetrator was Sheila Keen, who is said to have been the lover of the victim's husband at the time of the crime.

"Horror clown" attacks

In the course of 2016 there were a number of incidents in the USA in which perpetrators dressed as clowns ambushed passers-by. Sometimes the clowns left it to frighten their victims, in other cases, however, violent attacks occurred. The phenomenon soon spread from America to Europe. In Germany there were several incidents in which so-called "killer" or "horror clowns" committed serious crimes. The topic was subsequently also taken up by the media.

Selection of depictions of evil clowns

  • Pennywise, a character in Stephen King's novel It . Pennywise is portrayed in the film adaptation (1990) by Tim Curry and in the remake (2017) by Bill Skarsgård .
  • Joker , Batman's opponent, whose main features are the chalk-white skin, green hair, red lips and a permanent grin. Allegedly the appearance was caused by a chemical bath; he is also portrayed in various appearances as a murderous and sadistic psychopath.
  • Poltergeist , a 1982horror filmdirected by Tobe Hooper , features a clown doll in some scenes. In the finale of the film, the doll is seized by a demon and tries to strangle the film character Robbie Freeling.
  • In the 1988 film Killer Klowns from Outer Space , aliens in the form of murderous clowns attack a small American town.
  • In the 1978 film Halloween - The Night of Horror and the 2007 remake , Michael Myers murdered his older sister Judith Myers while dressed as a clown. In Halloween IV , Michael's niece, Jamie Lloyd, wears a clown costume when she stabs her mother-in-law with scissors.
  • Captain Spaulding, a gas station operator, museum guard and patriarch of the murderous Firefly family, portrayed in the Rob zombie film House of 1000 Corpses and the sequel The Devil's Rejects . Captain Spaulding is played by the actor Sid Haig .
  • "Crazy" Joe Da Vola's portrayal of Pagliaccio in the Seinfeld episode The Opera Cards .
  • In the song Nightmare by the Nina Hagen Band , which appeared on the album Unbehagen in 1979 , the lyrical ego threatens the person addressed in the song to appear in the form of a clown and to abuse him.
  • Shakes, a depressed, alcoholic clown who is accused of murder and who in the movie Clowns - Your Laughs Bring the Death of Bobcat Goldthwait into conflict with other clowns.
  • Laughing Jack is a creepypasta figure in the form of a small doll that looks like a clown. The doll is given to Isaac Grossman as a Christmas present by a guardian angel. However, Jack becomes angry and sadistic as the story progresses, and eventually kills Isaac for neglecting him. Then he sets out to kill more.
  • Red Bastard , a bouffon , created and played by Eric Davis .
  • Shawn Crahan , also known as the clown from the metal band Slipknot .
  • The bike doctor in the movie Pee-Wee's Crazy Adventure , a vicious clown disguised as a doctor who destroys Pee-Wee Herman's beloved bike after pretending to fix it.
  • Dimentio is a megalomaniac clown and the main antagonist of Super Paper Mario , who often makes sadistic jokes in the presence of the heroes and secretly insults his master and his colleagues and only seeks loyalty to control the so-called chaos heart so that he can end all life and can rebuild the whole world according to his own ideas and with him as king.
  • Violator, a demon from Hell who takes on the appearance of a bald, middle-aged man with faced paint and who is an enemy of Spawn in the Todd McFarlane comic book .
  • The members of the rap group Insane Clown Posse , Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope , pose as evil clowns.
  • The second season of the US TV series Supernatural features an episode about Rakshasa , an ancient Indian demon whose main disguise is a clown costume that he uses in a circus, where he works as a blind knife thrower under his human form to follow kids home and eat their parents.
  • Doink the Clown , a professional wrestling character portrayed by a number of wrestlers. He is often portrayed as being malicious, playing nasty pranks, and cheating in unusual ways.
  • Kefka Palazzo , an antagonist from the video game Final Fantasy VI , a psychopath with the outfit and demeanor of a crazy fool.
  • The Robot Clowns, led by the creepy human chief clown. The figure comes from the Doctor Who episodes The Death Manege on Segonax (1988/89).
  • Frenchy the Clown, the title character in National Lampoon's Evil Clown Comics , released in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Others

As part of the Erlangen Comic Salon , the exhibition Böse Clowns_reloaded took place from April to June 2016 in the art palace of the Huguenot city . Well-known personalities of the genre as well as the figure of the evil clown in various art styles were shown.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Manuela Nyffenegger: Horror clowns cause horror: The abysses behind the clown mask In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of November 3, 2016
  2. ↑ Mark Dery: The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink . Grove / Atlantic, Incorporated, December 1, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8021-9612-5 , p. 66.
  3. ^ David Carlyon: The Education of a Circus Clown: Mentors, Audiences, Mistakes . Palgrave Macmillan US, Jan 28, 2016, ISBN 978-1-137-54743-9 , p. 8.
  4. ↑ Janet M. Davis: The Circus Age: Culture and Society under the American Big Top . Univ of North Carolina Press, October 15, 2003, ISBN 978-0-8078-6149-3 , p. 178.
  5. ^ Matthias Christians: Gloomy clowns. Figures of horror in the cinema of transgression . In: Richard Weihe (ed.): About the clown: artistic and theoretical perspectives . transcript, April 2016, ISBN 978-3-8394-3169-6 , p. 233.
  6. ↑ Constantin von Barloewen in conversation with Rafiu Raji and Richard Weihe: The clown as a constructive anarch. Reflections on the dialectic of the clown . In: Richard Weihe (ed.): About the clown: artistic and theoretical perspectives . transcript, April 2016, ISBN 978-3-8394-3169-6 , p. 141.
  7. ^ Edgar Allan Poe: Hop-Frog. 1849 ( Wikisource ).
  8. ↑ Jack Morgan: The biology of horror. Gothic literature and film . Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale 2002, ISBN 0-585-46461-8 , pp. 41-42 ( books.google.de ).
  9. ↑ Catulle Mendès: La femme de Tabarin. Tragi parade . Librairie Charpentier et Fasquelle, 1904, OCLC 35656414 , p. 1–34 (first edition: 1895).
  10. ^ Konrad Claude Dryden: Leoncavallo. Life and works . Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Md 2007, ISBN 0-8108-5880-0 .
  11. ↑ Terry Sullivan, Peter T. Maiken: The John Wayne Gacy murders . In: Killer clown . Pinnacle, New York City 2000, ISBN 0-7860-1422-9 .
  12. ↑ Joseph Durwin: Coulrophobia and the Trickster . In: Trinity University (Ed.): Trickster's Way . 3, No. 1, San Antonio, November 15, 2004, ISSN  1538-9030 . Article 4. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
  13. ↑ Health | Hospital clown images 'too scary' '' . BBC News. January 15, 2008. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  14. ↑ Finlo Rohrer: Why are clowns scary? , BBC News. January 16, 2008. 
  15. ↑ Trinity.edu . Trinity.edu. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  16. ^ A b Benjamin Radford: Bad clowns . 1st edition. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque 2016, ISBN 978-0-8263-5666-6 .
  17. ↑ Ben Radford: Recent scary clown trend nothing new, expert said . October 15, 2016. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
  18. ↑ Mark Dery: Pyrotechnic insanitarium. American culture on the brink. Grove Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-8021-3670-2 ( books.google.co.uk ).
  19. ^ The Clown as the Lord of Disorder . In: Theology Today . October 1967. Retrieved January 2, 2012.
  20. ^ A b Jan Harold Brunvand: Encyclopedia of Urban Legends . WW Norton & Company, 2002, ISBN 0-393-32358-7 , pp. 313–315 ( books.google.de - Restricted preview).
  21. ↑ a b c d Robert E. Bartholomew, Benjamin Radford: The Martians Have Landed! A History of Media-Driven Panics and Hoaxes . McFarland, 2011, ISBN 978-0-7864-8671-7 , pp. 105-109 ( books.google.com ).
  22. ↑ John Squires: Real Life Evil Clown Terrorizing Town in England! . In: Dread Central . September 18, 2013. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
  23. ↑ Michael Howard: France Joins The Creepy Clown Hysteria . In: Esquire . October 27, 2014. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
  24. ↑ "Cold Case" - The "Killer Clown" who made a mistake. welt.de , September 29, 2017, accessed on August 2, 2020 .
  25. ↑ Stephen King: It . Viking Press , New York City 1986, ISBN 0-451-16951-4 .
  26. ↑ Newsstand on-sale date April 25, 1940 per: The first ad for Batman # 1 . DC Comics. Archived from the original on February 22, 2001. Retrieved October 23, 2006.
  27. ↑ Evil Clowns_reloaded. Kunstpalais Erlangen , 2016, accessed on November 19, 2016 .
  28. ↑ Böse Clowns_reloaded: Exhibition in the Kunstpalais Erlangen. YouTube , April 25, 2016, accessed November 19, 2016 .