Coulrophobia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The pathological fear of clowns is called coulrophobia . Some children are afraid of clowns because they look and behave differently than they know. Occasionally, this fear can also be found in adults.

Word origin

The word is supposedly composed of the Greek terms κῶλον kōlon (limb, extremity) and φόβος phóbos (fear, terror). A κωλοβαθριστής kōlobathristē´s (from κωλόβαθρον - stilt, from κῶλον and βαίνω baínō - I go) was - like a clown - an entertainer on stilts (stilt walkers).

The name seems to be more recent and does not come from scientific sources. Internet sources date the term's appearance to the 1980s or 1990s, and it appears more frequently in printed sources from the late 1990s.

reasons

Adults' fear of certain clown characters is mainly due to the heavily made-up faces of these clowns. This fear is probably rooted in simple reasons: All people feel uncomfortable, even fearful, if they cannot recognize the facial features of their counterpart and thus assess: is it good to approach me or is it better to keep my distance? The painted smile can be perceived as artificial and thus false and the clown can be assumed to have questionable motivations . Even if the fear of clowns is based on the mask-like make-up and flashily dressed figures from the circus, it can also be transferred to other types of clowns. Because almost all clowns are made up and behave differently from usual social norms . They sometimes seem unpredictable, which can lead to uncertainty and discomfort for the viewer.

In this context, reference is often made to a study by the English University of Sheffield - often cited in the wrong context. In 2008, under the direction of Prof. Penny Curtis, the scientists wanted to check whether the decoration of children's wards in hospitals is suitable for children. In this context, 255 children between the ages of four and 16 were taken to children's wards. There were also pictures of clowns who were made up like masks like in a circus. These pictures were chosen by adults. The children didn't find the portraits funny, some were frightened. These few pictures were only one aspect of many parts of the decoration. So the University of Sheffield has never shown that children are fundamentally afraid of clowns. That was never the subject of the study.

Popular culture

Clowns as dark, evil beings have increasingly appeared in popular culture since the mid-1980s. In the mid-2010s, there were horror clown incidents worldwide . Although the real sense of clowns is supposed to represent the humorous entertainment of the audience, similar to the medieval court jesters , clowns are now also represented the opposite. Circus clowns, whose facial expressions are hardly recognizable due to the mask-like make-up, always serve as the basis for this. That and their strange clothes encourage fear and at the same time serve as a masquerade to hide, scare people or commit crimes. These "black" clowns are known as "horror clowns" and represent the negative opposite of the otherwise harmless clowns in circuses, variety shows or clinics.

In Stephen King's 1986 novel It , the monster appears in the form of the clown Pennywise . The book was made into a film in 1990 under the title Stephen King's It . Other early films that portrayed clowns as evil were Space Invaders (Original title: Killer Clowns from Outer Space , 1988) and Clownhouse .

The motif of the evil, fear-spreading clown was later used many times, the character of the Joker , arch enemy of Batman , which had existed since the 1940s , in the Batman films first by Jack Nicholson in Batman (1989) and then by Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (2008) embodied. The demon Violator in the comic series Spawn (made into a film in 1997 ) often appears in the form of a malicious clown.

Another example of the horror clown is the character played by John Carroll Lynch , Twisty the Clown in the fourth season of the television series American Horror Story . The popularity of the series caused the association organization Clowns of America International to protest, formulated by its president Glenn Kohlberger: "We do not support any media in any way or form that exploit coulrophobia or contribute to its spread."

In the US crime series Bones, one of the main characters, the otherwise cold-tempered FBI agent Seeley Booth, suffers from coulrophobia. One episode is mainly about this phobia; further episodes touch on this topic, but use the humorous aspect of this fear of clowns .

The crime series Navy CIS: LA also addresses this phobia: Special Agent Sam Hanna, one of the main characters, frequently mentions his coulrophobia.

In the English crime series Inspector Barnaby , the second leading role, John Barnaby, also has an irrational fear of clowns.

In the series Supernatural , one of the protagonists, Sam Winchester, also has coulrophobia. The phobia is also the subject of several episodes.

In the horror comedy Zombieland from 2009, the main character Columbus reports at the beginning that he suffers from coulrophobia. In the end, he has to kill a zombie clown of all people to save his friends.

Another typical example of the “horror clown” is an amateur video that appeared on YouTube in mid-May 2014 , in which a killer clown is shown who scares unsuspecting passers-by by “killing” a person in front of them or even threatening to attack passers-by. The reactions of passers-by are filmed using a hidden camera. The video with the title "Killer Clown Scare Prank!" Received almost 13 million views in just half a month. Also in the area of ​​internet phenomena are the appearances of the Wascoclown in Wasco , California, who documented his short appearances on an Instagram account and found numerous imitators all over the United States who posted their clown photos on twitter under the hashtag #wascoclown .

Clown picture of serial killer John Wayne Gacy

One clown for whom fear would have been a perfectly legitimate reaction was the American serial killer John Wayne Gacy , who, as Pogo the clown , used to entertain children at street parties in a self-made costume. He also raped and murdered at least 33 young men and was executed for these acts in 1994. During his 14-year imprisonment, he painted numerous clown pictures, which he sold through auctions and fetched prices of up to $ 20,000.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Creepy Northampton clown terrifying residents by standing around on street corners staring at passers-by. belfasttelegraph.co.uk, accessed October 23, 2013 .
  2. ↑ John G. Robertson: An Excess of Phobias and Manias. Senior Scribe Publications, 2003, ISBN 0-9630919-3-X , p. 62.
  3. ^ Coulrophobia in the Online Etymology Dictionary .
  4. ↑ coulrophobia in Google's Ngram Viewer
  5. ↑ Ulrich Fey: Views of a Clown. In: FAZ. October 19, 2016, accessed October 25, 2016 (for a fee).
  6. ↑ Sarah Gray: America's largest clown club is very upset about this scary clown on “American Horror Story”. In: Salon.com , October 15, 2014.
  7. ↑ This becomes clear for the first time, initially surprisingly, in episode 6 of season 20 A Murderous Circus , where Barnaby attends a circus performance and has to deal with clowns in the course of the investigation.
  8. ↑ YouTube video “Killer Clown Scare Prank!” Youtube.com, accessed on May 30, 2014 (without, language).
  9. ↑ Oliver Pohlisch: Views of evil clowns. In: The daily newspaper . October 25, 2014.
  10. ↑ Christoph Gunkel: mass murderer behind the clown mask. In: Spiegel Online . March 13, 2010.