Creepy clowns have been talked about quite often lately. This began, perhaps, in August last year, when reports of people disguised as these ominous characters spread throughout the United States and some other countries and caused a real wave of panic.
In the early fall of this year, clowns came to our television screens: in the series American Horror Story. The cult "the main character suffers from coulrophobia (a panic fear of everything connected with these characters), and about the remake of the legendary film adaptation of Stephen King's novel" It "has already been said a lot, and probably everyone already knows that the film deserves attention.
However, why exactly have clowns become the theme for so many horror works? Aren't they cute and friendly creatures designed to bring fun? Not at all, as Benjamin Redford, American writer and author of Bad Clowns, will assure us. Here's what he says: “It is a mistake to ask when clowns in our pop culture got bad. The thing is, they were never good."
Who is a trickster?
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The trickster (trickster and deceiver) is an ancient archetype, and its origins can even be found in the Bible. Think about Satan, this is exactly the case. A trickster can be both funny and scary, and he (as a rule, it is "he", not "she") knows how to lie in such a way that no one knows about the deception. The clown is one of the incarnations of the trickster, and it also has a pretty impressive history. So, the first mention of clowns refers to the Italian comedies del arte, widespread in the 16th century. Then a characteristic character appeared in them, which became the prototype of clowns - the harlequin.
Harlequin and Puppet Punch
The Harlequin was known for his colorful masks and diamond-patterned clothing, and he often acted as the comical immoral servant in plays with which the actors toured throughout Europe.
These plays inspired the British to create a puppet named Punch, the first mention of which dates back to the 17th century. This character later appeared in the play Punch and Judy, where he jokes, beats his wife, and eventually kills their common child.
“Punch is a brilliant and charismatic character,” says Benjamin Redford, “but he is also a terrible monster. And such heroes have existed in literature and dramatic art for a long time. There are works for people of different ages, in which such characters appear, they are able to interest both children, adolescents, and adults. And it is this mixture of ostentatious gaiety and perceived danger on a subconscious level that attracts the public."
Bad clowns in literature and cinema
Frightening clowns continued to appear in European culture throughout the 19th century.
Charles Dickens' novel The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1836) tells of an alcoholic clown, while a French play written in the 1880s and an Italian opera created in the 1890s tell about killer clowns (the authors of one of the works, by the way, they were accused of plagiarism).
The frightening characters later made their way to America. So, in 1924, the silent film "The One Who Gets a Slap" was released, and its hero was a vengeful clown.
A decade and a half later, a prankster villain named Joker makes his debut in the Batman comics.
Good clowns in TV commercials
Then times changed. In the 50s and 60s, television introduced viewers to clowns who were funny and gave a good mood to everyone around.
"Ronald McDonald began to appear in television commercials frequently at this time, and he spread the image of the happy clown throughout the country," says Redford. - The same goes for Bozo the clown. These characters really helped change the perception of the previously negative image."
Real maniacs and criminals and the dancing clown Pennywise
By the early 80s, however, clowns were again perceived differently, and this is due to the name of John Wayne Gacy, a maniac who disguised himself as a clown named Pogo to lure children and teenagers.
Then there was the novel "It" by Stephen King, in which the dancing clown Pennywise appears as a terrible murderer hunting children. The book was published in 1986, and in 1990 it was filmed, and this reinforced in the minds of people an ominous image of a clown who should be feared. In 2013, for example, there were reports in the British press that a man dressed like a clown was wandering in Northampton and shouting quotes from the movie It. It turned out to be a 22-year-old boy with behavioral problems.
American events in 2016 were also associated with the image of the creepy clown Pennywise, invented by King. While the Horror King was not the one who invented this frightening image, he definitely influenced global pop culture, and perhaps made some of us paranoid.
Irina Andreeva
