It seems like fear of clowns, or a feeling that they’re creepy in some way, is pretty prevalent. I don’t mean simply a not liking of clowns, but a gut feeling or emotion that they’re unpleasant or creepy. I could just be getting a wrong impression, so really there’s two questions here;
Is a fear of/emotional dislike of clowns common?
If so, why?
I think the garish colors, distorted faces, etc., may play into it.
The fact that one mass serial killer in the U.S. seemed to be quite fond of them didn’t help matters any. However, my theory is that they are scary because they go through all that effort night after night and aren’t fucking funny at all. I wonder what inner demons drive them.
Can’t tell you why, but it’s made me stay in a restroom in a restaraunt for five minutes or so while four of them waited to be seated. (They came in while I was in there, and were waiting between me and my table. Everyone at the table thought it was Hi-Larious!)
I had to change rooms at Circus Circus due to the clown motif in the room. (My girlfriend at the time wanted to stay there.) They actually have rooms there with no clowns in them. When I went down to the desk to request a new rom, the clerk said this happens all the time!
Can’t explain it at all, but nothing makes me more uncomfortable than being in the same vicinity as a clown.
Ever read Stephen King’s It?
I dunno for sure, but check this out. One of the very early Ronald McDonald commercials.
Creepy, eh? There should be some videos on that scrolly thing on the right, but this one was the creepiest IMHO. Ronald’s come a long way.
Because clowns are Evil.
“To me, clowns aren’t funny. In fact, they’re kind of scary. I’ve wondered where this started and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus, and a clown killed my dad.”
Deep Thoughts By Jack Handy
IT’s Pennywise.
SPAWN’s Violator
BATMAN"s Joker
Clowns are bad news, m’kay?
In my case it’s because my father took me to a huge circus when I was four, but being highly sensitive and completely unprepared for the nature of the entertainment, not to mention the large crowd, I dissolved into sobs at the sight of two clowns coming near us, dressed as a toothbrush and toothpaste tube. It was so surreal, I just fell apart. I couldn’t stay for the rest of the show, we had to leave.
Clowns still give me the creeps. Smiles that don’t belong on the faces that bear them.
As with many of the world’s problems, it’s all Jerry Lewis’s fault.
Thanks for ruining my week with the creepy-ass video.
Yeah, I forgot to add, in addition to just looking bizarre, people presumably often encounter clowns for the first time as young children, in large, loud, crowded places, full of all kinds of fantastic sights and nonstop sensory overload, which can be quite scary.
I think that commercial really slid over into super creepy when the camera panned up from Ronald’s crotch there at the end.
-Lil
Agreed, and there’s just something macabe about the whole thing. Edgar Allen Poe anyone?
<Bart Simpson>Can’t sleep! Clown will eat me! Can’t sleep! Clown will eat me! Can’t sleep! Clown will eat me!</BS>
Clown humor rests on the perversion of the mundane; however, this twist on reality can just as often produce fear.
So … I can make you all fear me by confessing that I was once a clown?
Well, an amateur clown, for a short time, while in my teens. I was in a clown club, I think I still have my card packed away somewhere. Yes, I was a card-carrying clown. Most of the clowns in my club were retired people who just liked to go around to the pediatrics wards in hospitals or even nursing homes and try to brighten some people’s day. How is that creepy?
I didn’t do the big creepy mouth, but I had the big red nose. I was more of a minimalist clown, less gaudy and outlandish in makeup and costume. I even learned to make a balloon animal (a dog), but I always had trouble blowing up the balloons. It isn’t easy being a clown.
I got older and developed other interests and saw movies like It and Killer Klowns from Outer Space and decided that yes, clowns could be pretty creepy. Part of the problem is that most clowns won’t talk and if they see someone being all frowny they will try to cheer them up or make them laugh and they can be kind of relentless about it. Yes, that can be annoying and creepy even but it is usually well-intentioned. Make their day and laugh and they’ll move on to someone else. I guess a part of me still sympathizes with the clowns, who are mostly just nice normal people that want to make other people laugh*. The creepy, bad, serial killer clowns gave all clowns a bad name.
Shot through the heart
and Gacy’s to blame
He gave clowns a bad name.
Bad name.*
*[sub]But I’ll still turn around and run the other way if I’m walking down a dark alley and I see one coming my way, because clowns in dark alleys is just wrong. [/sub]
In addition, even clown movements are usually distorted. Everything is bigger and bolder.
Yes, I was a clown for a while, and no, not professionally. So many parents would shove their 3 year old at us, and expect a beaming smile. Instead they got tears and whimpers, as the little kid is confronted with this parody of a person. Wild hair, exaggerated features including huge mouths and noses. Strange flappy cloths and shoes. Wild gestures.
We learned that the best way to deal with this was to get down on the ground, and make only small gestures and movements. Lots of clowns/situations don’t allow for that. If that’s your introduction to clowns, I’m not really surprised so many kids are afraid of them.
John Wayne Gacy has nothing to do with my dislike of clowns.
Clowns are disfigured. Their facial attributes are grossly exaggerated. With many clown costumes, so are their bodies. And their behavior is suspect. So … put all that in the face of a four year old who is already teetering on the edge of sanity because of all the sights and sounds and SMELLS at the circus …
So yeah, I agree with the sensory overload theory in addition to the perceived perversity of the clown’s appearance to a child’s eyes.