Blogpost 1: Clown Ideas - An Introduction

During children's birthday parties, parents never neglect to invite clowns who will entertain their guests, not just the kids but also the adults. Children were very amused by their rainbow colored, curly hair ; big, red nose; thick, white powder on their face; colorful costumes and most especially by their big smiles. They act as if they were foolish persons - they do slapstick, pie throwing, falling down stumbling and physical humor. They also do magic tricks and juggling stunts. Others tell silly jokes and still, others use puppets. All of them have one common goal: they always try to make people laugh. But do you ever wonder where they came from? or when they actually exist?


We would expect to begin with a clear definition of the field of study. But defining what clown is, is not a straight-forward matter. Just about everyone has ideas, assumptions or opinions about clowns, they themselves certainly do. There is a surprising variety of ideas around about clowns, especially when you start looking beyond your time and place. As I was browsing the net, I found an article entitled, "History of Clowning" written by Jonathan Baker in the website"Donimo". The article caught my attention because of the fact that clowns were not just entertainers but also social and political critiques.

According to the article, way back medieval period when jesters and fools emerge. They function as entertainers as well as a disciplinarian of their tribes, making policies and maintaining orders. Strange right? from being an artist to being an officer. How can they be respected and followed by everyone if they do foolish things? Maybe that's because clowns also portray a role as one of religious persons who opened up the tribe to the Gods and to the great spirits. It is mentioned that clowns can also be a shaman because they believe that Gods had given power to the clowns to cure their diseases. Although clowns have these roles, there's this tribe called "Cheyenne Tribe" who had an opposite behavior as what the usual clowns do: walk around on their hands, ride horses backwards and shoot arrows backwards over their shoulders. Knowing this tribe, I assumed that they made the first step on how clowns performed today or rather inspired our clowns to do foolish things.

Could you imagine a clown being an interpreter? or Could do things that only those in high level of hierarchy can? The author mentioned how clowns played a vital role in religious lives of the ancient societies. The epic stories of  " Mahabrata" and "Ramayana" which were only gods, kings, ministers, generals and sages can express, a hero serf clown so called Viduska can also convey Prakrit, the language of the general population, thereby making one of the clowns objective is  to be an interpreter. Now, clowns do have many purpose in their live, not just being a merely entertainer but many things ahead.

The article brought up that during the monarchy of Queen Elizabeth clowning was already a theatrical form. It is said that English clown plays the character of a medieval mystery and a roguery who could sometimes beat even the devil. This maybe gives the idea why today, clowns are known as evils rather than the happy ones. The author also stated how Shakespeare wrote a theatrical performance for the Lord Chandlers in which William Kemp was the front clown who first appeared before the troupe.

The article stated how Joseph Grimaldi became one of the fathers of modern clowning. I was impress and moved on what Grimaldi did just to pursue his passion and dreams. He even performed on stage back when he was three years old. Growing up in a theater made him finer and greater as he take in the live action road runner cartoon character type routines with chase scenes. And by then, he advance the whiteface into a staring role replacing Harlequin.

(c) featurepics

Baker stated that, " Clowns have always reminded us that we are human and vulnerable and they transform the frightening into the funny, anesthetizing pain and keeping our minds and hearts open."

Now that I have known the history of clown itself, I have seen how the clowns evolve- from being a jesters and fools to having an important in the social and religious life of the tribe then engaging in a theater, Commedia del Arte, and finally entering the world of circus. I agree that clowns reminded us that we are human and vulnerable; making us feel stronger that even though we have problems in life, we still manage to smile.

Thus, I can say that we really have misconceptions about them. Talking about misconceptions, I was quite confused to the different clowns that I am able to see everywhere. And just for a little while, I happened to found an article entitled, "The Clown Hierarchy" by Craig Gustafson in the "Craig Gustafson's Theater Résume". It talks about the different types of clown- Whiteface, Auguste, Tramp, and Ringmaster; and their differences. Of all the four types stated in the article, the tramp is my favorite one. Though he is innocent and quiet at times, he still make the people laugh through his magic ability. Like the tramp, I used to work in silence but that doesn't mean that I am not or cannot be as jolly as others do. Though I don't have magic ability, I can be a funny clown around my friends.

Thinking about what I have read about in this two articles, I realized that clowns travel through time. Clowning started even before, back in the ancient times, and indeed they had played a vital role in the history and still making new ones. I was very amazed by how clowns are able to break free from the dramatic tension they create. Their own feelings, those of their partners and of the audience do not restrict them. Clowning shows us how vain and hopeless are the efforts to success. It is through failure that clowns show their wisdom. They show us that happiness is possible without necessarily conforming to the norms of beauty, of self-control and of logical intelligence shown by the Whiteface. And it is when one realizes that he/she doesn't laugh at clowns but through them.