WARNING: The text you will read is about CLOWNS!!
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| (c) smithsonianmag |
Painted white faces, red lips, flowing back hairlines with bunch of wild hair, and —of course — the red foam nose. Fun for all ages, yet plenty of people are so scared of them. It is considered as coulrophobia, though that's not an official analysis. By definition, an excessive fear of clowns is known as coulrophobia, with the prefix "coulro" coming from the ancient Greek word for "one who goes on stilts." Indication of coulrophobia can include sweating, disgust, frightening, fast heartbeat, crying or screaming, and anger at being placed in a situation where a clown is present.
Clowns are often used for entertainment at birthday parties and in circus acts. They create a fun, humorous and happy environment. So why are some people deathly afraid of clowns? Searching for answers, I happened to find an article entitled, “The History and Psychology of Clowns Being Scary” written by Linda Rodriguez McRobbie in the website “Smithsonian.com”. The article discussed how and when the fear for clowns have started.
Though clowns started as jesters, jokers, and harlequins, they have their dark side. It is said that their comedy come from their starving appetites for food, sex, and drink, and their manic behavior. If that’s the case, I, myself would also be afraid of clowns. Just imagine someone that is either wearing a mask, or makeup that hides their features, who would not be very nervous?
The author also mentioned the sort of leading clown, starting from
(c) cultureallaroundman.com
around the 1830s, was a guy called [Jean-Gaspard] Deburau, who was the Pierrot clown - a silent figure, but very funny. In 1836, he actually killed a boy who insulted him in the street; he turned around and knocked the kid on the head with his walking stick. ‘ What a scary clown! ’, that’s all I can say. Have you ever imagine that a silent clown like him would do such thing and it’s just because of an insult?. As what he did, he do not act as a professional clown. Can’t just he forget that insult? And to think that his foe was just a boy. So this character represents the idea that there's something threatening, something scary, something strange going on underneath all of the makeup.
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| (c) muderpedia.org |
It is also stated that at the point where clowns are now solely children entertainment, here came John Wayne Gacy under thename Pogo who was convicted of 33 counts of murder and once a clown who would entertain at children parties, at hospitals and places like that. I think, that really take form exactly what was the sort of hidden fear that people had, that you know, someone that works with children in particular, who is this symbol of cheerfulness, symbol of fun and silliness and innocence, in which actually underneath can be something truly terrifying.
According to the article, “Why Are We Afraid of Clowns” by Krystal D'Costa in the website: “Scientific American”, there are five reasons why people actually fear /hate clowns. First in line, is by their masks or thick make up in which people see as a disguise displaying artificial emotions that perhaps hide their true feelings. For me it’s somehow true, just like I said earlier, anyone would be afraid of someone who is hiding his true identity not even knowing what he really want to do. Second,
“The facial disguise temporarily eliminated from social intercourse that part of the body through which, people have long believed, the individual’s personal feelings and attitudes are revealed or can be deliberately communicated to others. The face is the organ by which self and society carry on the largest portion of the communication in which they engage, not only linguistic communication but paralinguistic as well.”
People not only fear clowns based on what they see but also by how clowns behave which explains the third one. Clowns’ sense of humor at some point was not in appropriate manner with certain audiences. Sacred objects, events, or people, for instance. The fourth reason is associated with the social codes concerning humor. With their painted smiles, they urge the audience to laugh at the “neglected and improper elements” of social life. I strongly agree for this reason because truly some clowns are not aware on how they are able to influence their audience. Yes, making people laugh and see the brighter side of life is indeed a good one but encouraging them to make fun of anyone or anything is definitely wrong. The last reason is related to acting. The author had mentioned that if the actors chooses his role, does he chose to be “for darkness and subversion?”
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| (c) zedge.net |
I think at the end of the day, a lot of the fear of clowns actually comes back to the person covered by the makeup. And I think that's something that I saw quite a lot in every point in history, where there was someone who was miserable under their makeup, harmful under their makeup, ruthless under their makeup, and murderous under their makeup. Fear of clowns is a phobia that seems to be a small epidemic. A lot of people seem to have this phobia. Will it get worse or will it get better and will people a hundred years from now laugh at the idea? I guess we will have to wait and see.
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