Can't sleep, clown'll eat me

[vovat]

Is there any real explanation for the fear of clowns? Is it just that all things that kids are supposed to find cute will inevitably be creepy to someone? Is it because a lot of clown tricks are kind of mean (you know, like pies in the face and custard in the pants)? Or is it like how The Polar Express was unsettling because something that looks mostly human but with some minor things wrong is more disturbing than something that obviously isn't human? I don't know. Nor do I know exactly how the idea of evil clowns (Stephen King's Pennywise, Batman's Joker, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Kefka, Captain Spaulding, etc.) came about. I've never been a big fan of clowns, mostly because I've always been more into verbal comedy than the physical sort. I have a childhood memory of seeing a clown who told jokes at the mall, and I DID find him funny. I remember circuses in general being something I'd get really excited about, but then wanted to leave before they'd even ended. (My mom likes telling the story about how my grandfather held me down with his leg to stop me from getting up at the circus.) Knowing myself as a kid, I think I was mostly just interested in the animals. But anyway, for my part, not a big fan of clowns, but not scared of them either. Actually, I now find clowns somewhat intriguing, if only because clowning is sort of an outdated tradition at this point, yet it continues on. Sort of a link to the past, I suppose.

Comments

Here's a thought

[bec-87rb.livejournal.com]

People are built to find distorted facial features disturbing. Infants spend longer looking at faces that are not distorted and find distorted ones upsetting.

Clowns often have, as part of their get-up, fake noses or paint that changes the outlines of features, for instance, diamonds around the eyesockets, etc. It makes faces more attention-worthy, but for some people the distortion is disturbing on a very primal, pre-verbal level. It's as if the brain checks for good conformance to some set of proportions and placement of facial features.

So while distorted faces might just be interesting for older kids, at certain ages, it might render a person monstrous?

Re: Here's a thought

[suegypt.livejournal.com]

Thanks, bec, that's what I was gonna say.

Re: Here's a thought

[vovat.livejournal.com]

How do I know you and Bec aren't the same person? I don't think I've ever seen a picture of either of you. {g}

Seriously, though, that's probably true about why kids find clowns creepy.

Re: Here's a thought

[suegypt.livejournal.com]

While I'm outrageously flattered you would think I was bec, sorry, no. Besides, if i were bec, why would I feel compelled to agree or (as I often do) disagree with her/my posts? Hmmm? Why?

And, my default is a picture of me.

No, really. I'm not kidding...

Re: Here's a thought

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Besides, if i were bec, why would I feel compelled to agree or (as I often do) disagree with her/my posts?

Multiple personalities?

And are you sure THIS isn't the icon that's a picture of you?

Re: Here's a thought

[suegypt.livejournal.com]

well, of course, that is what I look like naked.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

I just find it strange that I was never afraid of clowns per se, considering I was afraid of EVERYTHING. In fact I WAS afraid of clowns' mean-spirited tricks something awful (my family used to tease me about my pie-in-face aversion), and I was deadly afraid of magicians and so that rubbed off on clowns since they occasionally did magic, but just to SEE a clown? No. So it's always been strange to me that people who are relatively WAY braver than me can just see a picture of a clown and get the willies.

Interesting thought, combining what you said about clowning being "an outdated tradition" and the distorted faces theory mentioned above: clowns are one of those things that somehow society has decided are "for children" even when sometimes they're more for adults, or all ages-- like fairy tales and storytelling in general. That just-for-kids writeoff always makes me sad.

clowns

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

If it helps, I find most members of Congress terrifying.

Re: clowns

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Those clowns in Congress have done it again. What a bunch of clowns.

Re: clowns

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

And yet, they're not entertaining at all, or very colorful ... and they don't even save taxpayer money by all coming to work together in the same car.

[kyrie1618.livejournal.com]

Ehhh, I've always been terrified of clowns. Clowns are worse than wraith. Probably because I can't see their faces. I prefer things online. Where... I can't see their faces.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

On the Internet, nobody knows you're a creepy clown.

[kyrie1618.livejournal.com]

I once played a 3d lemmings game that had a circus clown level. creeeeeeepy. Music wasn't as good, either.

If I become the clown, the terrorists win.