| Check this out. For those of you who won't click (you rebels, you!) it's a story about a study done at the University of Sheffield hospital here in England (at least, I assume that's where the survey was done. The story mentions the U of Sheffield and mentions a hospital but does not actually connect the two in any real way). Researchers surveyed 250 children, ages 4 to 16. About clowns. And what did they find? What they found was the best quote in the article: "We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable." I do not like clowns. I have never liked clowns. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I don't know a single person who likes clowns (okay, that's not entirely true, because I have a friend whom I very much like, and his mother is a clown. And a Vicar. Shes a religious clown, for religious gatherings and things. I think. But I am certain about the vicar and clown parts.) But aside from him--and he really has to like her, doesn't he, with her having given him life and all--I don't know anybody. This is why Pennywise was so effective in It. Because clowns are something forced on children. They're scary, and they're made even scarier by the fact that everyone expects you to like them and be amused by them. It's not simply their horrible expressionless faces, their dull blank eyes, their features like caricatures from a nightmare. It's that when faced with a clown you are forced to conform to what other people think you should like. Your actual self, the fundamental truth of you (how's that for a Stuart Smalley-esque phrase?) is submerged, unimportant. You WILL like that clown, damn you! Being faced with a clown is when we realize we are not like everyone else. Watching other people laugh and smile and clap while we ourselves are either bored, terrified, or a combination, drives home our isolation in the most disturbing and profound way. We feel disassociated from humanity when we see a clown, and it's frightening and painful. I am totally using clowns in my next book youcan'thavethemIcalledit!!!!!! |
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yeah, clowns and dolls freak me out. kids are scared of santa, too. but they are greedy, so maybe clowns need to pass out presents or something. haha!
LIKE BUTCHER KNIVES. AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!
Some day I want to own a t-shirt that says "Fuck clowns!"
I genuinely liked clowns when I was a kid. They started to bore me as I got older and now I think they're rather sad really, rather than happy.
I have a horrible fear of clowns, probably why I have that scene in Happy Hour, eh?
I haven't really thought about clowns. But mimes? Those freaks are downright scary.
Maybe we should just make it about people with creepy make up on then... like the Real Housewives of Orange County too...
Lol Cyn!
You should have one made, Anton. That's how I got my "What Would Michael Corleone Do?" shirt. I had it made.
They bore me rather than scare me now, I think, Skarrah. But I've always just found them rather distasteful. The only clown I ever really liked was Shakes.
OMG Mark how could I have mentally blipped over that when I wrote this post? Doh! Especially since that was one of my favorite scenes. It's hard to pick a favorite when the whole book is so excellent.
Eep, Jaye. *shudder* Now they did scare me as a kid, I remember being totally creeped out that they wouldn't talk and finding it very upsetting.
Actually, Anton, I think that would be awesome. Whole gangs of them. Mmmmm...gangs of creepy people in white pan-stik...
I've never seen what the big deal is about clowns. I had a couple of clown pictures on my wall as a kid, and I never thought anything one way or the other about 'em. I am ambivelant about the clown.
That said, Pennywise the clown freaked me the fuck out. I attribute that to Stephen King and not the clown, though.
I couldn't believe it took a study to show kids hate and fear clowns, December. I mean, really, where's the common sense gone?
Personally, I can remember liking Bozo on tv, but being frightenend of clowns in person. As an adult, I totally get how Pennywise and etc. are perfect for horror characters.
Ever seen Killer Klownz from Outer Space?
I hate clowns - always have done. I had a clown puppet as a kid that used to hang in my room and I couldn't sleep if it was facing me (but I wouldn't hide it under the bed - needed to know where it was at all times!) I've always thought that there was something rather sinister about clowns, possibly because their faces are always smiling when you know that on the inside they're *not*.