Evil clown

For the American serial killer who was also known by the nickname "Killer Clown", see John Wayne Gacy. For the wrestler who used to work under the ring name Killer Clown, see Los Psycho Circus.

A generic "Evil Clown"

The image of the evil clown is a development in popular culture, in which the playful trope of the clown is rendered as disturbing through the use of horror elements and dark humor.

Background

The concept of the evil clown is related to the irrational fear of clowns, known as coulrophobia. The cultural critic Mark Dery has theorized the postmodern archetype of the evil clown in "Cotton Candy Autopsy: Deconstructing Psycho-Killer Clowns" (a chapter in his cultural critique The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink).

Tracking the image of the demented or deviant clown across popular culture, Dery analyzes the "Pogo the Clown" persona of the serial killer John Wayne Gacy; the obscene clowns of the neo-situationist Cacophony Society; the Joker (of "Batman" Fame); the grotesque art of R.K. Sloane; the sick-funny Bobcat Goldthwaite comedy Shakes the Clown; and Stephen King's It.

Using Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of the carnivalesque, Jungian and historical writings on the images of the fool in myth and history, and ruminations on the mingling of ecstasy and dread in the Information Age, Dery asserts the evil clown is an icon of our times. Clowns are often depicted as murderous psychopaths at many American haunted houses.

Popular culture

• The Joker, the archenemy of Batman, is a murderously insane and evil, wicked super villain with a disturbing clown-like appearance. The character first appeared in Batman #1 (1940). His appearance was inspired by the character of Gwynplaine from the film Tha Man Who Laughs, played by Conrad Veidt. Gwynplaine had been a victim of gypsies who had cut off his lips so it appeared as if he were always smiling. Many of the Joker's henchmen in turn dress up like clowns.

• The Stephen King novel It, as well as the TV miniseries starring Tim Curry, revolves around seven children who are haunted by an evil shape-shifting creature that primarily takes the form of an evil clown named Pennywise.

• Musical groups such as the Insane Clown Posse, Mr. Bungle, Dangerous Toys, Esham, Shawn "Clown" Crahan of Slipknot and Tech N9ne aka "killa klown" all have impersonated clowns in a "creepy" manner.

• The 1985 film Pee Wee's Big Adventure, features a scene in which clowns in smocks perform a botched "surgery" on his bicycle.

• In the 1987 in film, The Brave Little Toaster, there was an evil, wicked firefighting clown who appears from right out of the floor of the fire and smoke. His plan is to try to destroy the toaster with his fire hose, making the water transform into forks^{[disambiguation needed ]} and makes the toaster fall into an indoor bathtub. His main weapons are a fork and the fire hose.

• The 1989 horror film Clownhouse tells of three adolescent brothers, the youngest of whom is terrified of clowns, and reacts in terror when a clown approaches him at the circus. Later that night, a group of serial killers dress up as clowns and break into the boys' house.

• In the early 1990s, an evil clown character was featured in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Doink the Clown was portrayed as a villain early on in his career. He would do cruel things such as pop children's balloons with a cigar, splash water on the audience, and use a fake prosthetic arm to attack opponents. Once he even attacked an opponent with a car battery. His entrance theme music was a typical happy circus tune ("Entrance of the Gladiators") which would quickly segue into dark and menacing music, complete with evil cackling sound effects.

• The science fiction/horror comedy film Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) features carnivorous aliens who resemble as evil clowns from outer space.

• In the British comedy series Psychoville a sinister and bitter clown (Mr Jelly) plays an integral part.

• Edgar Ektor, the main antagonist of the 1993 Super Nintendo / Megadrive game Aero the Acro-Bat, is a demonic, undead-like clown who formerly worked in the circus Aero is part of, and who now wants it closed.

• Kefka Palazzo, the main villain of Final Fantasy VI, is an insane clown who manages to destroy the world by the first act.

• Needles Kane, a recurring pilot of the ice cream truck, "Sweet Tooth", from the video game series Twisted Metal.

• Adam MacIntyre, a boss character in Capcom's Dead Rising is genericly a psychopathic evil clown who went insane after his audience was killed by zombies.

• Horrabin, a magician and leader of beggars from the novel The Anubis Gates.

• In Todd McFarlane's Spawn, Spawn's nemesis, The Violator, takes the form of a demonic clown.

• The horror film Poltergeist (1982) features a creepy-looking clown doll that at some point becomes possessed by an evil spirit and attempts to choke a young boy to death.

• In The Sarah Jane Adventures episode "The Day of the Clown" the villain is Oddbob the Clown, an entity created by emotion of fear, based on the irrational fear of clowns.

• In the Supernatural episode of "Everybody Loves A Clown" the creature is a rakshasa which takes the form of a clown so the children will trust it. The rakshasa will then kill the parents when it enters their house, leaving the child.

• The true villain of Super Paper Mario is an insane jester named Dimentio who plans on betraying Count Bleck and using the Chaos Heart to remake the multiverse in his own image.

• Madness Combat, a popular Flash animation from Newgrounds, features an evil clown with reality bending abilities named Tricky as a main antagonist.

See also

• Trickster
• Bouffon
• John Wayne Gacy
• Ubu Roi
• Pueblo Clowns
• "Can't sleep, clown will eat me"
• Juggalo

References