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Coulrophobia, the fear of clowns, is a mental condition that has attracted a surprisingly large amount of interest in the entertainment media and on the Internet, where websites have been developed which are specifically devoted to the issue.
Causes of the phobia
In discussions of causes of coulrophobia, sufferers seem to agree that the most fear-inducing aspect of clowns is the heavy makeup which, accompanied by the bulbous nose and weird color of hair, completely conceals the wearer's identity. Clowns also often appear in horror movies, but unlike the phobia, the intention here is usually to frighten viewers by letting the horrific take the disguise of something normally associated with fun and happiness.
Popularity in the media
Of late, the preponderance of coulrophobia as a convenient punch line in mainstream media has led to an "outbreak" of epidemic proportions of this condition. It provides a convenient and humorous ailment for those looking to garner attention and at the same time not appear weakened by their condition. Coulrophobia also legitimizes scapegoating a group, people who dress up as clowns, who some dislike for their style of entertainment and acting personality.
While it is impossible to prove that every individual who claims to have coulrophobia is doing so to placate their need for attention and recognition, it is a fairly simple task to separate the malingerers from the truly phobic. Those who suffer from chronic phobias tend to seek to alleviate themselves of their ailment, as it is crippling, whereas "Faux Phobics" revel in their dysfunction.
As a corollary, there has been a dramatic rise in coulrophillia in the last decade, leading to large communities of clown fanciers around the world.
Coulrophobia in popular culture
- Pennywise, a manifestation of "It" in Stephen King's novel of the same name, is probably the personification of "Evil Clown".
- The Joker, arch-nemesis of Batman, considers himself "The Clown Prince Of Crime", and has often tortured and murdered his victims.
- Cosmo Kramer, a fictional character on the sitcom Seinfeld, suffers from coulrophobia. It is shown in several episodes, where he expresses his fear of clowns in various situations. The most memorable episode is "The Opera" where "Crazy" Joe Davola, a mentally disturbed TV writer who is after Kramer and Jerry Seinfeld, dresses up as a clown and sneaks up on them, before they go to see the opera Pagliacci.
- In the 'Saw' horror-movie series, the killer Jigsaw uses a creepy-looking clown puppet to appear on the screen when he is talking to his victims, and he manipulates his voice to scare them.
- In an episode of the animated cartoon The Simpsons, Bart recalls coulrophobia in his early childhood. When Bart was young, Homer decided to build Bart a new bed, as opposed to buying a new one. Noting Bart's love of clowns, he designed the bed around that. However, due to Homer's questionable crafting skills, the clown had a highly menacing appearance, so rather than "laughing himself to sleep" as Homer intended, Bart stays awake, utterly terrified. He was so scared he even imagines the bed taunting him him the phrases like "If you should die before you wake... MWAHAHAHA!!" The episode coined the phrase Can't sleep, clown will eat me, which has since been used in other popular culture too. However the trauma must have not been permanent, as Bart's hero continued to be Krusty the clown.
- Wakko and Thaddeus Plotz from Animaniacs have coulrophobia, though the disorder is referred to on the cartoon as "clownophobia."
- Billy from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy has extreme coulrophobia in the episode Attack of the Clowns.
- The movie Killer Klowns from Outer Space is one of the most talked about subjects in coulrophobia.
- The track Silence and I by The Alan Parsons Project includes the lines "Other children laughed, I was always afraid, Of the smile of the clown..."
- Twisted Metal, a Sony Playstation game series, features the character Sweet Tooth: a clown-mask–bearing ice-cream–truck driver, a convicted serial murderer.
- Jackie Burkhart, a character from That '70s Show, is afraid of clowns because she found her mother kissing a clown behind her father's back.
- The character Cliff Claven on the sitcom Cheers is described in at least one episode as being afraid of a clown at a carwash. He attributes this fear to his mother hiring a clown for his 8 birthday party, no other kids showing up to the party, and his mother forcing Cliff to spend five hours with the clown so that his mother could get her money's worth.
- In the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xander confesses a fear of clowns stemming from a childhood birthday party.
- Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard, from the series Stargate Atlantis, admits that he fears clowns much more than he fears the Wraith in episode "The Hive".
- Chuckie Finster from the cartoon Rugrats is terrified of clowns.
- The visual design for Darth Maul's Sith tattoos from Star Wars was inspired by a fear of clowns.
- Cory Baxter from the TV Show "That's So Raven" demonstrates a fear of clowns in an episode.
- The character Overton Jones from "Living Single" is afraid of clowns.
- The multi-plantinum rap/hip hop group Insane Clown Posse (Shaggy 2 Dope & Violent J) have made a successfull career with haunting imagery of killer clowns.
- In the television show Boston Legal, the main character, Alan Shore, suffers from a fear of clowns.
- Adrian Monk (Tony Shaloub) has a small fear of clowns.
- In The Weekenders episode "Clown", Tino Tonitini had coulrophobia until he passed Clown School.
- In the Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go! episode "Circus of Ooze", Chiro claims he is scared of clowns.
- In the Ben 10 episode "Last Laugh", up until his battle with Zombozo, Ben had coulrophobia.
- The children's book character Junie B. Jones is so afraid of clowns, and one clown in particular, that she dresses up as him for Halloween because he is the scariest thing she can think of.
External links
- ihateclowns.com Commercial website for people with coulrophobia
"Coulrophobia"