I agree that this sudden outbreak of clown paranoia stems from the stress of the presidential election, recent shootings, and terrorism. The broadcast continues to discuss the several versions of clowns that have been created by book, TV, and film throughout the years. Stephen king's IT creating a touchstone for the killer clown, while the joker has been presented as the crazy clown. Although there has been positive representations of clowns in the past, the negative image has seemingly become more common. When questioned why that is, Radford explained that the wearing of a mask hides emotion, and that causes an uneasy feeling of what they're going to do. I also agree that the immediate distrust of clowns comes from the unknown emotion or intent they have, which results in fear.
I have personally always had a fear of clowns, (aside from the joker) I never regarded them in a humorous or entertaining way. My fear began after watching Stephen King's IT when I was 10 years old, and since then I have never been able to shake the negative image. I also believe that it's a lot easier to make a clown horrifying than funny. The current issue of clown sightings is alarming to me, however, I do believe it will eventually fade away like past occurrences.
I had never thought about why people are inherently scared of clowns, so your post was really thought provoking for me. I can definitely see how it is scary, or at least unnerving, to not be able to read someones emotions or intentions. I also agree that the clown crisis has become widespread because of the stress of the election, among other things. I think it's a real issue some places, but in other areas it almost seems like comic relief. Clowns, while scary to some, are usually associated with laughter and fun so scary clowns being a relevant issue is a humorous alternative to the morbidness that people feel about this election.
ReplyDeleteI had never feared clowns in my life until the stories of the recent clown sightings starting popping up across the country. Now I find myself a little paranoid about being confronted by a scary clown. Personally my recent fear of clowns is entirely because of the rumors of violence that some of the clowns have engaged in. So I am more afraid of getting physically hurt than I am of the clowns themselves. It's an interesting point they make saying that the clown trend stems from the negativity of this election season. I never would have thought of that.
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