Dark Carnival (Insane Clown Posse)

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The Dark Carnival is the fictional mythology of the concept album series used in much of Insane Clown Posse's discography. It is a concept of the afterlife in which souls are sent to a form of limbo while waiting to be sent to heaven or hell based on their individual actions. These concepts are related by Insane Clown Posse in a series of albums called the six Joker's Cards. Other artists within the Psychopathic Records label have also contributed to the mythology through various songs and albums.

[edit] Creation

The concept of the Dark Carnival was inspired by a dream Joseph Bruce had after the foundation of Insane Clown Posse, in which spirits in a traveling carnival appeared to him.^[1] The group decided to incorporate the dream into their newly created persona.^[1] The spirits, they decided, would be revealed in a series of albums called the six Joker's Cards, each relaying a message or moral story.^[2] In 2009, the character Bang! Pow! Boom! was created as an entity separate from the Joker's Cards.^[2] The group discussed the character's creation and relation to the Dark Carnival with Robert Bruce before its release.^[3]

[edit] Overview

Bruce describes the Dark Carnival as "a place where you have all the evil souls that are going to be going to hell."^[2] It features multiple rides and attractions which assist in this purpose, which are the focus of multiple albums and songs within the group's discography.^[2] Each of the six Joker's Cards relate to a specific character — an entity of the Dark Carnival — that tries to "save the human soul" by showing the wicked inside of one's self.^[1][2] Bang! Pow! Boom! was introduced in 2009 as a rarely used entity, separate from the six Joker's Cards. It is a continuous explosion used to clear the carnival grounds when they become too crowded with evil souls.^[2]

[edit] Joker's Cards

The first Joker's Card, Carnival of Carnage, is a representation of the ghettos and the violence that occurs within them.^[4][5] It takes the form of a traveling carnival which releases the same brutality on those who have ignored the inner cities' cries for help.^[5] The Card issues a warning against the upper-class and government's negligence toward the lower classes.^[4][5] The Ringmaster, the second Joker's Card, is the overseer of the Carnival of Carnage.^[6] He leads "the phantoms of the dead" that take the form of the Carnival.^[6] The creatures fiercely tear doomed souls from their living bodies and drag them down into Hell.^[6] The Ringmaster himself is created through one's own sins, and is one of several who will judge whether a soul is worthy to enter heaven or doomed to eternal hell.^[6][2]

The third Joker's Card, the Riddle Box, is another entity used to determine fate.^[7][2][4] Upon death, a soul enters a dark chamber containing a jack-in-the-box on an old wooden table. The front of the box has a "painted question mark faded with time," representing the mystery of your own afterlife.^[7][2] As the handle is turned, a melodic tune begins to play, and when the music stops, the choice is made. The pure see a vision of God, warming their souls as they enter eternal peace.^[7] The evil see an immense fog seeping from the box, "stripping their sanity, as they witness an image of hell, spawned and formed from their own evil; a hideous reflection of their demented souls."^[7] The floor falls from underneath them, casting the doomed into the bottomless pit of Hell.^[7] The fate determined by the Riddle Box can found by looking deep within yourself, and can be changed with righteous actions.^[7][4]

The Great Milenko, the fourth Joker's Card, is an Illusionist and a Necromancer, though acting on dead minds rather than dead spirits.^[8][4] His purpose is to try and trick individuals into greed and other such sins.^[8] He takes out the worst in an individual and creates powerful illusions in an attempt to cause them to become hedonistic and greedy.^[8] The Great Milenko is present within every person, and an honorable individual must fight his magic in order to make it to heaven.^[8] The fifth Joker's Card, The Amazing Jeckel Brothers, focuses on the 19 circles of hell, and the morality of man as he is torn between righteousness and evil.^[9] Jack "the sinister" and Jake "the just" emerge from the smoke of a candle to determine the fate of the dead.^[10] The Jeckel Brothers juggle pulsating blood-covered balls representing the mortal life of the dead.^[10] For every sin committed, another ball is added.^[10] Jack throws Jake curves in an attempt to see a ball drop, and if a soul witnesses Jake drop one of the balls, he will be damned to hell. Souls who see Jake successfully complete the act ascend to heaven.^[10]

The face of the sixth Joker's Card is "The Wraith"—or simply, Death. The card featured two "exhibits", Shangri-La and Hell's Pit, which were each be given its own album.^[11] The Wraith: Shangri-La revealed that the hidden message of Insane Clown Posse's music was always to follow God and make it to Heaven.^[11] Hell's Pit toured where those who do not atone for their sins nor follow the ways of Shangri-La are sent, illustrating the horrors of hell itself.^[12] According to Bruce, "The ending of the Joker Cards, the way we looked at it, was death. Heaven and hell. That's up to each and every juggalo [to decide]. We're not an ultra religious group. I don't go to church or anything. I like to believe in God."^[13]

[edit] Themes

The Dark Carnival acts as a way to remind people of the repercussions of their individual actions "in a language that today's world will understand and listen to."^[1][14] It denounces actions that members Bruce and Joseph Utsler stand against, including pedophilia, racism, bigotry, domestic violence, and sexual abuse.^[14][15] The themes of the Dark Carnival focus on death, morality, heaven, and hell.^[2]

[edit] References