Evil clown
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The image of the evil clown is a development in American popular culture, in which the playful trope of the clown is rendered as disturbing through the use of horror elements and dark humor.
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[edit] 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"; Stephen King's "It," and the graphic novel "Arkham Asylum." 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 for our times.
[edit] Evil clown in popular culture
- In real life, the infamous John Wayne Gacy was nicknamed 'Killer Clown', though this was simply the media using the fact that he dressed as a clown at times, he never killed looking like one.
Major examples of "evil clown" imagery are:
- The Joker, who is the archenemy of Batman, is a murderously insane evil super villain with a disturbing clown-like appearance. The character first appeared in Batman #1 (1940). However, his facial appearance was inspired by the character of Gwynplaine from the movie The Man Who Laughs, which starred Conrad Veidt as that character. Gwynplaine had been a victim of gypses who had cut off his lips so it appeared as if he were always smiling.
- In the Batman related cartoon series Batman Beyond, a group of antagonists who take after the deceased Joker dress in clown outfits similar to the original villain and call themselves The Jokerz.
- The Stephen King novel It, as well as the TV movie featuring Tim Curry, revolves around seven children who are haunted by an evil shape-shifting creature that often takes the form of an evil clown named Pennywise.
- Tripping the Rift has the Dark Clown Empire, led by Darph Bobo.
- The Clown, the archenemy of the golden age heroes Magno the Magnetic Man and Davey in comics published by Ace Comics.
- Konrad Beezo and his son Punchinello are the antagonists in the novel Life Expectancy, by Dean Koontz. Also, there are two minor villains, Honker and Crinkles, who are arguably also "evil" clowns.
- Musical groups such as the Insane Clown Posse, Twiztid, Blaze Ya Dead Homie, Boondox, Anybody Killa Dangerous Toys, Mr. Bungle, Shawn "Clown" Crahan of Slipknot, and Tech N9ne aka "killa klown", impersonate clowns in a "creepy" manner.
- The Evil Clown of Middletown, a New Jersey roadside advertisement, appears in the first few minutes of Kevin Smith's film Clerks II (2006).
- 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.
- An evil clown named Buggy the Clown is a villain in the anime series One Piece.
- The sci fi movie Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) features human-eating aliens who resemble evil clowns.
- In an episode of Mona the Vampire, the kids come face-to-face with a clown/werewolf hybrid known as a Were-clown.
- Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights has used a sadistic character named Jack the Clown as an event icon for several years.
- A Dark Place by Steven Shiverdecker is a book published by Infinity Publishing about a grotesque, murderous clown.
- Sweet Tooth, a character from the Twisted Metal video game series, is an evil clown. Though the level of his evil deeds varies from game to game. His wishes are usually destructive, murderous, or sometimes just silly.
- In the Anime Hunter X Hunter, one of the main character is Hisoka. He is sadistic, and notorious for killing strong opponents. He joins Phantom troupe one of the strongest gang on the anime, joins for the sole purpose of killing the gangs leader Kuroro Lucifer
- In the series Digimon, the most powerful and evil Dark Master, Piedmon, is said to be a shape-shifter that usually takes the shape of a dark and murderous clown.
- Frenchy the Clown is the eponymous character in National Lampoon's Evil Clown Comics.
- The Clown, a manifestation of the fears of several aliens in stasis for 19 years, as seen in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "The Thaw".
- Masters of Horror episode "We All Scream for Ice Cream" had an ice cream man named Buster who dressed like a clown and came back from the dead to exact revenge.
- In The Brave Little Toaster, Toaster, the main protagonist, has a nightmare where a demonic clown (dressed as a firefighter) emerges from a cloud of smoke, whispers "RUN!" and attacks Toaster by spraying forks at him from his hose.
- Captain Spaulding, from Rob Zombie's horror film(s), House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects, is an evil clown.
- In the anime film Akira, there are two rival biker gangs. One gang, called the Clowns, dresses in clown-like outfits and acts much like evil clowns.
- Horrabin from Tim Powers's The Anubis Gates is an evil clown-sorcerer and beggar king who turns his subjects into deformed freaks so they could become more efficient beggars.
- The 2007 horror film 100 Tears centers around a serial killer clown named Gurdy the Clown, who was falsely accused of crime years prior and brutally murders innocent victims for what they did to him.
- The Clown is arguably the archenemy of the comic book anti-hero Spawn.
- Obnoxio the Clown was a cigar smoking, vulgar clown that appeared in Crazy Magazine (a Marvel Comics publication) as a recurring character in the 1980s, and in 1983 Marvel Comics also published a short-lived comic book based on this character.
- Horny the Clown in a horror movie called Drive-Thru about a serial killer demon clown that kills people at night at a restaurant called "Hella Burger".
- A creepy clown doll is featured in Tobe Hooper's 1982 horror/supernatural movie Poltergeist ; Robbie, the older brother of the young girl played by Heather O'Rourke, is terrified by this toy. At the end of the movie, the doll supernaturally comes to life and attempts to strangle him.
- In an episode of Extreme Ghostbusters, the team do battle with a circus consisting mostly of vampire clowns.
- In the popular slasher film Halloween, serial killer Michael Myers claims his first victim as a child, his older sister, while wearing a clown costume on Halloween.
- Kefka is a depicted as a psychotic clown in Final Fantasy VI mimicking the styles of a vaudeville clown.
- Marx, the main antagonist in Kirby Super Star is shown to be a clown or a jester of some sort.
- Dimentio, the true villain and final boss in Super Paper Mario, is a demented clown with a twisted sense of humor and a sadistic personality.
- A clown, named Tricky the Clown, is featured in the Madness Combat flash animations by Matt "Krinkels" Jolly. He is shot and later turned zombie.
- Adam the Clown is a psychotic clown that features as a boss in Dead Rising. He juggles active chainsaws, blows toxic gas-filled balloons,which he throws at you,and has a creepy high voice.
- In the TV series Are You Afraid of the Dark?, the character Kristen has a fear of clowns and two episodes of the series featured evil clowns as their antagonists; "The Tale of the Crimson Clown" and "The Tale of Laughing in the Dark". Zeebo, the clown from the latter, is referenced in numerous other episodes of the series.
- Tira from the Soul series of fighting games has aspects of an evil clown, including vibrant, trashed clothing and a personality that incorporates "playful" sadism. In fact, her alternate costume in Soulcalibur IV is directly modeled after the concept of an evil clown or jester.
- In an episode of Frasier, Frasier has a client who is afraid of clowns. One Halloween, he dresses up as a clown to scare his father. His father has a heart attack and is taken to the hospital. Frasier follows, dressed in his clown costume. His patient is a nurse at the hospital. "I am not a monster!" Frasier declaims, before trying to exit in an elevator where the nurse/patient appears. She screams, once, twice, thrice, before Frasier bolts in the other direction.
- In Soul Eater (manga), an antagonist is a clown who is the insanity in itself.
- In the Torchwood episode From out of the Rain, the Ghost Maker was, according to the writers of the show, based on a scary doll of a clownish ringmaster.
- In the American Dragon: Jake Long Half Baked a circus of clowns are transformed into half-human, half monster hybrids after eating cupcakes containing the venom of a Krylock Demon, a half cobra, half scorpion monster but are reverted back to normal after the Krylock Demon is destroyed by Jake Long.
- In the American show Mighty Morphin Power Rangers features a monster called Pineoctopus, an octopus/pineapple hybrid that could transform into an evil clown that turned people into cardboard cutouts, he is based on Dora Endos from the Japanese show Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. In the Japanese Super Sentai series Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger features a clown villain named Satorakura, the American version of the show Power Rangers: Ninja Storm features a character based on Satorakura named Shimazu, also an evil clown. The monsters that serve them are also clown-based.
