This natural dislike of clowns makes them effective in a literary or fictional context, as the antagonistic threat perceived in clowns is desirable in a villainous character. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable." This may be because of the nature of clowns' makeup hiding their faces, making them potential threats in disguise as a psychology professor at California State University, Northridge stated, young children are "very reactive to a familiar body type with an unfamiliar face". ![]() A study by the University of Sheffield concluded "that clowns are universally disliked by children. The evil clown archetype plays strongly off the sense of dislike it caused to inherent elements of coulrophobia however, it has been suggested by Joseph Durwin that the concept of evil clowns has an independent position in popular culture, arguing that "the concept of evil clowns and the widespread hostility it induces is a cultural phenomenon which transcends just the phobia alone". In the novel, the eponymous character is a pan-dimensional monster which feeds mainly on children by luring them in the form of a clown, named "Pennywise", and then assuming the shape of whatever the victim fears the most. The modern stock character of the evil clown was popularized by Stephen King's It which introduced the fear of an evil clown to a modern audience. Zal Cleminson, guitarist with the English rock band The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, wore black and white clown-style makeup and colorful clothes while on stage during the band's 1970s heyday, while his "happy-sad-happy" demeanor helped give their performances an edge of menace. Įvil clown themes were occasionally found in popular music. During that decade, American serial killer and rapist John Wayne Gacy became known as the Killer Clown when arrested in 1978, after it was discovered he had performed as Pogo the Clown at children's parties and other events however, Gacy did not actually commit his crimes while wearing his clown costume. ![]() ĭuring the 1980s the National Lampoon published a series of mock comic books in the pages of the magazine, entitled "Evil Clown", which featured a malevolent character named Frenchy the Clown. ![]() The modern archetype of the evil clown has unclear origins the stock character appeared infrequently during the 19th century, in such works as Edgar Allan Poe's " Hop-Frog", which is believed by Jack Morgan, of the University of Missouri-Rolla, to draw upon an earlier incident "at a masquerade ball", in the 14th century, during which "the King and his frivolous party, costumed-in highly flammable materials-as simian creatures, were ignited by a flambeau and incinerated, the King narrowly escaping in the actual case." Evil clowns also occupied a small niche in drama, appearing in the 1874 work La femme de Tabarin by Catulle Mendès and in Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci (accused of being a plagiarism of Mendès' piece), both works featuring murderous clowns as central characters. Enrico Caruso as the murderous Canio in Pagliacci
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