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Everbody Hates Clowns!
Clowns. Is there anything creepier than a clown? Now researchers have proven what we all know to be true. Nobody likes clowns. According to a Reuters News Service story dated January 16, 2008, "children don't like clowns, and even older kids are scared of them." Researchers at the University of Sheffield interviewed 250 children between the ages of four and sixteen in order to improve the decor of hospital children's wards. All 250 patients disliked clowns in the hospital (or anywere else, for that matter) and, in fact, found them to be scary. Penny Curtis, one of the researchers put it this way, "We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable."
But why are clowns scary? Certainly John Wayne Gacy, the serial killer, (pictured to the right) is enough to stop parents from inviting them to their child's birthday party. But I think the fear goes deeper than that.
When I was a little boy not too many things frightened me more than clowns. Oh sure, the flying monkeys in
the Wizard of Oz and the Oompa Loompas from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory were scary enough but they were evil creatures bent on the destruction of all that was good. But why do clowns scare us so?
Clowns are not meant to be scary. When a person applies the grease paint he or she is attempting to make a face that all children will love. But therein lies the problem. Having studied psychology I have found that when we draw a picture or describe an inkblot we tell others something about our deepest thoughts and feelings. Could it be that people who become clowns are subliminally communicating their deepest, darkest desires and feelings? Look at these typical clown pictures. All of them appeared in an advertising brochure I got in the mail from a talent agency for unemployed clowns. The agency places clowns at public events and children's birthday parties. Their advertising slogan was a little disturbing: "Clowns love children . . . medium rare." What do you think?
I decided against hiring a clown for my grandkid's party. Instead I found an entertainer that loves kids and does not seem at all creepy. Yay!
~GJH~(17January2008)
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