Evil clown
The modern archetype of the evil clown was popularized by the DC Comics supervillain Joker starting in 1940, and again in 1980s by Pennywise from Stephen King's It.
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",[1] 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.
They see them as "the rotten apple in the barrel, whose ugly sight and smell casts suspicion on the rest of them," and do not wish to encourage or propagate coulrophobia.
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 of our times.
[15] According to psychology professor Joseph Durwin at California State University, Northridge, young children are "very reactive to a familiar body type with an unfamiliar face".
It resurfaced in 1985 in Phoenix, Arizona; in 1991 in West Orange, New Jersey;[21] in 1990 in Brazil, through a story reported by the Brazilian tabloid Notícias Populares;[22] and 1995 in Honduras.
[20] Explanations for the phenomenon have ranged from Stephen King's It and the crimes of serial killer John Wayne Gacy,[19] to a moral panic influenced by contemporaneous fears of Satanic ritual abuse.
The work of three local filmmakers, Alex Powell, Elliot Simpson and Luke Ubanski, the Northampton clown was similar in appearance to Pennywise from Stephen King's It.
[24] In March 2014, Matteo Moroni from Perugia, Italy, owner of YouTube channel DM Pranks, began dressing up as a killer clown and terrifying unsuspecting passers-by, with his videos racking up hundreds of millions of views.
[25] In 2014, further complaints of evil clown pranksters were reported in France, the United States and Germany, possibly inspired by American Horror Story: Freak Show.
Again this clown shared a similar resemblance to Pennywise, and it was revealed that the social media postings were part of a year-long photography project conducted by the artist's wife.
The urban legends and panic can cause real danger as "face-painted pranksters and innocent bystanders may be at risk" by interaction of well-intended public or police thinking a threat exists when it does not.
[38] The American rap duo Insane Clown Posse have exploited this theme since 1989 and have inspired Twiztid and similar acts, many on Psychopathic Records, to do likewise.
