Coulrophobia

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A specific fear of clowns has sometimes been discussed in terms of a specific phobia.[1] The term coulrophobia has been coined in the context of informal "-phobia lists".[2]

The term is not listed in the World Health Organisation's ICD-10 nor in the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-5 categorisation of disorders.[3]

Evil clown archetype

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Clown costumes tend to exaggerate the facial features and some body parts, such as hands and feet and noses. This can be read as monstrous or deformed as easily as it can be read as comical. The significant aberrations in a clown's face may alter a person's appearance so much that it enters the so-called uncanny valley—in which a figure is lifelike enough to be disturbing, but not realistic enough to be pleasant—and thus frightens a child so much that they carry this phobia throughout their adult life.[4]

According to a psychology professor at California State University, Northridge, young children are "very reactive to a familiar body type with an unfamiliar face".[5] Researchers who have studied the phobia believe there is some correlation to the uncanny valley effect.[6] Additionally, the fact that much clown behavior is "transgressive" (anti-social behavior) can create feelings of unease.[7]

The contemporary "evil clown" archetype develops in the 1980s, notably popularized by Stephen King's It, and perhaps influenced by John Wayne Gacy, a real-life serial killer dubbed the Killer Clown in 1978. Killer Klowns from Outer Space was a 1988 horror comedy dedicated to the topic. The Joker character in the Batman franchise was introduced as early as 1940, and has developed into one of the most-recognizable and iconic fictional characters in popular culture, leading the Wizard magazine's "100 Greatest Villains of All Time" ranking in 2006.[8] Krusty the Clown (introduced 1989) is an influential parody of Bozo the Clown in The Simpsons. In episode Lisa's First Word (1992), children's fear of clowns features in the form of Bart being traumatized by an inexpertly-built Krusty the Clown themed bed, repeatedly uttering the phrase "can't sleep, clown will eat me...". The phrase inspired an Alice Cooper song in the album Dragontown (2001).[9] and became a popular catchphrase.[10] Websites dedicated to evil clowns and the fear of clowns appeared in the late 1990s.[11]

Numerous films on the topic have been produced since the late 1980s. Early examples include the horror films Out of the Dark (1988) and Clownhouse (1989), followed by It (1990), a miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's novel. Examples of the late 1990s to 2000s include Carnival of Souls (1998), The Clown at Midnight (1999), Camp Blood (2000), Killjoy (2000), S.I.C.K. Serial Insane Clown Killer (2003), Fear of Clowns (2004), Within the Woods (2005), Coulrophobia (2006 short film), Secrets of the Clown (2007), 100 Tears (2007), Clownstrophobia (2009); examples of the 2010s include The Last Circus (2010), Klown Kamp Massacre (2010), Gingerclown (2012), Stitches (2012), Sloppy the Psychotic (2012), Bongo: Killer Clown (2014) and Clown (2014).[12] One of the central characters in Álex de la Iglesia's The Last Circus (2010) is a circus' "funny clown" who is a violent psychopath in real life.

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.

The British arts and music festival Bestival cancelled its planned clown theme in 2006 after many adult ticket-holders contacted the organizers expressing a fear of clowns.[13]

In the 1990s, a professional wrestler named Matt Osborne originated and played Doink the Clown, a mostly "evil clown" heel ("bad guy") character in the World Wrestling Federation, its successor promotion World Wrestling Entertainment and in several other promotions. Entering the ring to circus-style music - but played with a sinister, minor-key undertone - Doink would play tricks, some amusing, others more malevolent, on fans and fellow wrestlers alike. Following the revival of the Joker character in popular culture in the 2010 Batman movie The Dark Knight, Osborne re-made the character to resemble the hideously deformed movie Joker. The WWE at various points had other wrestlers playing the character and utilizing the gimmick.

Research

In the Space To Care study aimed at improving hospital design for children, researchers from the University of Sheffield polled 250 children regarding their opinions on décor for a forthcoming hospital redesign; all 250 children, whose ages ranged between four and sixteen, reported that they disliked clowns as part of hospital décor.[14] Many of them, including some older children, stated in the poll that they, in fact, actively feared clowns.[15][16] In other studies playing with therapeutic clowns reduced anxiety in children and improved healing in children with respiratory illness.[17]

See also

References

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  2. The term is listed by the Online Etymology Dictionary (Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.) with the caveat that it "looks suspiciously like the sort of thing idle pseudo-intellectuals invent on the Internet and which every smarty-pants takes up thereafter". The prefix coulro- is "said to be built from Greek kolon 'limb,' with some supposed sense of 'stilt-walker,' hence 'clown'" (i.e. Greek κωλοβαθριστής kolobathristes "stilt-walker"). Probably coined in the late 1980s, the term "has been coined more on the Internet than in printed form because it does not appear in any previously published, psychiatric, unabridged, or abridged dictionary." (Robertson 2003:62) The Oxford Dictionary of English adopted the term in 2010, also deriving it from kolobatheron "stilt" (Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.)
  3. ICD-10, which has been ridiculed for its compositional, highly specific system of codes allowing diagnosis of the kind of "burn due to water-skis on fire" or "crushed by crocodile" (Fred Pelzman, "The Craziness of ICD-10", MedPage Today 7/2/2015; Mark Liberman, Language Log, 2 July 2 2015) would classify a "fear of clowns" simply as "F40.298 Other specified phobia".
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  7. Fear of clowns, yes it's real NPR, August 6, 2013
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  11. "Coulrophobia has spread to the Web, where sufferers can vent on sites such as ihateclowns.com and clownz.com. A sample posting: 'My hatred of clowns began when I was 5 years old. I was at a circus, and a clown came up to me and said, "Would you like to see the monkey I have in my box?" Well, of course I did, so I said yes. When I looked into the box, there was no monkey ... only a mirror.'" Steve Steinberg, "Nightmare with a red nose", Dallas Morning News, 25 January 2003.
  12. Eric Myford, Coulrophobia (2015), user-created IMDb list.
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