小丑形象的前世今生

Image of Clowns Changing Over the Years

Clowns are almost everywhere these days in popular culture. They can be seen in movies, on television shows, at musical performances, and sometimes just walking in the streets.

Clowns are perhaps best known for performing in traveling circuses. They have been making crowds laugh for generations. But what they represent in popular culture has changed a lot over the past 400 years.

A history of the clown

Clowns have existed in different forms for a long time. Researchers have found evidence of clowns in ancient Rome, China, and Africa. Their job was to make the ancient rulers laugh.

At least one Native American group, the Hopi Tribe¹, also has a tradition involving clown-like characters.

Clowns began appearing in the form we recognize today in the 17th century, as a character known as a harlequin. They were common in European theater, and played a character who acted foolish or played tricks. A harlequin wore colorful clothing and covered his face with a mask to protect his identity.

Bringing clowns to the U.S.

Clowns from Europe arrived in North America after England began exporting circuses, with their clowns, other performers and trained animals. Starting in the early 1900s, circus shows were very successful in the United States.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the popularity² of clowns grew because of television. Bozo the Clown appeared in a number of TV programs for children.

Also in the 1960s, McDonald’s, the fast-food business, chose a happy clown to appear in its advertisements. Today that company mascot³, Ronald McDonald, is world famous.

A ‘trickster figure’

However, the image of a happy clown is largely an American creation⁴. So says Benjamin Radford, who wrote a book called Bad Clowns. In other cultures, he says, the clown character is not necessarily good.

“It’s a mistake to ask, ‘When did clowns go bad,’ … because clowns were never really good. Clowns have always been ambiguous⁵. The clown character originally… is a trickster figure… you can’t easily categorize them. Is it somebody who is going to make me laugh, or attack me?”

Radford said that at first, clown shows were meant for adults, not children. In fact, clown characters were meant to be a critique of society or projections⁶ of the fears and concerns of everyday people.

One example is “Mr. Punch,” a clown puppet character. It was popular in British and French theaters during the 1700s and 1800s. While Mr. Punch was funny, he was also violent, often hitting his wife during the show.

In the 18th century, English actor Joseph Grimaldi became famous for playing a clown in theaters. Grimaldi himself was reported to be an alcoholic⁷ and suffered from depression. Literature experts say Charles Dickens remembered those qualities when he created a clown character in his book The Pickwick Papers. The character made people laugh, but was sad and lonely when he left the theater.

No laughing matter

The idea of clowns frightening people started gaining strength in the United States during the 1970s, partly because of John Wayne Gacy.

Gacy was a registered clown in the Chicago, Illinois area. He performed for children as a clown character called “Pogo the Clown.” But between 1972 and 1978, Gacy killed more than 35 young men. He was eventually arrested for the killings⁸. While in prison, he painted many pictures of clowns, including himself as Pogo. Some newspapers began calling Gacy the “Killer⁹ Clown.”

In the 1980s, evil clowns began appearing in movies like Poltergeist and Killer Klowns from Outer Space. In addition, the Stephen King book It was made into a television miniseries. Probably the most famous evil clown character is “the Joker” character from recent Batman films.

Then, in the autumn of 2016, many Americans began developing real concerns about clowns.

Starting in South Carolina, people reported seeing individuals wearing clown costumes, often hiding in the woods or in cities at night. Some people said the clowns were trying to lure¹⁰ children into empty homes or the woods. Soon, there were reports of threatening-looking clowns trying to frighten both children and adults.

Although there were usually no reports of violence, and many of the reported sightings were later found to be false, this caused a nation-wide panic.

Even today, clowns have continued to play a strong presence as a dark or violent character. This year alone, a clown is the central villain¹¹ in the movie version of It, which earned $123 million in its opening weekend. In addition, the current season of the TV series American Horror Story has a number of killer clowns.

The future of clowns

While clowns may be popular in the media, the attention is not always wanted. For people who work as -- or are training to be -- clowns, the “bad clown” image does not make their job easier.

In 2008, British researchers asked 250 children about clowns. The boys and girls were four to 16 years of age. The University of Sheffield survey found that most children did not like clowns, while many feared them.

This does not surprise David Carlyon. A historian¹², he once worked as a clown for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

"My theory, based on the evidence, is that the image of the clown as the little kid's friend and as the ideal of sweetness and light became so overblown, so inflated¹³, that it had to be popped."

For most people who work as clowns, their job is to make people happy and laugh. Zach Steel trains future clowns at The Clown School in Los Angeles, California. Steel says he and his students choose to ignore the attention around bad clowns.

"If I spent all my time trying to combat¹⁵ that and telling those people to be quiet, I would have no time to do anything else - to actually pursue what clown actually is, which is a positive, creative, imaginative¹⁶ presence in our lives, a manifestation¹⁷ of all of our desires to pursue pleasure and pursue fun and connect with each other on those levels."

Lisa Long, known as C.C. the Clown, says she is sure that clowns still have a bright future.

"How often do you get a chance to really laugh or be silly and have fun? I think people are attracted to that, to the laughter. And what I do as a professional children's entertainer is I bring that, sometimes to children who may not have had a chance to even laugh that day or that week. And the opportunity to bring laughter - I think that's what attracts people to clowns.”

She adds that as long as there are still children in the world, there will still be a future for clowns.

I'm Alice Bryant, and I’m Phil Dierking.

Words in This Story

alcoholic - adj. a person who frequently drinks too much alcohol and is unable to live a normal and healthy life?

ambiguous - adj. able to be understood in more than one way?

categorize - v. to put (someone or something) into a group of similar people or things ?

harlequin - n. a comic character in old stories and plays who wears a mask and colorful clothes with a diamond pattern?

inflate¹⁴ - v. to add air or gas to (something, such as a tire or a balloon) and make it larger?

lure - v. to cause or persuade a person or an animal to go somewhere or to do something by offering some pleasure or gain?

manifestation n. one of the forms that something has when it appears or occurs?

puppet - n. a doll that is moved by putting your hand inside it or by pulling strings or wires that are attached to it

1 tribe   

n.部落，种族，一伙人

参考例句：

• This is a subject tribe.这是个受他人统治的部落。
• Many of the tribe's customs and rituals are as old as the hills.这部落的许多风俗、仪式都极其古老。

2 popularity   

n.普及，流行，名望，受欢迎

参考例句：

• The story had an extensive popularity among American readers.这本小说在美国读者中赢得广泛的声望。
• Our product enjoys popularity throughout the world.我们的产品饮誉全球。

3 mascot   

n.福神，吉祥的东西

参考例句：

• The football team's mascot is a goat.足球队的吉祥物是山羊。
• We had a panda as our mascot.我们把熊猫作为吉详物。

4 creation   

n.创造，创造的作品，产物，宇宙，天地万物

参考例句：

• Language is the most important mental creation of man.语言是人类头脑最重要的产物。
• The creation of new playgrounds will benefit the local children.新游戏场的建立将有益于当地的儿童。

5 ambiguous   

adj.引起歧义的，模棱两可的，含糊不清的

参考例句：

• This sentence is ambiguous in sense.这个句子意思不清楚。
• The title of this chapter is ambiguous.这一章的标题含义模糊。

6 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

7 alcoholic   

adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者

参考例句：

• The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.白兰地的酒精浓度远远超过葡萄酒。
• Alcoholic drinks act as a poison to a child.酒精饮料对小孩犹如毒药。

8 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

9 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

10 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

11 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

12 historian   

n.历史学家，编史家

参考例句：

• As a historian,he was most typical of the times in which he lived.作为历史学家，他是他所处时代最有代表性的人物。
• He calls himself a historian,but his books are a mere journalism.他自称为历史学家，但是他的书都是些肤浅的通俗作品。

13 inflated   

adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨

参考例句：

• He has an inflated sense of his own importance. 他自视过高。
• They all seem to take an inflated view of their collective identity. 他们对自己的集体身份似乎都持有一种夸大的看法。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 inflate   

vt.使膨胀，使骄傲，抬高（物价）

参考例句：

• The buyers bid against each other and often inflate the prices they pay.买主们竞相投标，往往人为地提高价钱。
• Stuart jumped into the sea and inflated the liferaft.斯图尔特跳到海里给救生艇充气。

15 combat   

n.战斗，斗争，格斗；vt.与...斗争，与...战斗

参考例句：

• The police are now using computers to help combat crime.警方现在使用电脑打击犯罪活动。
• A reporter interviewed the combat hero.记者访问了这位战斗英雄。

16 imaginative   

adj.富有想象力的，爱想象的

参考例句：

• The imaginative child made up fairy stories.这个想像力丰富的孩子自己编神话故事。
• Scott was an imaginative writer.司格特是位富于想象力的作家。

17 manifestation   

n.表现形式；表明；现象

参考例句：

• Her smile is a manifestation of joy.她的微笑是她快乐的表现。
• What we call mass is only another manifestation of energy.我们称之为质量的东西只是能量的另一种表现形态。