Which came first?

[sixstring]

You must have noticed when discussing your fear/loathing of clowns with someone who has no real opinion one way or the other that they will invariably say something like 'oh you've watched too many horror films' or 'you've read too many horror books with clowns in'. To them I say 'NO!'
Why are clowns scary? Not because you read a book about evil clowns, oh no no no. They were scary BEFORE the likes of Stephen King wrote about them. That's the whole point. He wrote about an evil clown because clowns are quite the most disturbing things to roam freely about our streets. Horror writers know this. The potential for creating chilling stories about the grease painted freaks is enormous!
First came the clowns.
Then came the clown horror stories. Not the other way round. How some people fail to see this amazes me...

Jay.

[simienne]

You are quite right. Clowns have always been the devil's minions. It is no coincidence that clowns have been further demonised by film and television. And that's why I like people here. Cos we all understand one another...

[ClwnHatinCanuck]

Exactly. Horror films are just there to exaggerate common fears. That must be why people still watch them: They want to be scared.

[simienne]

But I don't want to be scared anymore. Boo. :(

[sixstring]

It's funny you know, I do love watching horror films and reading horror books but there's just something about clowns that isn't right. I'd have no problem walking through a graveyard at midnight or staying in a haunted house but even merely looking at a picture of a clown makes me a little nauseous.
Ask me to walk through circus type fairground thingy on my own and I'd freeze on the spot! And possibly whimper a bit :cry:

Jay.

[Nauseous]

but even merely looking at a picture of a clown makes me a little nauseous.



Hey! me too! :wink:

[simienne]

Me three.
But thanks to a couple of decent friends, I am dealing with that better. I am sure they think I am barking mad, but they don't mock me to my face at least! :)

[DownWithTheClowns]

LOL
me four.

anyhow- im just like u Jay, horror and gore and scary stuff doesnt bother me at all. i love horror and gory movies lol. but clowns *shudder* scare the living bejesus outta me (yes i know, odd term...but get over it :P )

[Parallax]

*is now in Darth Vader mode* The clowns are an extreme disturbance in The Force. They MUST be destroyed! :o :o :o :o

[Juggalo4Life]

pitiful little people. ITS FACE PAINT, ouuuu scary! help me the clown is gonna eat me, you know what, cry me a fucken river.

[MALICE]

lol im sure clowns could whup all of your asses dont make me get buffo on you punks. He rips phone books in half

[DownWithTheClowns]

well-

Juggalo- its not just teh face paint. the big thing for me is- its all these perverts who wear clown costumes just so they can get lil kids near them and then they rape the lil kids...but ICP on the other hand, good stuff.

to the rest of you guys: im still workin on gettin over clowns, andlucky for me, my b/f's fave group is,ICP lol. so i spose it helps

[IAmCat]

Ever notice how the makeup makes it so that you can't easily tell what the clown's facial expression really is? Who ever decided that was funny?
Are there really people who think clowns are funny? Kids maybe. They are so trusting.
I have to say that most of the clowns of Cirque de Soleil were pretty cool. But it was more like they were athletes wearing costumes. I wonder why they weren't so scary?
Have the movies had an influence on me? I don't think that's where it began. I don't know for sure, but I do know that my aunt gave me a painting of several clown faces when I was small and I hated it.