Editing Evil clown (section)

==Interpretations==
{{Redirect|Fear of clowns|the 2004 film|Fear of Clowns{{!}}''Fear of Clowns''}}
[[File:The Evil Clown.jpg|thumb|A man in evil clown costume in 2007]]
The concept of the evil clown is related to the irrational fear of clowns, known as '''coulrophobia''', a [[neologism]] coined in the context of informal "[[List of phobias|''-phobia'' lists]]".<ref>The term is listed by the ''[[Online Etymology Dictionary]]'' ({{OEtymD|coulrophobia}}) 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 {{lang|grc|κωλοβαθριστής}} ''kolobathristes'' "stilt-walker").
Probably coined no earlier than the late 1980s but no later than the 1990s, 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" ({{citation|editor-last=Stevenson |editor-first=Angus |contribution=coulrophobia noun |title=Oxford Dictionary of English |year=2010 |edition=online |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-957112-3 |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t140.e0183900 | access-date=14 March 2011}})</ref>

The cultural critic [[Mark Dery]] has theorized the [[postmodern]] [[archetype]] of the evil clown in "Cotton Candy Autopsy: Deconstructing Psycho-Killer Clowns" (a chapter in his cultural critique ''The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink'').<ref name="insanitarium">{{cite book |first=Mark |last=Dery | title=The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink| url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780802136701 |url-access=registration | publisher=[[Grove Press]] | location=[[New York City|New York]] | year=1999 | isbn= 0-8021-3670-2}}</ref>

Tracking the image of the demented or deviant clown across [[popular culture]], Dery analyzes the "Pogo the Clown" persona of the [[serial killer]] [[John Wayne Gacy]]; the obscene clowns of the neo-[[Situationist International|situationist]] [[Cacophony Society]]; the [[Joker (character)|Joker]] (of ''[[Batman]]'' fame); the grotesque art of R.K. Sloane; the sick-funny [[Bobcat Goldthwait]] comedy ''[[Shakes the Clown]]''; ''[[Scooby-Doo]]'''s Ghost Clown from the episode "Bedlam in the Big Top"; Horny the Clown in the 2007 horror-comedy movie ''[[Drive-Thru (film)|Drive-Thru]]'', and [[It (character)|Pennywise]] from [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[It (novel)|It]]''.
[[File:It (1986) front cover, first edition.jpg|thumb|upright|The evil entity from the [[It (novel)|1986 novel]]  by [[Stephen King]] takes sometimes the form of a clown.]]
Using [[Mikhail Bakhtin]]'s theory of the carnivalesque, [[Analytical Psychology|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. Clowns are often depicted as murderous [[psychopath]]s at many American [[Haunted attraction (simulated)|haunted houses]].

Wolfgang M. Zucker points out the similarities between a clown's appearance and the cultural depictions of demons and other infernal creatures, noting "[the clown's] chalk-white face in which the eyes almost disappear, while the mouth is enlarged to a ghoulish bigness, looks like the mask of death".<ref name="wolfgang">{{cite journal |url=http://ttj.sagepub.com/content/24/3/306.short|title=The Clown as the Lord of Disorder|journal=Theology Today |date=October 1967 |doi=10.1177/004057366702400306 |access-date=2 January 2012 |last1=Zucker |first1=Wolfgang M. |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=306–317 }}</ref>

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".<ref name="trinity">{{cite web |first1=Joseph|last1=Durwin|url=http://www.trinity.edu/org/tricksters/trixway/current/Vol%203/Vol3_1/Durwin.htm |title=Coulrophobia & The Trickster |publisher=Trinity.edu |access-date=5 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110624001158/http://www.trinity.edu/org/tricksters/trixway/current/Vol%203/Vol3_1/Durwin.htm |archive-date=24 June 2011 }}</ref> Researchers who have studied the phobia believe there is some correlation to the [[uncanny valley]] effect.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://brainworldmagazine.com/exploring-the-uncanny-valley/|title=Exploring the Uncanny Valley » Brain World|last=Hanna|first=Rania|date=27 May 2018|website=Brain World|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-13}}</ref> Additionally, clown behavior is often "transgressive" ([[anti-social behavior]]) which can create feelings of unease.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2013/08/06/209494071/fear-of-clowns-yes-its-real|title=Fear of Clowns: Yes, It's Real|work=npr.org|access-date=30 March 2017}}</ref>

A 2022 survey of 987 adults from 64 countries found that 54% of respondents reported experiencing some degree of coulrophobia.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Heingartner |first=Douglas |date=2023-02-02 |title=New Study Into Coulrophobia (the Fear Of Clowns) Suggests Its Main Causes Are Unpredictability And Media Exposure |url=https://www.psychnewsdaily.com/coulrophobia-fear-of-clowns-study/ |access-date=2023-09-05 |language=en-US}}</ref>