Opinion
Thoughts about the clown epidemic
October 12, 2016
When did clowns become scary?
For many years clowns have been used as a very prominent symbol for the idea of scary and creepy. They are a constant "go-to" idea for haunted houses and horror films. The recent clown sightings in the news do not help the horrendous reputation about clowns.
The clowns in the news have been reported trying to lure women and children into the woods. They have been reported holding weapons and candy in order to try and lure these women and children. Even though these are just reports, the idea of a clown lurking in the woods is still terrifying to almost everyone.
Personally, I am not a huge fan of clowns, but at the same time I don't mind them. They are people who are just trying to sustain a life for themselves even if they can be a tad creepy at times. But even though I find them creepy, my defense for clowns lies in the question:
When did clowns start being viewed as something scary rather than something fun?
The history of clowns can be separated into two sections:
1. Clowns being seen as entertainers.
2. Clowns being seen as terrifying.
Clowns started off in circuses entertaining crowds. Their main goal was to make the crowd laugh and have a good time. People could even become their own specific type of clown and go from birthday party to birthday party spreading laughs to children and adults. But as time passed, they started to be used as creepy tokens in horror movies which in turn merged them into haunted houses.
So the take away from this article is that yes, clowns can be creepy, but they are also people too. People just trying to make money for themselves and also trying to spread joy. The people dressing up as clowns, hiding in the woods, attempting to hurt others are mainly doing it for the soul purpose of publicity, and it's working. In conclusion, don't view actual clowns as something scary because they are not trying to be. The "clowns" in the woods are not clowns at all, they are just people trying to gain attention by grasping on to one common fear everyone shares.
Sydney Sleichert is a student at UW-River Falls.