Coulrophobia Essay

Coulrophobia

Bethany Clark

Bennie Blevins

Engl 1105

6 Sep. 2017

What goes through your mind when you see a clown? Does the sight of one make you feel joy or fear? Many people find these crazy haired, makeup wearing, entertainers to be scary or unsettling. What has caused people to be so afraid of something that was meant to fun and entertaining for all, some people have such an extreme fear that it is considered a phobia, coulrophobia. How does this fear affect people, especially in the last few decades, with movies such as Stephen king's It and the movie Poltergeist fueling people's fears, and t.v. shows like American Horror Story. As well as the more recent event of people dressing up as clowns and hitting the

A study called the Uncanny Valley, or the Valley of Familiarity, states that the more human like something is, but still not human like enough, the more unsettling it is to people. Clowns are very human like and familiar, but their exaggerated facial features and body parts, along with their strange bright clothes and hair, make them very creepy. You can see something that is very human like, but when you notice that something is not quite right about them, you start to get unnerved.

The Uncanny Valley explains why clowns may seem strange to us even though they were meant to be silly and fun, but there are other contributing factors to why people were, and still are today, afraid of clowns. There are plenty of movies, tv shows, books, and real life events and people that feed into, and make people's fear of clowns

The fact that so many people are dressing up as clowns to scare someone, or the amount of scary clown costumes you see during halloween is evidence that many people nowadays really do have an issue with clowns and how creepy they can be. This has affected people for as long as clowns have existed. While most people do not a genuine phobia of clowns. So many people are still wary of them. Children and even many adults would rather stay away from clowns, and preferably not have to see them at all. Many people that I have talked to all feel the same way about this issue. All of them have told me that while they are not really afraid of clowns, they still unsettle them, and they find them to be creepy. Most people I talked to have never actually seen a clown in real life and they have no desire to. Clowns are not very common at parties nowadays, a lot of children, and their parents are uncomfortable with them and would rather not have them at their parties. The topics above have only worked to affect people and their concerns about clowns more, causing paranoia and unease after seeing clowns in movies that murder people. Or you could have been one of the unlucky people to run into the not so nice individuals that dressed up and scared people. If you saw something like that it could definitely instill in you a fear of clowns and effect how you feel about them. When people think about clowns today, more