We all love a circus – Well actually, this is not true. A large part of going to a circus is being bored or scared out of our wits by supposedly funny clowns. I know, there will be animal acts, jugglers and acrobats of various persuasions as well, and occasionally they are enough to make it worth the effort of going to the circus. But generally (with the exception of the Good Old Cirque du Soleil) most circuses are tatty, boring and amateur. But one thing that we can always rely upon is that the clowns will scare the hell out of us.
Of late there has been a sort of move in the clown profession to clean up their act a bit, and to become less scary – but this is doomed to fail, as actually the whole point of clowns is to be seriously frightening.
The ones in the above photo show exactly what I mean – they are all friendly looking, grinning away at the camera, but can you imagine meeting even one of them late at night when you are alone on the street? You would run a mile I guarantee it.
I have never really understood why they are so frightening, or even why they should be so… Surely the idea is to make us happy not scared.
Looking at the photo above, the little girl’s reaction to that dreadful creature beside her is totally appropriate, and is typical of how kids really react to clowns – adults pretend to find them funny, but actually underneath, they are also scared and appalled by the creature in front of them. Continue reading “Circus? The Most Terrifying Art There Is”
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