1 00:00:02,120 --> 00:00:06,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works. A brain 2 00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:09,960 Speaker 1: stuff is Christian Seger. When the last time you saw 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: a clown in person, and did you enjoy the experience. 4 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:16,600 Speaker 1: Maybe you're one of the people who just doesn't like 5 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:20,360 Speaker 1: these jokers, or maybe it's more serious than a passing dislike. 6 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:25,040 Speaker 1: Perhaps you have what some call cole rephobia, an intense 7 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: and excessive fear of clowns. But where does it come from? 8 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:32,280 Speaker 1: Why are people afraid of clowns? There's a lot of 9 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:36,199 Speaker 1: speculation here, much of which hinges on history and psychology. 10 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 1: Let's look at the history first. Jesters, clowns and other 11 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 1: silly entertainers are an ancient tradition. The modern day bozos 12 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:48,159 Speaker 1: and Joey's are softer, sanitized versions of the ancient trickster. 13 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:54,280 Speaker 1: Archetype evidence indicates pygmy clowns entertained the Egyptian elite thousands 14 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:58,040 Speaker 1: of years ago, and these ancestors of clowns were worlds 15 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:02,080 Speaker 1: away from our modern bufood wounds, but they still had 16 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:06,160 Speaker 1: the basics down garish clothing and more importantly, the manic 17 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:11,120 Speaker 1: ability to do or say taboo things without consequence. The 18 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:15,120 Speaker 1: prototypes of contemporary clowns are generally thought to be Joseph 19 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:19,400 Speaker 1: Grimaldi and John Gaspard de Bourou, both of whom had 20 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:24,320 Speaker 1: pretty unpleasant lives off stage. Grimaldi died penniless, and alcoholic 21 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:29,199 Speaker 1: Deberus killed the boy. It's true this contrast became even 22 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: more pronounced in the modern day. When the notorious serial 23 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: killer John Wayne Gayzey was finely apprehended. The public saw 24 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:41,559 Speaker 1: numerous photos of his clown persona, and he famously said, 25 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:45,759 Speaker 1: a clown can get away with anything. Since that time, 26 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: the public perception of clowns has changed. In the West, 27 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 1: people don't seem to associate clowns with mere tomfoolery anymore. Instead, 28 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 1: we see a duality, a bland veneer of joviality covering 29 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 1: something unknown and sinister. Today, some of fiction's greatest villains 30 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: are evil clowns. There's Pennywise from It, the Joker from Batman, 31 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:11,119 Speaker 1: and of course the Killer Clowns from outer Space. So 32 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:15,919 Speaker 1: from a folklore or cultural perspective, society has altered our 33 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: perception of clowns. But what about the psychology. Author Linda 34 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 1: Rodriguez mcrabbie believes people have a fundamental discomfort with clowns 35 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:30,679 Speaker 1: because their fishal expressions cannot be trusted, and unfaltering painted 36 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 1: smile breeds distrust in an audience. Psychologists like Dr Brenda 37 00:02:36,639 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: Widerhold agree. She notes that a fear of clowns or 38 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:44,480 Speaker 1: other costume strangers begins around the age of two, when 39 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:48,680 Speaker 1: kids start having anxiety about encountering strangers and are still 40 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: not always able to separate reality and fantasy. And we 41 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 1: can't talk about this sort of psychology without also mentioning 42 00:02:56,440 --> 00:03:00,639 Speaker 1: Freud's concept of the uncanny valley. The idea uh that 43 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:07,360 Speaker 1: when something seems simultaneously familiar yet oddly unfamiliar, it produces revulsion. 44 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:10,600 Speaker 1: This is the same principle people get creeped out by 45 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 1: by lifelike robots with their ever so slightly off facial expressions. 46 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: Most people grow out of the sphere as they age, 47 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:22,799 Speaker 1: but a minority of the population carries it into adulthood. 48 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:26,000 Speaker 1: The concept of scary clowns has picked up steam in 49 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:30,240 Speaker 1: recent decades, and colophobia itself isn't a term that arrives 50 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:34,160 Speaker 1: from psychology, while it describes a real phenomenon. It popped 51 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 1: up on the Internet as early as the two thousands, 52 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: with claims dating back to the nineteen eighties. So, in 53 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 1: some ways this could just be a fad, but if so, 54 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:49,360 Speaker 1: it is a fad built on solid psychological and cultural roots. 55 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:53,040 Speaker 1: The concept of the evil clown exists now and isn't 56 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:56,320 Speaker 1: going away anytime soon, which is a bit of a shame. 57 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,840 Speaker 1: Clowning has gotten a bad rap, and a largely unfair 58 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: one at that. Check out the brainstuff channel on YouTube, 59 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:10,680 Speaker 1: and for more on this and thousands of other topics, 60 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:25,920 Speaker 1: visit how stuff works dot com.