Clowns in Hospitals

[cormac]

Just another example of why people who lived during the dust bowl era shouldn't be making interior decoration decisions for children.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7189401.stm

"Decorating children's wards with paintings of clowns to create a nurturing atmosphere could backfire, research suggests. A University of Sheffield study of more than 250 children, aged four to 16, found the images were widely disliked. Even some of the oldest children found the images scary."

Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but the addition of "festive" red lights in the clowns' eyes was probably a bad idea, and kids these days don't understand why clowns are depicted with four rows of pointy teeth.

All kidding aside, I don't think I've ever seen clowns used in hospital decor. At the Children's Hospital in Fresno, CA, the paintings on the walls were all pairings of animal mothers and children, and all in an 80's pastel palate. Nothing scary about that, unless you find giraffes alarming. I can understand "fun" or "birthday party-ish", but why anyone would see clowns as "nurturing" is beyond me.

Comments

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

Maybe it depends on the clown. I only managed to make one child cry in my several "Christmas In July" gigs.

[magenta513.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering when clowns stopped just being fun, and started being portrayed as creepy. I mean, even when I was a kid clowns were a common fear and used often in B grade horror movies, and less often in better ones.

Are clowns even used in pop culture today for anything other than fear or saddness?

That said, who doesn't find giraffes frightening?

[aliskye.livejournal.com]

I think that would be an interesting study. :)

[cormac.livejournal.com]

I'd say it happened when going to the circus was no longer something every family did every time said circus came to town. Seeing clowns caper about the ring from the safety of the cheap seats caused children to associate clowns with a carnival atmosphere, having fun with family, and so on; when they saw pictures of clowns, it would bring up the same feelings. The effect was captured, albeit with less effectiveness, by tv shows such as Howdy Doody and Bozo the Clown.

Nowadays, the only times children see clowns are up close (such as a street performer or a birthday party clown) or in pictures (ranging from the sad hobo clowns on velvet to Stephen King's "It," to Sweet Tooth, the clown with fire for hair who drives an ice cream truck filled with ballistic weaponry in a popular series of video games). There's no "desensitization" from a circus experience, so these kids don't see clowns as harmless cartoonish performers, but instead as either ridiculously dressed, painted strangers who tower over them, or demons and madmen.

[magenta513.livejournal.com]

When then, did the circus stop being a popular family pasttime? I have vivid memories of going multiple times, both locally and in Hawaii. Was I catching the end of the trend, in the early to mid 80's, or was it still going stong until the end of the decade?

[cormac.livejournal.com]

I'd say we caught the end of the trend in the 80s. Barnum and Bailey couldn't give the tickets away at my elementary school. You'd find large stacks of them at the grocery store, and they went largely unclaimed. And this was in Bakersfield, where there was nothing to do.

[(Anonymous)]

Also, please to note Insane Clown Posse. Delightful stuff, and I like my clowns evil these days. But when I was a kid, my clown clock and lamp creeped the bejeesus out of me. - Daniel

[metroid23.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering when clowns stopped just being fun, and started being portrayed as creepy.

Oh, that's easy. For me the year was 1982 and the movie was Poltergeist ;)

[lady_songsmith]

I would have to wonder if there was ever a time when clowns didn't freak out a good proportion of young kids. The scary-clown meme has to have had roots in reality to develop; otherwise the idea of using a clown as a creepy villain would not have occurred to anyone. It makes sense -- kids, particularly little kids, are learning to classify their environment. Clowns are confusing. It's a face, but not a face (wrong proportions). They look happy, or sad, but they don't necessarily act it all the time. They're bigger than life, and they act bigger than life.

[aliskye.livejournal.com]

Giraffes are terrifying! Oh....wait.....I meant dinosaurs. :)

I find clowns a bit creepy now but I don't recall being afraid of them as a child.

[sasha-khan.livejournal.com]

Ringling Bros. type clowns do kinfa ick me out. In fact, the ONLY circus clowns who didn't make me uneasy were the clowns from the Moscow Circus - who have the air of kindly grandfathers.