The other side of clowning around
Bringing laughter, not fear – clowns hone skills to fight stigmas, writes Hathai Techakitteranun
CLOWNS see themselves as fun-loving envoys of joy but many people see them as just plain scary. And that, in a nutshell, is the problem a modern clown faces.
With their signature big red noses and vibrant wigs and costumes, clowns have brought smiles and laughter to audiences throughout the world for more than a century.
But they’ve also got a bad rap brought about by real-life events of clowns committing murder – the most notorious being John Wayne Gacy, who performed as Pogo the Clown and killed 33 young men and teenage boys in the US in the 1970s.
Media portrayals of clowns as scary or creepy, from Batman’s Joker to Apple’s “Creepy Clown” iOS emoji, also feed the negative stereotype.
The performers are pushing back against the stigma, learning new techniques and volunteering at hospitals to bring smiles to seriously ill children.
Hundreds of clowns from a dozen countries, among them the US, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan, gathered at a hotel in Bangkok on Monday for a world convention, an annual event held for the past 32 years.
Like other conventions, this year’s event, which runs until Friday, features contests and performances, ranging from balloon sculpturing, face painting and juggling to make-up and costume design.
Clowns might bring smiles and laughter, but behind the scenes, clown work is serious business, with contests being strictly timed and cellphones required to be put on silent mode.
Different
“Every year is a highlight because every one is different,” said Randy Christensen, the president of the World Clown Association.
The conventions enable the association to help people learn how to develop a friendly and cartoon-like appearance that is not meant to look scary, he said.
“It is a bit of a stigma. I have been called, by media outlets, a creepy clown, a killer clown, somebody with a Halloween mask trying to scare people,” Christensen said.
“We are totally not that. We want to bring laughs, not fear. We want to bring joy, not terror.”
Performers also join the world clown conventions to learn from one another and practise new skills, he said.
“For many years, everyone (was) a Bozo. (There was) no character, no name and no identity,” said Sam Tee, an association co-ordinator for South-East Asia, who is also known by his stage name “Uncle Button”.
“The more skills you have, the more options. If you only focus on the balloons, you know only the balloons,” he said, stressing the importance of skill and character development.
“Having their own characters makes people feel good about themselves. They see the value of being clowns and not just making money,” Tee said.
Many clowns also volunteer at hospitals to perform for seriously ill children.
Alex Tan, 50, of Caring Clowns, a group of 12 clowns who volunteer at hospitals in Singapore once a month, said that although the group members had fulltime jobs, they wanted to help sick children.
Caring Clowns is not the only group performing for sick children.
Many clowns at the convention said that visiting children in hospitals changed them.
“I never went back to teaching again,” said 73-year-old Carol Collins from the US, who has been a clown for 41 years.
“As a man, I did not want to wear make-up,” Christensen said, but after being nagged by a friend to visit sick children in a hospital, he decided to become a clown.
“How can I not do this, when I can bring smiles to the faces of the hurting children?” he said. – ANA-DPA