Thursday, February 19, 2009

Fear

"It", by Stephen King, a simply harmless book( or movie) but to the small mind of the child, that clown poisons the depths of their mind, haunting them throughout their lives. Coulrophobia, the fear of clowns, affects mostly children, but also some teens and adults. I, myself, found out at the young age of four how scary clowns can be, simply by walking upstairs while my parents were watching "It". For the longest time I was convinced that a clown was going to break into my room and eat off my flesh. Realistically- now at least- I realise that its not likely that a clown would come into my room and try to kill me- let alone eat my flesh- however having people like John Wayne Gacy or “The Clown Killer” didn’t help my fears at all. Gacy liked to dress up as a clown to lure small children with him, so he could kill him. He was not a help to my case. Even with the knowledge of the irrationality of being afraid of clowns, the fear still grips me today, and though now I can at least see a picture of a clown, I’ve stayed as far away from Circuses as I can. In the Lord Of The Files I can relate to the fear and horror those boys feel when dealing with the “beastie” because even if the fear they have is irrational, they still fear it –even Ralph- despite knowing that there isn’t any actual harm. Just knowing that there's a slight chance that something could be out there – much like myself and Gacy (even though his victims were boys) – gives the boys the fear.