introduction
Like the combination of McDonald's fries and ketchup, halloween and clowns will never go out of style, and the jokers have exaggerated expressions and gorgeous costumes, and everywhere they go, they are the focus of the crowd.
At the recent Venice Film Festival, DC's new work "Joker" swept major awards, and the clown makeup on the poster was still gorgeous, but the smile on the clown's mouth made people feel sad and depressed.
● Poster for the movie Joker
What happened to the Joker? Shouldn't the companion who stood at the entrance of the amusement park and distributed balloons when he was a child should not be the happiest person in the world?
In fact, if we look back at the history of Western culture, the image of the clown has always been enriched.
A professional smile
Originally, clowns were just a profession in the royal palace, they would tell jokes, they could perform shows, and they were loved by the nobles. Clowns can also be paid handsomely for this, and even gain power. They may have become the closest people to the nobility, so much so that they could influence the decisions of those in power.
Later, the role of the clown gradually spread to the city, different from the clowns in the palace, who were mostly homeless people who had no jobs, and they walked the streets to amuse the crowd in order to feed themselves.
The image created by Master Chaplin in The Circus is the perfect combination of a tramp and a clown. He plays a tramp who is taken in by the head of the circus, performs in the circus as a clown, and falls in love with the leader's beautiful daughter.
With a tall bowler hat, a joyous moustache, and a stumbling walking posture, the master made the best interpretation of the image of the "clown-style tramp".
● Chaplin's clown image
At this point in history, we seem to see the stage image of clowns, who are proficient in performance, bringing happiness to the audience, and exchanging it for the material needs necessary for life.
At the time, no one seemed to pay attention to whether the Joker's true emotions were as happy as they appeared.
It was not until the seventeenth century that Joseph Grimaldi, known as the "father of clowns" in Britain, created the first sad white-faced clowns.
● White-faced clown image
The appearance of this new clown image is no accident, Joseph Grimaldi was adopted by the owner of an English theatre from an early age, and at the age of two he was forced to perform on stage, and due to the cruel training mode of the boss, Rimaldi suffered from severe schizophrenia, depression and mania. In 1837, the 59-year-old master of comedy died in poverty as an alcoholic.
At the same time in Paris, another famous clown, Jean Gaspard Deburau, swept the city, and people were willing to pay for any role he played, no less crazy than today's star chasers.
But in broad daylight, he frantically beat a boy to death with a cane, and that was simply because the boy called him the name on the stage in the street.
● Street clowns in Paris
Think of this scenario: you meet Aidou while shopping, excitedly call out the name of your favorite character in one of his TV series, and look at him expectantly, but he turns his head and presses you and beats you up on the street... What kind of deep hatred does this have to be?
The actors' rejection of their own clowns seems to be beyond people's general imagination, and the division of stage and life makes them dangerous and uncertain.
Since then, people have begun to try to understand the real life of the clowns under the stage.
In the 1990s, the film "Son's Big Doll" directed by the famous Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien was very representative, and the protagonist Kun Shu's job in the film was to play a clown, he dressed up as a clown during the day to attract audiences for the theater, and returned home at night to make his son happy with the appearance of a clown.
But what puzzled him was that one day he would never have to work with a paint on his face anymore, while his youngest son cried at his "strange" father.
● Stills from "The Son's Big Doll"
Kun Shu is just a microcosm of the clown image, who strives to balance the work-life relationship, but is exhausted in the mutual transformation of the two characters.
At this time, the clown has a little more realistic confusion than the stage image of laughing.
Clown phobia
Even if the Joker is no longer carefree, have you ever thought it would be the protagonist of a horror movie?
In 1990, after Stephen Edwin King's classic "The Return of the Joker" was released as a film of the same name, a phenomenon called "clown phobia" swept the United States.
According to the survey, Americans are far more afraid of clowns than terrorists!
The makeup of the clown in the movie exaggerates the facial expression, the visual impact of the contrast between the tragic white and the blood red, coupled with a piece of horror music, the guidance of the fear psychology will come to fruition.
● Stills from "The Joker Returns"
The Joker in "Joker Returns" returns to the human world every 27 years, and it can be transformed into the deepest fear in everyone's heart, just like the Dementors in Harry Potter, people don't know where the Joker came from, and they don't know who will be taken by the Joker next time...
The image of the clown in people's minds has suddenly changed from a passive bearer to an active abuser, moreover, as long as the clown removes the oil paint, he can restore the appearance of ordinary people, hide in the crowd, and take revenge on the audience for the suffering he has endured.
Some psychologists believe that when non-humans are more similar to humans than a certain degree, human reactions to them will suddenly become extremely disgusting.
To put it bluntly, as everyone often says, ghosts are scary and not scary, and people are scary and scary to death.
Originally, the comedic effect of the clown came from some exaggerated performances, such as greed for food and beauty, and even mocking discrimination against disabilities and defects.
If the beast in the cage is angry and roaring, then the clown is laughing in the cage and accepting the whipping, which is contrary to people's normal cognition.
And these film and television works now tell us that the Joker is actually angry, he just silently stares at the crowd in the cage, waiting for the opportunity.
A new master of philosophy
With the rapid development of the film industry, the requirements of the audience have gradually increased. They are no longer satisfied with the simple visual impact of horror films and the single narrative routine of the circus, so the clowns who reverse the infinite are installed with more complex multiple personalities.
In 2008, the DC comic book adaptation of Batman: The Dark Knight was released. The Joker, who should have died in the first three episodes of the comics, became Batman's most troublesome enemy in the movie because of his infinite plasticity.
He had no name, no family, no records of DNA, fingerprints, teeth marks, and no labels for his clothes. He was mad, evil, had nothing, and had nothing to fear. He will not be bribed, he will not be intimidated, he will not be reasonable, and he will not accept negotiations.
"Madness is like gravity, and sometimes all that needs to be done is a gentle push."
The Joker has his own theory: "I am the representative of chaos, do you know the benefits of chaos?" It brings fairness..."
● Stills from Batman: The Dark Knight
Madness is synonymous with Heath Ledger's version of the Joker.
Such a neurotic role is also a great challenge for the actor. Actor Heath Ledger portrayed the image of the clown's annihilationism from his demeanor to his body movements, and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in one fell swoop.
Sadly, Heath Ledger died of a drug overdose shortly after the film's release, and a large number of fans shouted "The Joker is dead!" ”
In 2019, DC's latest work, Joker, changed the route of the past superhero, recording an "ordinary" clown with no superpowers at all.
● Stills from "Joker"
He smiles softly when he entertains strange children on the bus; he smiles confidently and firmly when he expresses his dreams on stage.
But, in the end, he said, "All that remains of my mind are negative thoughts." ”
He kept practicing smiling on the stairs, in the carriages, in the corridors. But forget the original smile that really came from the heart, how do you need to practice?
Joaquin Phoenix's "Clown" takes on complex twists and turns over and over again in the film, like a microcosm of the image of the clown throughout cultural history.
postscript
Happy, gloomy, scary, crazy, changeable... The times have given the Joker a different image. And the different clowns also reflect people's thinking about life in the moment. This is also more and more expected, in the next work of the "clown" will appear in what image?
But what we can be sure of is that time does not stop, and people's imagination of clowns will never stop...
bibliography:
Phoenix Art "Joker, How We're Going to Be Gentle with You" text/hypebeast
Sohu "Scream and Smile, THE Clown Culture Behind DC's Most Anticipated New Film in the Second Half of the Year" article / Surging News
Personal Library "Clown Image Cultural History" text / Zhang Yuanxi
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