Coulrophobia: The Evil Clown as Cultural Metaphor

In this episode, Kiegan Irish and Alex Boos discuss the history of the figure of the clown from the Feast of Fools to Ronald McDonald, and its eventual development into the 'evil' clown, which plays a recurring role in particular as a signifier in the popular culture of today. Taking the horror genre as a pivotal point of departure, we then consider the political anxieties the evil clown embodies for our contemporary political moment.

Special thanks goes out to Dan Boos and Jacob Irish for editing and postproduction!