Thursday, September 08, 2016

Phantom Clowns: The Politics of Trump

In exactly a year, on September 8, 2017, the reboot of It, with a new Pennywise, opens in theaters. Andrés Muschietti's new film is horrific, hints the advance leaks about it, with the scary clown terrorizing children in a "small town in Maine."

After the 2016 wave of real life sightings of clowns in the Carolinas and Ohio, reporters are searching around for the "why" behind the recent encounters. Rob Zombie's forthcoming movie about five carnival workers kidnapped by a gang of sadistic clowns, 31, in theaters September 16, 2016, is being blamed, without a thread of evidence linking the two.

Muschietti's It is being mentioned too.

But neither motion pictures's publicity people appear to be behind any kind of viral marketing involving clowns luring kids into the woods. Studios would have to be stupid to involve themselves in that sort of horror.

The media, nevertheless, are beginning to do deep background pieces on the "reasons" behind the current incidents of clown reports.

I was called for an interview yesterday by a journalist from Atlas Obscura, because, of course, I first investigated and documented the 1981 national flap. And coined the phrase "Phantom Clowns."

Soon after my noontime conversation, the story was published with this headline: "This Cryptozoologist Thinks Trump Might Be Behind the Carolinas Clown Hysteria."

Whoa.



The reporter had messaged me this:

Needless to say, I was quite surprised by the headline, and told the reporter so.

I had not "blamed" Trump for the Phantom Clown sightings, but pointed out that in election years, the media get tired of the same old storylines. 

The press looks for distractions, I noted. Besides, the New York City tabloids had labeled Donald Trump a "clown" - in more ways than one - and that was an intriguing coincidence. 










Within minutes, the story reappeared with this new headline:




Headlines are different than the content of an article.

The current incidents are causing a reflective look back. I did thank the reporter Cara Giaimo for her research into the archival incidents. 

Giaimo also shared my interest in the political angle and the humor of the following memes.  Her article was posted with Trump asking the child in the It meme about a certain campaign promise he had made.








The image is frightening but funny, in the context of social media sharing.

The politics of clowns and the election may be interrelated, but not in any way we yet understand.

Facebook comment:

The first Hillary Clinton/Donald Trump debate scheduled for September 26, 2016, 41 years after The Rocky Horror Picture Show premieres in the USA, Los Angeles, 1975. Tim Curry plays Dr. Frank N. Furter, as he did on stage. Tim Curry also plays the first Pennywise in the TV miniseries It, and will be 71 years & 142 days old on September 8, 2017, the scheduled release of the It reboot. So, Curry will be 71 years & 71+71 days old. I'll spare the other numerology, but it's interesting, the transexual themes bombarding the conditioning media, on September 26 there are 96 days left in the year, 96=freemason. ~ Ronald Christopher Walker





The Phantom Clowns are not through with us. That's for certain.









4 comments:

Tom Mellett said...

OMG, Loren! You really stepped in it this time! I'm very worried that you may find yourself caught in a crossfire between two warring media clown tabloid giants, namely, the New York Post and the New York Daily News. Since I am a native New Yorker myself, having grown up reading these competing tabloids since 1956 in my Irish Catholic tenement neighborhood up near the Bronx, I need to brief you on the dynamics that you are missing.

First let me correct a very mistaken statement you made to the reporter:

“I put it in the context of the NY Post (tabloids) placing Trump on the cover.”

Actually, the NY Post has never put Trump on its cover with a clown face. Only the NY Daily News has done that. Why? Because the Post is totally pro-Trump while the NY Daily News hates Trump with the same passion that Adolf Hitler hated Jews.

Look at the 7 covers you posted here: 5 are NY DN, each one with a Trump clown face, while the 2 Post covers do not portray Trump as a clown at all.

Now what does the Daily News hate even more than Trump? The New York Post. So the DN will stop at nothing to vilify Trump like Julius Streicher vilified Jews in his Nazi Stürmer magazine.

Therefore, Loren, it would not surprise me at all if, in tomorrow's edition of the NY Daily News, they pick up your Atlas Obscura interview in order to bash their hated rival, the Post, by bashing Trump through the “money quote” you gave them on a silver platter. They may not put you on the front cover, but I could imagine a story headline inside like this:

CLOWN EXPERT CONCLUDES:
“TRUMP IS THE REAL CLOWN!”


Now, I hope my prediction doesn't come to pass, but if it does, well, you can start calling me Cassandra.

Until then, I remain . . .

Tom

Tom Mellett said...

Loren, instead of blaming Trump, how about shifting the blame to where it really belongs --- on Stephen King

http://bangordailynews.com/2016/09/08/news/state/please-dont-send-in-the-clowns-stephen-king-reacts-to-carolina-scare/

Luna Coyle said...

So are these clowns actually doing anything harmful? I mean the ones hanging out and not the ones (Lol). If not then why does anyone need to be 'blamed' for it or behind it? I've seen pictures of clown sightings but not heard of them doing anything to children.

Unknown said...

I suggest everyone watch the excellent documentary, "Killer Klowns From Outer Space." This will clear up everything.