Clown Present

Clown Present 

 In this section of clowns in the present I am going to introduce harlequins, well a different take on it.

The game Batman Arkham Asylum has a character called Harley Quinn which is play on words off the word harlequin. 

“9. Harley Quinn (voiced by Arleen Sorkin)”

(Josh. 2009).

She is listed as number 9 on the characters that are in the batman arkham asylum game.

Harley Quinn is dressed like a harlequin, which is suitable as the person she is in love with is the joker another form of clown. 

The game batman arkham asylum and the newly released batman arkham city has her in it and she is actually dressed like a harlequin would do with a slight modern take on the costume, she is the prime example that clowns still play a role in today’s society. Even though it might be connecting with the gaming audience it is still relevant. 

So let’s get some background information about Harley Quinn.

“Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel, also known as Harley Quinn, first appeared in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Jokers Favor" (episode #022, original air date: September 11, 1992) where she served as a humorous female sidekick to the Joker. In her first appearances she was depicted as a character completely devoted to the Joker, totally oblivious to his psychotic nature and his obvious lack of affection for her - a characterization that has remained more or less consistent throughout her subsequent appearances. Her name is a play on the word 'harlequin'.”

(unknown. 2008).

Here is a picture of her from the batman comics:

(clownyprincess. 2010)

Here is a picture of her from the Batman Arkham asylum game:

(J Patrick Ohlde.  2009 ).

And here is the latest picture of her from the new Batman Arkham city game:

(CyberneticR. 2011).

Because she absolutely loves the joker more than he loves her, she said something to describe her love for the joker:

“"My love for my Joker was stronger than their madhouse walls."” 

(unknown. 2011).

That quote is relevant as joker is seen as being completely insane, hence why she chose the words madhouse, Harley is by the joker’s side no matter what. Even though the joker does not show Harley how he feels or tells her how he feels, he does care because if he didn’t he would probably not have kept her around.

There are even dolls made of Harley Quinn that are found on eBay which is an auctioning site for almost everything. Even the price is a lot for a simple doll which shows that even in this time and era dolls of a clown breed is still popular. Yeah sure the doll might be of a psychopath with no remorse when it comes to killing people, nonetheless it is still popular in this day and age, what a scary world we live in.

(Mattel.  2011).

Moving onto a worldwide known clown that goes by the name of Ronald McDonald, wait….what... I hear you saying how can he possibly be in the present, there just is no way he is... sadly friends he very much is present, let me break it down for you.

What people forget is that the company “McDonalds” has been around since the dawn of time, slowly but surely infiltrating the minds of young ones with their very weird looking clown by the name of Ronald McDonald.

I hope you can sense the sarcasm in that paragraph anyway back on point on how he is relevant, well it cannot be possible the first ever person who portrayed this clown is still doing it for the McDonalds commercials, no.. What McDonalds have cleverly done is, every few years they pick a person and tell him to relive this horrid nightmare or they will bug him until he does it anyway (sarcasm is evident still).  The person portraying him presently goes by the name of Brad Lennon, he also has a Facebook. 

(American Badass 607.  2010).

As if this would not have been enough to make you question what world we live in, they actually have awards for clowns.

Yeah you heard or shall I say read right, they now have awards for clown of the year.

Well the person we are going to have a look at is amazing, he has managed to humiliate himself, no I do apologise I cannot let my emotions control my actions, I do apologise if people are offended by what I say, I promise it’s just a bit of humour no offence is intended. 

Well 2011 clown of the year goes by the name “Earl “Orky” Temkin”.

He was named clown of the year by the “World Clown Association”

Here is a picture of the winner:

( Joyce Payne. 2011).

Going back into some serious clown business a person has also been given the title of clown of the year by a person from the website Dallas drilling.

Anyway he has managed to win this award 2 years in a row, he won the 2010 clown of the year and now has won the 2011 clown of the year. 

He goes by the name of Rick Perry and is the governor of Texas which is in America.

Here is a picture of Rick Perry:

(concerned64. 2010).

Here is a small section of what has been written about him which explains why they gave him this title.

“CLOWN GOVERNOR RICK PERRY

He performs his acts in a state that encourages unethical behaviour between industry and state regulators. He skates by any investigation or inquiry into these practices while proclaiming that Texas is open for business. As the state continues to slide into becoming the dirtiest state in the country and his other clowns help to continue the masquerade, the rest of us pay the price with a dirty environment and ill health.”

(concerned64. 2010).

Conclusion:

In the clown present I found that there are different terms of the word clown, whether it comes from fictional characters or governors that really mess up badly when it comes to their jobs.

So I conclude that clown in the present also has a cultural relevance just like its past history has a cultural relevance, even though if the culture is the gaming world and has only characters to relate to.