The Semiotics of Clowns and Clowning: Rituals of Transgression and the Theory of Laughter
Ebook
Overview
During the last 300 years circus clowns have emerged as powerful cultural icons. This is the first semiotic analysis of the range of make-up and costumes through which the clowns’ performing identities have been established and go on developing. It also examines what Bouissac terms ‘micronarratives’ - narrative meanings that clowns generate through their acts, dialogues and gestures.
Putting a repertory of clown performances under the semiotic microscope leads to the conclusion that the performances are all interconnected and come from what might be termed a ‘mythical matrix’. These micronarratives replicate in context-sensitive forms a master narrative whose general theme refers to the emergence of cultures and constraints that they place upon instinctual behaviour.
From this vantage point, each performance can be considered as a ritual which re-enacts the primitive violence inherent in all cultures and the temporary resolutions which must be negotiated as the outcome. Why do these acts of transgression and re-integration then trigger laughter and wonder? What kind of mirror does this put up to society? In a masterful semiotic analysis, Bouissac delves into decades of research to answer these questions.
Showcases the semiotic import of the act of clowning and how these narrative acts refer back to the origins of civilization.
Analysis of clowns’ performing identities, make up and expressions
Examines what clowns and clowning say about civilization and its systemic rules
Decades of close-quarters research on clowning presented in an accessible form
Introduction
1. The Faces of the Clown
Appearance and identity
The making of a face
Kinds and scales of facial transformations in clowns
The crafting of a clown’s make-up
The face of dominance
Interpreting the face of a clown
The modern face of the clown
When clowns go post-modern
2. The Costumes of the Clowns
The clowns’ trunks
Splendor and sophistication of the whiteface
The auguste’s misfits and tatters
Sociosemiotics and biosemiotics of clown costumes
Clowns in drag: cross-dressing and transvestism
3. The Clown’s Workshop
The semiotics of artifacts
A visit to Charlie Cairoli’s workshop
When clowns play magic
Clowns as craftsmen and engineers
The clown’s barnyard
4. The Semiotics of Gags
What is a gag?
Gags in context
Rob Torres: a solo clown act in New York
The semiotic anatomy of gags
The physics of gags
5. The Game of the Rules
The language of clowning
The straight, the tight, and the loose
Identity: one in two, two in one
6. Clown and Trickster
Master of tricks
Too good to be true
Transgression and consequences
Master of fire
The trickster and his avatars
Understanding tricksters and clowns
Peering in the cultural past: a reasoned speculation
7. Clowns and Gender Play: Politics and Economy of Sex
Beyond sex and gender
Images of desire
An odd couple
A “normal” couple
A bird tale
Gender play
8. Clowns, Death, and Laughter
Death at the circus
Death of the auguste
Realm of the macabre: ghosts, corpses, and skeletons
Clowns and death in the arts: laughter at the edge
9. Profaning the Sacred
The avatars of Clown
A grand narrative and its fractal performances
The sacred and the profane
Putting things inside out and upside down
10. Clowns without Borders
Mapping clowns on the world
Clowns without borders?
Clowning beyond the cultural fences
Clowning in Java
The gentrification of clowns
Clowns with a mission
Conclusion: Contribution to the Theory of Laughter
What is laughter?
The meaning of laughter
Senseless laughing
Laughter as addiction: a hypothesis and an agenda
References
One of the major contributions of the book is that, after reading it, watching clown performances can never be the same: the author guides us through the semiotics of clowning in such detail that every move and feature of clown acts will be overloaded with meaning(s) for the readers ... [A] reader-friendly book and an invaluable ethnographic approach to an area of study that has been most neglected by (humour and other) scholars ... particularly interesting for humour researchers, especially those who investigate clown performances in or, mostly nowadays, outside circuses.
An important addition to literature on clowns and laughter, and an ambitious attempt to address in transcendent terms the negotiation of meaning at the heart of clown-generated laughter ... Valuable insights into practice abound ... Bouissac’s knowledge of and sensitivity to a breadth of cultural contexts allows for fascinating and relevant examinations of time-honored clown routines ... Indeed his book finds its full value in a sustained reflection from a perspective we don’t usually encounter: the sign-rich soil beneath our social interaction and the precise manner of its playful overturning by the classic circus clown.
In this book, Paul Bouissac, pioneer and master of the scientific approach to circus arts, demonstrates in a complete and brilliant way, by semiotic, anthropological and cognitive approaches, how the clowning art is a multimodal and complex act of communication, which produces laughter and sense through cognitive and cultural constructions shared by artists and spectators. THE definitive reference to understand clowning!
Bouissac brings his customary rigour and a true respect and love for the art of clowning to the task of discussing what clowns actually do and what it might mean. The full force of semiotic analysis bears generous fruit as Bouissac bases any theoretical analysis or deductions upon actual detailed descriptions of clowns in action. A hugely valuable contribution to the growing field of clown studies and an antidote to the lazy off-the-shelf popular mythologizing about clowning which passes for commentary in many quarters.
- Title: The Semiotics of Clowns and Clowning: Rituals of Transgression and the Theory of Laughter
- Author: Paul Bouissac
- Series: Bloomsbury Advances in Semiotics
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2015
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Pages: 272
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781472525086, 9781472532787, 1472532783, 1472525086
- Resource ID: LLS:9781472525086
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T10:19:05Z
Paul Bouissac is Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto (Victoria College), Canada. He is a world renowned figure in semiotics and a pioneer of circus studies. He runs the SemiotiX Bulletin [www.semioticon.com/semiotix] which has a global readership.