During the initial viewing of the “Hobo Clown”, I thought that we were watching a reenactment of someone’s trip on acid through the use of claymation. I also wondered how it was relative to class. But after discussing it as a class with Andrew, I realized it was to kickstart ideas for the next project- building a diorama of a world based off of adjectives we used to describe the video.
The beginning of the video depicts a clay clown. He’s all black, wears a scarf, and his head is adorned with flowers. He sits alone in a dark place that resembles an alley, with only a small fire and a log to sit on. His facial expression is bewildered, distraught almost. He sits hunch backed, as if he has no pride left in him, no reason to be happy or even live anymore. All of the sudden shadows appear over him and it zooms to his hands. He’s rubbing them together nervously. His eyes are constantly growing and shrinking, changing color simultaneously. Halfway through the video, the camera zooms into his eyes and they spread and grow until they become entirely white. The camera cuts to white flowers and then to Hobo Clown. He’s white now. His facial expression and posture are the same though. He’s surrounded by flowers, and when he goes to pick one up, it melts in his hand. The camera zooms to the melting hand and white clay covers the screen yet again. It cuts to the clowns head. His neck is black but his face is still white. We watch as his face changes colors and shapes and then melts to a skull shape, and then into a puddle. The puddle grows and grows until it completely envelops the flowers while the clown stands from afar and watches it take over. The end of the video is of the clown, faceless, standing alone in this weird, white world.
I honestly don’t know what to think of the video. I kind of believe it has no true meaning behind it. But if I had to say there was one, it would be that it’s an interpretation of depression, or mental illness. The clown is sad no matter his location. In both the dreary, dark place, and the pure white, beautiful place covered in flowers. He picks up the flower and it melts. It could represent that even when he tries to be happy and shake of the depression, he can’t. It’s not possible to escape this mental illness. And it ends with the clown faceless, melting into himself. It’s almost like he gave up. He’s done living that way and he just gives into it and let’s it swallow him until there’s nothing left and he dies, or maybe even kills himself.
The word I chose to represent with my diorama is ‘fantasy’. The world the clown was in was unreal, like a fantasy land. I created one that he could live in, but it’s a happy place. The ground is tie-dye, the road is made of glitter and gem stones, the sky is rainbow, and the trees are cotton candy and even smell of cotton candy (perfume). I just wanted to create a fantasy world where everything was cheery and colorful. 
joeysackenheim 