What better a metaphor for life than a clown? Especially a sad clown. The more depressed, decrepit, broken-down, busted-up, and bruised the clown is, the better a metaphor for life. Perhaps this is where the majority of coulrophobia stems from. Nobody wants to look a metaphor in the eye, now do they? The truth hurts! Bananas, on the other hand, don't tend to incite fear. A banana is a nice fruit. A good fruit. Yellow, aesthetically pleasing, and smooth. Sometimes, people slip on their peels and hurt themselves, much to the merriment of all. Honest, clean fun - yes, who doesn't like bananas? What better way, then, to clean up a clown than to cross-breed it with a banana? "Madness!" you say? Well, it's not madness to Ishmael, for he is the Clownana.
"The Plight of Clownana" is a short film, 16 minutes long if I was counting correctly. Written and directed by Chris Dowling, and produced by Chris and his friend Jensen Ackles, it tells the story of an ice cream store mascot, the Clownana, doing his part to repair the crappy rep of those dreaded clowns that nobody wants to look in the eye. He dances, wearing a hybrid banana-clown suit, on the corner of Olive and Beachwood, and yes he is good. It is his calling, his passion, his essence. He is bringing joy to passers-by with his awesome moves. All is peachy until a sex shop opens across the street, sending forth its own dancing mascot in the form of a giant furry dildo. Dildo man is good too. He's real good. And so begins a petty rivalry.
As Clownana starts to doubt his purpose in life, he philosophizes like some kind of plushie Voltaire, his faith tested as was Candide's. At his lowest point, provoked by four jerks in a jeep, Ishmael snaps, dragging one of those insufferably smug meatheads out of the car for a throw-down. Well, I'm not going to ruin the glorious ending of this wonderful film for you. High-brow and tongue-in-cheek, "The Plight of Clownana" delivers a little shot of inspiration coupled with more than a dash of absurdity. Camus once said, "The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth." Absurd like clowns, bananas, giant fuzzy penises, dance-offs, street-fighting jocks and...absurd like, well, life.
"The Plight of Clownana" is a short film, 16 minutes long if I was counting correctly. Written and directed by Chris Dowling, and produced by Chris and his friend Jensen Ackles, it tells the story of an ice cream store mascot, the Clownana, doing his part to repair the crappy rep of those dreaded clowns that nobody wants to look in the eye. He dances, wearing a hybrid banana-clown suit, on the corner of Olive and Beachwood, and yes he is good. It is his calling, his passion, his essence. He is bringing joy to passers-by with his awesome moves. All is peachy until a sex shop opens across the street, sending forth its own dancing mascot in the form of a giant furry dildo. Dildo man is good too. He's real good. And so begins a petty rivalry.
As Clownana starts to doubt his purpose in life, he philosophizes like some kind of plushie Voltaire, his faith tested as was Candide's. At his lowest point, provoked by four jerks in a jeep, Ishmael snaps, dragging one of those insufferably smug meatheads out of the car for a throw-down. Well, I'm not going to ruin the glorious ending of this wonderful film for you. High-brow and tongue-in-cheek, "The Plight of Clownana" delivers a little shot of inspiration coupled with more than a dash of absurdity. Camus once said, "The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth." Absurd like clowns, bananas, giant fuzzy penises, dance-offs, street-fighting jocks and...absurd like, well, life.