Wooton, Camilla, and Priscilla: Supposed Annoyingness

[Pound Foolish]

Why do we laugh?
Think about it for a second. According to scientists, it would be more advantageous, evolutionarily speaking, if we just held our emotions in, fuel for actions, choices and energy. (Evolutionarily is a word, by the way.) We’re all Christians, however. And while we don’t necessarily see evolution as heresy and lies, we can mostly agree it’s a “theory” that’s chock full of holes and has been embraced by the scientific world as fact, thrown at children in public schools, and used as proof of the nonexistence of God, to the point it’s little more than a joke. (Quite literally a joke. You don’t have to employ much wit to make cracks about evolution: “Hey, why are we at the Zoo to see apes when we’re apes? Ha ha ha!”)
But even if you’re Christian, laughter is something of a mystery. As we know, hundreds of books have been written on why we laugh. We also aren’t the only animals who laugh. “Rats, for example, produce high-pitch vocalizations during play and when tickled. But it’s very different in sound from human laughter.” MSNBC tells us. Scientists can stimulate a part of the brain to make someone laugh. And laughter can get very out of control… especially when it becomes an epidemic. “Consider the bizarre events of the 1962 outbreak of contagious laughter in Tanganyika (now Tanzania). What began as an isolated fit of laughter in a group of 12-to 18-year-old schoolgirls rapidly rose to epidemic proportions. Contagious laughter propagated from one individual to the next, eventually infecting adjacent communities. Like an influenza outbreak, the laughter epidemic was so severe that it required the closing of at least 14 schools and afflicted about 1,000 people. Fluctuating in intensity, it lasted for around two and a half years.”
Why does laughter have such power? Laughter, contrary to popular belief, doesn’t stem from humour. Most laughter, Psychology Today informs us, is the result of us attempting to bond with each other, communicating friendship. Thus, most things we laugh at aren’t humorous. You know what I’m talking about:
“Hi, Mary. Ha ha ha ha!”
(Personally I never do that because it drives me crazy.) And most wisecracks people make among companion(s) are fairly unfunny, though people will generally laugh. So then, we laugh to connect with others. Laughter, good, kind laughter, let’s others know we are comfortable with them and puts us at ease. Laughter is a bonding tool. If you like someone, you laugh. Especially if you already know you find him/her funny. (People will often laugh at the mere site of a comedian.)
And so we come to Wooton. Many of us like Wooton’s goofball side. We’re accustomed to thinking of him as a friend, and like it that way. When he’s around, we smile. We may even laugh at his first line even if it’s not funny. It’s just like when a comedian comes onstage. It’s the way our AIO taught our minds to work. Wooton: laugh.
But others don’t work that way. To them, the new Wooton isn’t and shouldn’t be one of the most central characters. And they see him as corny, and think he gets more attention and roles than are necessary. They assert Wooton’s huge amount of air doesn’t benefit the show, and claim the post hiatus Wooton is ***oying and unfunny.
They aren’t pals with the new Wooton.
They feel Wooton doesn’t belong in the throng of most central characters he’s joined.
That he’s not one of the gang.
Some of us are just Wooton’s friend, period. We didn’t look for or expect a whole lot of change or problems with the Wooton now as compared to who he was in The Best Small Town. He’s Wooton. He has the same ol’ voice, so there’s no reason to look for differences.
So, why do so many listeners find Wooton, Penny, and Olivia, and so on, ***oying? It’s psychological. Some of us see them as part of the new group. We like them, and want them to be in our crowd. We’ve accepted them.
Others just can’t accept them. They wish for the old days, recall their old friends, want things to remain as similar to the old shows as possible. They don’t welcome new characters easily. And, sigh, they never forget that blessed word ***oying.
Now, make no mistake. The latter ones aren’t just grumps and complainers. They’re simply dedicated to AIO. They know Odyssey has set high standards for its characters, and look carefully to see newcomers and returning old characters meet those standards. That’s good.
But do we really need to be constantly slamming characters like Camilla, Wooton, etc? Can’t they ever escape that label… I won’t say it again, but you know.
Maybe Wooton really just doesn’t suit our sense of humor anymore. Maybe Priscilla really is overly flirtatious. Maybe Olivia is somewhat over the top.
Fine.
But we accept these sorts of things in our friends. If we find a friend to not be funny at first, we often eventually find our reactions to their types of humor changing. If we think a friend is a bit too flirtatious, fine, but we won’t abandon him/her over it, will we? (I hope not, since I’m rather…) If a friend is over the top, then do we give them up just because of that? (I hope not, since…)
Remember, characters are real people.
Another common objection, is that a character has an “annoying” voice. Manalive, a character is so much more than their voice… and if you get to like the character, then you’ll likely grow to like the voice.
Again, a character is a person. We must know this to be a fact. Or else, we cannot care about them. What endears us to the imaginary is not its dissimilarity to the real world. It’s how it reflects actuality. It’s how it reconstructs truth. A character is a character because he or she is real.
Would you reject a real person you met at a party because you didn’t like their voice?
And as a real person, we may make friends with them. And once we’re they’re befriended…
We laugh with them.
Now, sometimes, a character really and truly is just thoroughly unfunny and “annoying” and nobody is going to like them much. But normally, that’s not the case. Normally, we’re not working hard enough to accept them.
Try stopping comparing Wooton to how he “used” to be. And just listen to a new episode. Pretend this is an old episode, and there’s no difference. Mentally say hi when he comes in… and see if it’s so bad.
AIO is its characters. That’s why we keep coming back. We become familiar with the main characters. We grow to love them. We stay.
This isn’t to say we need to like every character. But we do need to listen to them. To put aside our gut reactions. And judge carefully.
You owe it to the characters.
Besides, that's why we laugh. We need friends.
Yes, my dear fellow, it seems odd to say it, but you need Wooton. Whether you run on top of trains for inspiration or not.
Well, let’s talk it up!

“… laughter is a form of prayer.”
Jim Weiss, famous CD narrator

Calvin: Isn't it strange that evolution would give us a sense of humor? When you think about it, it's weird that we have a physiological response to absurdity. We laugh at nonsense. We like it. We think it's funny. Don't you think it's odd that we appreciate absurdity? Why would we develop that way? How does it benefit us?
Hobbes: I suppose if we couldn't laugh at things that don't make sense, we couldn't react to a lot of life.
Calvin: (after a long pause) I can't tell if that's funny or really scary.

[Starflower1234]

Wow, awesome post. And I agree with most of it. I really don't dislike any of the new characters at all. I miss the old characters, but I'm starting to grow fond of the new characters as well. I think sometimes that when I read articles or reviews about episodes or characters, it tends to influence my opinion of the episodes or characters slightly. It's funny how about some things I can be very impressionable, while with others I won't change my mind at all no matter what other people say (other than my parents or grandparents).
But really, I haven't noticed that much of a change in Wooton, and didn't notice any change until I read an article about him changing. I do laugh at almost everything Wooton says, and that makes episodes like Wooton's Broken Pencil Show and Push the Red Button episodes that I really enjoy. I enjoy hearing Camilla. I like Priscilla, despite her flirting. And, I think Emily is a good character, and enjoy most of her episodes. (I finally made a statement about what I think of Emily. I just hope I don't get caught up in the war now. ) I can't think of a single episode since the re-launch that I strongly disliked.
But I do know that even though I love laughing at episodes, I also love episodes that make me cry as well. But, there weren't a lot of those before the re-launch either. From what I've heard about Album 57, it's possible that there could be some of those deeply moving episodes in the near future. After there's one or two of those, I personally won't have much to complain about.
By the way, I love the Calvin and Hobbes quote. And your discussion about laughter is very interesting. I do tend to laugh at things that aren't really funny, but it's not necessarily always when I'm comfortable with the people I'm around. A lot of times I'll laugh at something when I'm very uncomfortable, and the thing I'm laughing at isn't really funny at all, so I end up hiding my laughter. And then sometimes I'll be sitting at the dinner table and someone says something and for some odd reason I can't stop laughing, and everyone else ends up staring at me because I can't breathe I'm laughing so hard. Laughter can be very strange and confusing sometimes.

[Pound Foolish]

Thank you for your comment, Starflower. I actually didn't expect anyone to reply to this thing, it's too darn big.
It's good to hear you keep an open mind when reading on a subject, that's something we humans don't do enough. But I would agree that, by and large, Wooton is very similar to his earlier episodes... however try listening to Welcoming Wooton, then turning on A Penny Earned. But you're right, he's still pretty much the same person.
Anyhow, It's good to hear you like Emily. That is a sign of true intellect, and all Emily lovers applaud you.
As to laughter... Every word you said on that was fascinating. Laughter often indeed results from discomfort rather than comfort. You know, when someone points out a girl needs to shave her legs, people will generally laugh to cover their awkward feelings, but they won't necessarily think it's funny... unless you're me, maybe. (You probably felt awkward just reading that. You're welcome.)
Point being, in fact, I was, now you mention it, over generalizing. So thank you for pointing that out. But I suppose the point remains: something really doesn't need to be "funny" for us to laugh.

[Sage]

You're right Pound Foolish...you're so right. I read your post about 5 times to let it sink in.
I think a lot of listeners just have a hard time accepting change. "But change can help you change, and that can be a good thing". Odyssey has changed a lot. But we were there for the 'old' characters, and they were there for us. We were there for Sarah and Liza and so on, so why can't we be there for...*gulps*....Camilla, Olivia, Emily and....Penny. Odyssey has always been my family, so I guess I have to accept the new members.

[Pound Foolish]

My goodness, I'm flattered. And impressed. Thank you for having such an open mind, Sage... if only certain others around here did. (Yeah, you. You know who I'm talking to.)
A family is an excellent way to put it. It's hard when a family grows, and you're not going to easily like everyone in your family. But it's something you have to get past. Thanks for the analogy.