Post by pitbulllady on Jul 14, 2005 13:20:53 GMT -5
Guess I'll go first and get the ball rolling here, by instigating a discussion on my favorite character, Wilt.
I liked this guy before I even started watching the show; I don't know what it was, but seeing fanart pics of him on DA just intrigued me. I have to admit, that just as my curiosity about this "Randall Boggs" prompted me to buy the "Monsters, Inc." DVD(never saw it in theaters), curiosity about this tall red thing with a missing arm prompted me to heed the advice of others and start watching Foster's.
One of the reasons this character appeals to me, besides his design, is that it is implied that he has this very unpleasant and somewhat mysterious past. I've always liked characters with mysterious pasts, since it's what we DON'T know about them that makes them so intriguing. I know that speculation about what happened to Wilt's left arm and left eye, as well as his face has been the subject of many a fanfic, most of which have him completely OOC. I don't think he was created that way, though, but that something awful did happen to him at some point. On the official Cartoon Network sight, Wilt's character description reads something like, "...even though life has been a little rough to Wilt, he's incredibly cheerful, positive and opitimistic, almost to a fault", which further indicates to me that the missing arm and eye and the facial scars are the results of injuries. If he'd always been like that, you couldn't say "life had been a little rough" to him, since you don't miss what you never had in the first place.
I have a theory about that personality, too. Wilt's enthusiasm for helping others, even sacraficing his own happiness, could very well stem from some deep fear of being abandoned again, for making someone angry, or hurting someone's feelings, or creating some conflict. I think he IS truelly cheerful and happy, but at the same time, some of it is compensation for that fear. It's obvious from some episodes, especially "Sight For Sore Eyes", that Wilt has some pretty deeply-rooted abandonment issues. One of the few things that really makes him mad is for someone to "ditch" someone else, or even just to fail to keep an appoinment with them, so I get the impression that whatever the circumstances of his orginal family leaving him, HE did not go along with the idea and still has trouble accepting it. The fear of being abandoned, or perhaps injured, yet again also seems to be behind his constant subtle ploy to avoid adoption. He is always stating how there are many other Friends there who are more deserving of adoption than he is. Is this real altruism or is he putting them ahead of himself for the possibility of an unpleasant fate? He himself probably doesn't even consciously realize he's doing that.
While his cheerfulness and willingness to help are good things, I know that for some people, his constantly saying "sorry" can get annoying! However, I've noticed that many times he says this, he isn't actually apologizing for anything. It's just a phrase he says. Most of us know people who have a phrase they say over and over when speaking, especially those who are always saying "you know", when in fact neither they nor the person they are speaking to actually knows! "I'm sorry" just happens to be Wilt's catch-phrase. He says it differently when he's just talking, as opposed to when he actually IS apologizing for something he did. It really doesn't bother me, at least nowhere near as much as people who constantly say "you know"!
Now, to the "why does Wilt sleep UNDER the bed?'" question; well, I've got a theory for that, too. Most of you have probably noticed that Wilt IS very tall, much taller than most humans would be. I have observed that he likes to sleep on his back, stretched out, which would be very difficult to do on a bed made for humans. His feet, and indeed, his lower legs, would hang off the end of the bed, and that would not only be uncomfortable, but very harmful to circulation. Besides, if he's like me-and yes, I'm an adult-he probably can't help but to get that creepy feeling that if his feet are hanging off the bed, as soon as he's asleep, some unnamed horrible Something is going to reach out from under the bed and grab 'em! It's easier and more comfortable for him just to sleep on the floor, and by being under a bed he's less likely to get stepped on.
pitbulllady
I liked this guy before I even started watching the show; I don't know what it was, but seeing fanart pics of him on DA just intrigued me. I have to admit, that just as my curiosity about this "Randall Boggs" prompted me to buy the "Monsters, Inc." DVD(never saw it in theaters), curiosity about this tall red thing with a missing arm prompted me to heed the advice of others and start watching Foster's.
One of the reasons this character appeals to me, besides his design, is that it is implied that he has this very unpleasant and somewhat mysterious past. I've always liked characters with mysterious pasts, since it's what we DON'T know about them that makes them so intriguing. I know that speculation about what happened to Wilt's left arm and left eye, as well as his face has been the subject of many a fanfic, most of which have him completely OOC. I don't think he was created that way, though, but that something awful did happen to him at some point. On the official Cartoon Network sight, Wilt's character description reads something like, "...even though life has been a little rough to Wilt, he's incredibly cheerful, positive and opitimistic, almost to a fault", which further indicates to me that the missing arm and eye and the facial scars are the results of injuries. If he'd always been like that, you couldn't say "life had been a little rough" to him, since you don't miss what you never had in the first place.
I have a theory about that personality, too. Wilt's enthusiasm for helping others, even sacraficing his own happiness, could very well stem from some deep fear of being abandoned again, for making someone angry, or hurting someone's feelings, or creating some conflict. I think he IS truelly cheerful and happy, but at the same time, some of it is compensation for that fear. It's obvious from some episodes, especially "Sight For Sore Eyes", that Wilt has some pretty deeply-rooted abandonment issues. One of the few things that really makes him mad is for someone to "ditch" someone else, or even just to fail to keep an appoinment with them, so I get the impression that whatever the circumstances of his orginal family leaving him, HE did not go along with the idea and still has trouble accepting it. The fear of being abandoned, or perhaps injured, yet again also seems to be behind his constant subtle ploy to avoid adoption. He is always stating how there are many other Friends there who are more deserving of adoption than he is. Is this real altruism or is he putting them ahead of himself for the possibility of an unpleasant fate? He himself probably doesn't even consciously realize he's doing that.
While his cheerfulness and willingness to help are good things, I know that for some people, his constantly saying "sorry" can get annoying! However, I've noticed that many times he says this, he isn't actually apologizing for anything. It's just a phrase he says. Most of us know people who have a phrase they say over and over when speaking, especially those who are always saying "you know", when in fact neither they nor the person they are speaking to actually knows! "I'm sorry" just happens to be Wilt's catch-phrase. He says it differently when he's just talking, as opposed to when he actually IS apologizing for something he did. It really doesn't bother me, at least nowhere near as much as people who constantly say "you know"!
Now, to the "why does Wilt sleep UNDER the bed?'" question; well, I've got a theory for that, too. Most of you have probably noticed that Wilt IS very tall, much taller than most humans would be. I have observed that he likes to sleep on his back, stretched out, which would be very difficult to do on a bed made for humans. His feet, and indeed, his lower legs, would hang off the end of the bed, and that would not only be uncomfortable, but very harmful to circulation. Besides, if he's like me-and yes, I'm an adult-he probably can't help but to get that creepy feeling that if his feet are hanging off the bed, as soon as he's asleep, some unnamed horrible Something is going to reach out from under the bed and grab 'em! It's easier and more comfortable for him just to sleep on the floor, and by being under a bed he's less likely to get stepped on.
pitbulllady