Spongebob Squarepants: Show Analysis

The cartoon Spongebob Squarepants is an American classic; premiering in mid-1999, the show has since become enormously popular and a widely-recognized cultural staple. The show’s content resembles the American cultural standards in a similar way– take the episode Snowball Effect, for example: the nation’s civilization is oozing out of Spongebob, Patrick and Squidward’s misadventures. The episode demonstrates the common draw to conflict and competition that is buried deep within the American identity. The show opens on Bikini Bottom, the town in which the show primarily takes place, and winter weather has brought “not a pillow or a sheet, but a blanket… a blanket of snow”. This prompts our silly (almost childish, for a lack of better term)

Their fun is quickly corrupted, and turns from innocent snow angels between loving friends to a war-like snowball fight between bitter foes. Their neighbor, a blue octopus referred to as Squidward, who makes his residence in between Patrick’s rock home and Spongebob’s furnished pineapple, notices the commotion and beckons for his neighbors (who he clearly bears a strong animosity for) to stop. They not only ignore him, but call for him to join their fight: Spongebob yells:“Squidward! You 're just in time to enlist in my army! Join me, and together we 'll defeat the Pink Menace!”, wherein “the Pink Menace” likely refers to the Soviet Union’s nickname as “the Red Menace” during the Cold War (another reference to America). Squidward eventually gives in and joins the two after trying to get them to continue fighting for his amusement, and his damning need to be the best leads him to take the game seriously. Too seriously. He, without hesitation or guilt, begins to make and throw snowballs at

Only look at the most basic part of it: two people (friends, even) fighting for no apparent reason, just as Americans clamor for conflict (and while one could list examples, this is not a thesis on the justification of American warmongering). An article by The Guardian states that, in The United States, there are “88 guns for every 100 people” (The Guardian). Would a nation whose populous holds firearms in such a high regard that there is nearly a 1:1 guns-to-people ratio not be drawn to and idealize war and violence? The article continues with statistic upon statistic about gun ownership in the United States. In Spongebob and Patrick’s case, snowballs are being manufactured rapidly to serve the purpose of combat, reflecting the need for the manufacture of guns and ammunition to serve the ravenous hunger that us “Yankees” have for them. While a majority of the statistics reported in the article are horrific, another one sticks out to the reader: “Americans overall are ‘25 times more likely to be murdered with a gun than people in other developed countries’”. In terms of gun violence alone, the United States is 25 times more dangerous than other developed countries. Would you like to be 25 times more likely to be shot and killed? Anyone with a brain would not. The American identity represents a culture revolving around not just guns, but violence in general, and so