Like many of the animated shows from the late 90s and early 2000s, from Hey Arnold! to Dexter's Laboratory to Kim Possible, Spongebob Squarepants (though the show is still running) stands as a great token of both nostalgia and, at times, obsession. While I no longer watch this classic on the daily, and I no longer own my Spongebob VideoNow (Yep, remember those?), my years of watching this sponge in a pineapple under the sea still hold a lasting effect.
Besides constantly being reminded of scenes and quotes from all of the show's eleven seasons, there is something more to the jokes and antics. The show dealt, and still deals with, themes in a particular way that is difficult to replicate in other shows or genres.
To demonstrate this idea, consider the twelfth episode of the series, titled "The Chaperone," which originally aired on October 2, 1999. This was the episode where Mr. Krabs coerced his daughter, Pearl, into taking Spongebob to her school dance, after her previous boyfriend, "tall, dark and handsome," dumped her. Pearl begs Spongebob to not be an embarrassment, so he decides to transform himself into the "tall, dark and handsome" that Pearl desires, even going to such lengths as walking on stilts and growing a living flower out of his tuxedo jacket.
During the dance, however, Spongebob is incapable of maintaining his normal facade, especially thanks to the stilts, and accidentally ruins the prom, inducing a Spongebob crying fit. Pearl, however, feeling sorry for Spongebob, asks him to dance, and they commence in "doing the Sponge," a dance that causes even more havoc and a few broken legs. Needless to say, Pearl and Spongebob are eventually kicked out of the prom.
On the surface, one could almost interpret this episode as, "If you try to be yourself, everyone will just hate you even more." After all, Spongebob decides to just be a sponge, and he gets kicked out of the prom. However, I doubt that this would stand as the actual theme of the episode, and I would rather argue that the writers are trying to say, "You don't need approval for your weirdness. There is always going to be people to hate who you are, but as long as you approve of who you are, that's all that really matters." Spongebob decided to be himself, and while that gained him scrutiny from the general populace, he was able to come to terms with who he was, and have a fun time doing it.
Needless to say, I dug pretty deep into this particular episode, but it is no doubt a representation of why I love Spongebob: the themes, the weirdness, and, of course, the fun. At the very least, by the end of the episode, you've got the catchy tune to "Doing the Sponge" stuck in your head, which, trust me, will never go away.
