Characterizing the Spongebob Squarepants Show: Spongebob Squarepants

In order to fully understand the titular character of the Spongebob Squarepants show, one must understand the inspiration for the character. While the main characters of the show are based on the seven deadly sins, the lest obvious correlation between a character and a sin is between Spongebob and his respective sin. In actuality, Spongebob Squarepants represents a non-conventional but accurate portrayal of the sin Lust.

Many people only view Lust as desire associated with sex or a sexual act; however, the word is also used to describe a strong desire for anything. This definition is often used when someone is power-hungry, and such characters are said to have a lust for power. A perfect example of this definition is Frank Underwood from House of Cards, a man who lusts for or desires political power. With this new definition in mind, that lust means a strong desire for anything, Spongebob Squarepants definitely qualifies for the transgression of Lust.

What Spongebob lusts for is perfection. In such episodes as “Best Day Ever”, Spongebob chases his dream day; unfortunately, whenever the day does not go according to his plans, he believes the day is completely ruined. Furthermore, almost all of the antics Spongebob gets himself into involve him trying to accomplish something he believes will make his life more perfect, (i.e. trying to befriend his neighbor Squidward because he believes that having friendly relations with all his neighbors is the ideal lifestyle). He does not really care about his friends’ lives. He only cares about what they can add to his life.

This challenging definition of Lust offered by the team behind Spongebob Squarepants causes an inward reflection. While Lust is most easily shown through as a need for sexual pleasures, it can manifest itself in other areas of life. In order to challenge perfection, the creative team at Nickelodeon deliverers a character who almost always seems to have a perfect life. He has a caring best friend, a good home, and a job he loves. He even treats one of his greatest opponents in the show, Squidward, with love and compassion. Spongebob’s ability to live not only a seemingly perfect American dream, but also accomplish one of the foundational commandments to Western religion (love your neighbor), is often used to overlook his underlying issues. He works harder than most to achieve his dream, but he has an obsession nonetheless. His obsession causes him to ruin situations that are fine, but not corresponding to his definition of perfection.

Maybe creator Stephen Hillenburg intended to portray Lust as the least of the seven deadly sins when he created Spongebob Squarepants. After all, his intense passion for life, friends, and occupation appear to bring him greater happiness and more substantial achievements than any other character on the Spongebob Squarepants show.

Characterizing the Spongebob Squarepants Show: Squidward Tentacles and Sandy Cheeks

Two supporting characters known for their extreme personalities are Squidward Tentacles and Sandy Cheeks. They most noticeably reflect their respective representative sin more than any other character.

Squidward Tentacles, Spongebob’s neighbor and co-worker, represents the sin of Wrath. Squidward personifies Wrath’s definition perfectly by spurning the love of his friends and opting for negativity instead. His pessimistic attitude is the drive for a countless number of plots. While Spongebob and Patrick Star attempt to include Squidward in a various array of activities, he never lets himself enjoy the fun he could be having with Spongebob and company. The shows creator, Stephen Hillenburg, lets Squidward shine through as a vindictive wit in an effort show that people can become too uptight and worried about their day to day issues. He is a passionate individual who strives for success in audible and visual art; unfortunately, his passion turns to obsession and eventually leads to his anger.

Sandy Cheeks, a squirrel from Texas, personifies the deadly sin of pride. Sandy is shown to be extremely smart and very passionate about areas ranging from robotics to biology. Hillenburg not only shows her at times as a pompous scientist but as a boastful Texan. The greatest example of her love of Texas comes in the episode “Texas”. Spongebob and Patrick are able to change Sandy’s decision to move back home by stalling her through the mockery of her Texan heritage. Sandy’s entire life is altered by her decision to beat up Spongebob and Patrick because they are mocking her home state. Even though she is extremely smart, Sandy Cheeks cannot stop herself from making rash decisions based on her pride. She shows the audience that while one can be intelligent, that does not mean one is completely immune to pride or any other sin.

Squidward and Sandy blatantly allow their emotions to control their words and sometimes their actions. In order to show the audience what can happen when someone doesn’t control emotions like anger or pride, Stephen Hillenburg created Squidward Tentacles and Sandy Cheeks.

Characterizing The Spongebob Squarepants Show: Mr. Krabs and Plankton

In addition to Patrick Star and Gary, Mr. Krabs and Plankton represent similar deadly sins, Greed and Envy. While both of these sins involve the perpetrator to desire more than what they already have, they differ in that Envy involves coveting someone else’s possessions and Greed involves wanting more while disregarding anything else.

The rivalry of Mr. Eugene Krabs and Sheldon Plankton might seem like a struggle between two different ideas; when in reality, they both desire something similar. In order to portray a literary foil, the characters of Eugene Krabs and Sheldon Plankton are portrayed as total opposites. For instance, Mr. Krabs is large while Plankton is microscopic, Mr. Krabs is red while Plankton is green,  and Mr. Krabs is a hero while Plankton is often portrayed as a villain. Looking at the sins they represent, Greed and Envy, the shows view their vices differently as well. Mr. Krabs is portrayed as a hero of Industry, a great Capitalist. His problematic desire for wealth is almost tolerated within the show. In contrast, Plankton is shown to be an envious competitor, desiring to achieve wealth by cheating the capitalist system. The show and its creator Hillenburg appear to clearly define the roles of these characters and the roles they symbolize in modern society.

A deeper analysis of these characters show a different story. The tension built up by their physical appearance and societal views serves only as misdirection from their true nature, equals. Both Eugene Krabs and Sheldon Plankton are not happy with their current financial status. This is the fundamental building block of their characters, their only difference is that Mr. Krabs achieves success through greed while Plankton attempts to achieve it through stealing other peoples success. Hillenburg attempts to show that neither the Capitalist nor the envious competitor is more guilty or more justified. They are both equally responsible for how they let their sins effect their future decisions.

This sad revelation shows that no matter how powerful a Capitalist becomes, they will never be satisfied. It shows that envy never leads to success because one can never become truly successful off of someone else’s hard work.

Characterizing The Spongebob Squarepants Show: Patrick Star & Gary

Aired on May 1st, 1999, Spongebob Squarepants became a facet of culture still producing new episodes even today.  While Americans have debated the messages of the yellow sponge for over a decade, he has come to hold a special place in the development of youth between the late 1990’s and present day America. Many people, however, do not know that the show’s creator based the seven main characters on the seven deadly sins of the Bible. A brief comparison between the show’s characters and the sins of Sloth, Gluttony, Greed, Envy, Wrath, Pride, and Lust show that Stephen Hillenburg, marine biologist turned animator, intended his show to reflect these deadly vices. More specifically, Patrick Star and Gary the Snail represent two sins often mistaken for the same vice.

Sloth can be defined as the sin of inaction or laziness. Patrick Star, perhaps the most recognizable starfish on the planet, personifies laziness so much as to earn an award for his laziness as seen in the episode, “Big Pink Loser”. He can be best described as a helpful playmate for Spongebob who never really achieves anything without his friends compulsion. Patrick Star provides comic relief, arguably the most humorous character, but at a terrible cost. His inactivity leads to dis-involvement  from education to purpose of life. Even though his character is humorous, the show displays that without drive or action, ones life can reach a dreary stalemate. Thus, Hillenburg challenges his audience to reflect back on themselves, and re-access their own life desires and what one must do to achieve their goals.

The easiest way to personify the overindulgence involved with the sin of Gluttony is in regard to food. Gary, Spongebob’s pet snail, is a simple, yet effective projection of the evil involved with overindulgence. In the episode “Have You Seen This Snail?”, Gary runs away from Spongebob because he forgets to feed him. On his own, Gary finds a new owner he thinks will provide the best home he has ever had. In reality, she is feeding Gary so much food causing him to overlook the signs that she eats snails. He eventually escapes and finds his way back to Spongebob. Gary shows the audience that tunnel vision, whether one is focusing on food or other aspects of life, can cause oneself to overlook important details.

Both Patrick Star and Gary are powerful symbols that remind the cartoon’s audience, whether a child or a parent, to remain vigilant. It reminds them to neither become heavily involved in something to the point where that prevents good judgment, nor to become so detached as to lose a purpose in the world.

Batman Part Three of Three: The Bat Family

The third and final key to the success of Batman is his relatability. He seeks justice for the death of his parents. While doing this over the years, he has acquired a new family. This allegory of how many families are not conventional helps the reader relate to the series.

Batman, otherwise known as Bruce Wayne, obviously is the most important factor of the Batman comics. His relentless pursuit for justice offers an image of apex humanity. His origin story is not terribly bleak; even though he becomes an orphan, the wealth of his family keeps him afloat. Both his wealth and morality make him accessible to readers; he is the person the readers themselves want to be.

When he was made an orphan, he was put into the care of his butler, Alfred Pennyworth. Alfred is the second most important character in the Batman comics. He serves as the new father figure to Bruce and the guardian of his interests. For a long time, he was the only person Batman trusted with his secret identity. His love for Bruce and the Wayne family cannot be denied, especially after the portrayal by Michael Caine in The Dark Knight trilogy.

As Batman fights justice, he takes on a protege. The first one is named Dick Grayson, a.k.a. Robin. Dick Grayson’s character evolves from sidekick to an independent hero named Nightwing. Other characters are introduced throughout the comics including Batgirl, Batwoman, Red Hood, and Oracle. Batgirl becomes Oracle when she is handicapped while fighting crime. This character serves to show the importance of diversity in comics. The Batman comic offers up a crippled character who is still able to serve and aid the community. This diversity and representation is shown throughout the Bat family.

Without the series’s ability to change over time and relate to evolving audiences, combined with its villains and setting, Batman would not be an American cultural icon.

The Lorax vs. The Millennial Generation

Dr. Suess’s beloved children’s book, The Lorax, was published August 21, 1971. For decades, writers and scholars have praised the message of environmental protection that saturates the pages of The Lorax. While the book does praise environmental safety, some verses may lead one to believe that the titular character the Lorax is not a blameless protagonist. In fact, Dr. Seuss’s message can be viewed as saying that one can care to much about a cause, in this instance, the environment.

The Once-ler makes many references to family in the book. He mentions his brothers, aunts, and uncles several times. He also mentions the word “dad” once. The Once-ler says,

“And then I got mad,
I got terribly mad
I yelled at the Lorax, ‘Now listen here, Dad!’
All you do is yap-yap and say ‘Bad! Bad! Bad! Bad!'”

Now many people may reject the literal use of the word “dad” by the Once-ler. Furthermore, people may assume Dr. Seuss used this word just because it rhymed. However, the Once-ler character has used various family terms in a literal since. The Once-ler has a strong view of family ties. Whenever he was starting his business, the Once-ler called his family to help him. The public views Dr. Seuss as one of the greatest children’s writers in American history. Therefore, Dr. Seuss could have written any word into this line and he chose “dad”. In the second meeting in the book, the Once-ler tells the Lorax to “shut up”. If it is presumed that this is only their second meeting, why has the Once-ler become so terse so fast. This is not their second meeting; this is one of countless meetings in which the Lorax has tried to shove his opinions down his son, the Once-ler’s, throat.

The Once-ler is symbolic of the millennial generation who had hippie parents. The environmentally savvy parents would leave their entire families to go live in the woods protecting trees or animals. Dr. Seuss was brilliantly predicting the next phase in American culture, the millennials.

He portrayed the next generation as selfish, yet diligent. Millennials are more concerned for their own well being; however, their desire for profit lead them to produce some of societies greatest advancements. Social innovations like Facebook or a Middle-Eastern teenage girl standing against tradition to fight for educational equality are only a few examples. In a similar way, the Once-ler innovates the world of fashion but for selfish reasons. He destroys the environment and his relationship with his father, the Lorax.

Dr. Seuss warns the incoming generation of the problems their fixation can produce. It shows the millinials that their next innovation has to provide limits to how they approach achieving their success. They cannot steamroll everything and everyone to reach success.

Scooby-Doo: The Real Mystery and the Real Monsters

When Hanna-Barbera introduced Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? in 1969, they had no idea the impact their show would have on society. Now forty-five years later, after countless movies and TV episodes, Scooby-Doo, Freddie, Daphne, Velma, and Shaggy have not only unmasked the worst of humanity; but they also set an example for how society ought to be.

In every new installment of Scooby-Doo, there is a new monster or villain to be unmasked. This is where these teenagers are able to reveal one of the darkest truths to human nature: the greatest villains are humans. Countless people have masqueraded around in costumes to reveal that the only real monster in the world is humanity. A man trying to steal his relative’s fortune; a CEO trying to cover-up his companies illegal practices; a fired employee looking for vengeance; all humanity at its worst. In its forty-five years Scooby-Doo has rarely allowed the villain to be an actual supernatural force. In an attempt to influence youth away from corruption and villainy, Hanna-Barbera created Scooby-Doo as a tool to teach children from an early age that the world is not a good place. It is wicked and falling apart at the seams.

On the other hand, the main characters of the series give hope to what the world could be. The real mystery is how teenagers of different social circles can get along.  High school can be a terrible place; however, the human characters of the Scooby-Doo franchise show that young people can work out-side of their social circles and cliques. Velma possess above average intelligence. Freddie is attractive, but not always portrayed as an athlete. Shaggy is a hippie vagabond whose best friend is his dog. Daphne is portrayed as attractive and wealthy. In any normal high school, these characters would not want to hang out together. Teenagers let their attributes and social class determine their friendships. But the characters of Freddie, Velma, Shaggy, and Daphne allow their mutual enjoyment of mystery solving to bring them together as a team. Without all the different personalities and backgrounds, their team would not be as effective.

Impressively, the creative masters behind this cartoon have both chastised society and given it hope for the future. The children who watch any Scooby-Doo series are exposed to the problems of American society. With any luck, these children will be able to recall these social issues into their adult lives and become better people.