Why Is Spongebob So Popular

SpongeBob has been on air for 15 years and is still soaking up the top of the charts. It is broadcasted around the world in 25 languages and it has spawned an entire line of toys, clothing and food, with total sales estimated at nearly $1 billion a year (Karlinksy, Neal 2010). The comedic yellow sponge has attracted viewers from all different age groups- ranging from toddlers to grown adults. Being as popular as it is, SpongeBob Squarepants is seen as a producerly text. Excessiveness, obviousness and intertextuality make up the producerly makeup of Spongebob Squarepants. Fanfiction has also stemmed from the popular Nickelodeon show. Elements of fan fiction include relevance, intertextuality, and textual poaching. So, what exactly makes Spongebob so popular and why are fans so drawn into the happy sponge?

Spongebob Squarepants revolves around an optimistic yellow sponge who goes on nonsensical adventures with his fellow undersea friends. He approaches life’s everyday challenges in an

unconventional way instead of taking the easy route, a factor that makes the show so attractive. Squarepants’ overzealous attitude and overall good intentions give the show flavor and zest. The Bikini Bottom setting of the show is SpongeBob Squarepant’s very own textuality. It plays with the difference between the representation and producerly equivalent of the writerly mixing of documentary and fictional modes. The characters are personified whether life in Bikini Bottom involves protecting the Krusty Krab’s secret formula or jelly-fishing with Patrick, SpongeBob never disappoints with bringing something new and interesting to the popular children’s network, Nickelodeon.

Popular culture tends to be excessive and obvious. These are central features of the producerly text. “Excessiveness is meaning out of control, meaning that exceeds the norms of ideological control or the requirements…” (Fiske,Johh 2011). The characters Squidward, Patrick, SpongeBob, Gary and Sandy are all breathing underwater. The show takes place underwater and features all of these characters living seemingly regular lives, apart from the fact that they are breathing water and not air, a concept that is deemed excess and obvious. In reality, breathing underwater while leading seemingly normal lives is not the accepted norm. Sea creatures in the show are also walking on two feet and driving, a concept that is absurd in reality. The personified sea creatures in Bikini Bottom replace the normal pleasures of identification and familiarity with cognitive pleasures of participation and production. The concept makes the viewer self-interested in a very productive way, thus, drawing more attention to the show’s status as a producerly text. Personified sea characters and the concept of breathing underwater involves elements of the parodic and allows room to mock the conventional, thus, reversing the norms.
Personification is one of the leading factors in the show’s great success. The talking characters serve as a parodic element and viewers recognize it as a gap between an unattainable norm and reality. Sandy the squirrel who uses a spacesuit to breathe, Patrick the star, Gary as a pet snail, and Plankton who desires to rule the world are all reproduced in the recognition of the difference between the televisual representation and reality. A starfish, a plankton and a Texan squirrel wouldn’t normally live in the sub-surface city of Bikini Bottom while going on every day adventures. Plankton’s small size and big dream to rule the world is seen as comedic because he fails every time he tries to attain the coveted Krabby Patty secret formula. Patrick’s lazy demeanor and home under a rock plays into his personal comedic qualities. Sandy’s life in her fishbowl is outside the norm because a squirrel does not live underwater whatsoever. By recognizing the line between fiction and reality, the viewer has the option to deny the difference and treat the characters as if they were real in order to increase textual pleasure (Fiske, John 2011). The characters are also hilarious and very entertaining.
The simplicity and presumed innocence of SpongeBob Squarepants appeals to the mass audiences because it is easily understood and does not involve dramatic scenes or plot lines. The refusal of depth and of fine distinctions in the show devolves the responsibility for producing parts of the show to the viewers. There is very little suspense and theatrics thus making it very easy for everyone to relate to. The show is not about anything more than everyday life in the fictitious Bikini Bottom, and it just might have been designed to simply be funny. Communications Professor Robert Thompson, Director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, is quoted in a July 21, 2002, NY Times saying that, “because there’s nothing in it (the SpongeBob SquarePants Show) that’s trying to be hip or cool or anything else, hipness can be grafted onto it” (Blair, Elizabeth 2009). Thompson also believes that SpongeBob does not try to be smarter, cooler or better than everyone else; he is simply living his life the only way he knows how to. The show was made purely for comedic responses... ” (Blair, Elizabeth 2009) The audience would rather laugh than think. One of TV’s purposes is for entertainment and who doesn’t enjoy an easy laugh without complications? Stephen Hillenburg, the SpongeBob creator, also states that “he is simply trying to make people laugh.” His purpose for the show was not to create a product for analysis in pop culture (Blair, Elizabeth 2009). The show’s placement on a leading children’s television network might also add a boost to the show’s popular ratings since Spongebob is somehow geared towards an adult audience.
SpongeBob himself, the main character, draws the majority of attention for the show.

He is a peculiar yellow sponge that lives in a pineapple under the sea. He is the epitome of a contradiction to the normal everyday sponge. James Poniewozik writes in a Time Magazine article that SpongeBob’s appeal is found in his innocence. Poniewozik writes that SpongeBob’s personality is one of being “conscientious, optimistic and blind to the faults in the world and those around him” (CITATION). SpongeBob is whimsically optimistic despite negative circumstances. For example, when next door neighbor Squidward is being grumpy and rude to Spongebob, he is oblivious and remains chipper. Spongebob offers us a chance to see how his abnormal world in Bikini Bottom challenges the boundaries of common sense which is seen as the dominant ideology (Fiske, John 2011). The sponge’s home itself is a contradiction- a pineapple can’t realistically stay in one piece under water for an extended period of

time.
Spongebob’s recognition of a producerly text lies heavily in the show’s intertextuality. There are many hidden meanings that are the sole reason the show appeals to adults: the humor. The humor hits for all age groups. The actor who voices Mr.Krabs, Clancy Brown, said that “I think adults these days are very immature…we are keeping them immature…we are trying to make a show that we would laugh at when we watch…if you could say 10 million 8 year olds would love this, every show would be a hit- and that does not happen so we think it’s funny” (Quora 2015). In one episode, Spongebob is seen blowing a balloon shaped like a condom. A prison joke is also made when Spongebob gives Gary the snail two bars of soap and exclaims “Doubloons!” In a more adult manner, Squidward is seen masturbating with a vacuum cleaner and SpongeBob is later seen watching sea porn. An apology cake is also presented with “Sorry for the Scabies” iced on top as a hidden STD joke. Hidden sexual jokes like these keep the adult audience on their toes. The hidden jokes are brought to fruition only intertextually and are promoted by the characters. Adult viewers get pleasure from the show because popular pleasure derives both from the power and process of making meanings from the hidden sexual jokes. A full 25% of Spongebob’s audience consist of adults without kids. (Stice, Joel 2014) The adults are engaged in the show because it feels like they are being let in on an inside joke that is not obvious to their younger counterparts. For example, a mom laughing at an inside sexual joke while her son is laughing because it’s a talking sponge. Spongebob’s popular pleasures contain the offensive and vulgar sexual connotations and jokes that appeal to the masses.

Relevance is a quality of popular culture that is borne at the interface between our everyday lives and the products produced by capitalism that are bestowed upon us (Fiske,John 2011). Relevance is determined by specific events and ideas that bridge the connection between reality and producerly texts. Fans, who produce fanfiction, are able to identify characteristics that bridge the two opposing states (reality and the fictitious producerly text). The devoted fans then attempt to explore the relevance out of the original text and then craft a tangent product of their own. Their work identifies with points of pertinence between the chosen producerly text and everyday life (Fiske, John 2011).

The excessiveness and obviousness of Spongebob lead to the creation of a parody video by YouTube user nigahiga. Nigahiga uses Fiske’s notion of relevance to draw common ground while heavily inducing in Jenkin’s notion of textual poaching. The beginning credits starts off with nigahiga mocking the Captain who sings the theme song. The term “Use your ears” is used and then the Captain laughs because he is simply a talking photograph without any real human parts. “Spongebob” and “Patrick” are then depicted as simply a pink rubber glove and dull yellow sponge with badly placed talking faces. They lack the body characteristics the original characters have. It is relevant and textual poaching because that essentially what the original characters are: household objects that are personified. Nigahiga identifies the personification as a pertinence point between the producerly text and his own created parody. Squidward is depicted as a grumpy bottle of dish soap. He is given the parodic name “Squidturd” because nigahiga focuses in on his negative attitude and unhappy demeanor. Spongebob is then seen being his usual chipper self and attempts to cheer Squidturd up despite his bad attitude, as seen in the original Spongebob shows. In the original Nickelodeon show, a song is often used to get meanings and Spongebob’s “lessons” across to the audience. The “lessons” are usually excessive and quite obvious to the audience. However, Spongebob’s good intentions and overzealous attitude make the sing song lessons quite engaging. Nigahiga is identifying the characteristic that bridges his self-produced video and the actual producerly text: The F.U.N song that is the template for the parody’s L.A.U.G.H song. The song in the parody is: “L is for when you laugh too much, A is for the Asian eyes you make, U is for ugly….” which is used to plant some laughter in Squiturd’s boring life. (Nigahiga 2015) The original F.U.N song’s purpose is to inspire Squidward to live a little. Both songs are excessive and obvious as they serve as a relevance point because they are both similar in nature and purpose.
Intertextuality is very common in fanfiction because a lot of elements are textually poached from the original text to construct a piece of fan fiction. Jenkin’s notion of textual poaching as an expression of fan ownership of the text allows those who actively engage in fanfiction to call their work their own. Fanfiction is generally crafted by intertextuality between the original text and the produced text while textually poaching various elements and traits. Devoted fan, YellowRubberDuckie, then attempted to explore the relevance out of the original Spongebob text and then crafted a tangent product of their own. Their work identified with points of pertinence between Spongebob and “Finding Sandy”. In the fanfiction piece “Finding Sandy” by YellowRubberDuckie, Sandy and Plankton fall in love and live happily ever after. (YellowRubberDuckie 2006) At the beginning, Sandy is coming home after a date when the man of the hour tries to make some inappropriate moves. She exclaims “Thinks I’ll do that on a first date. Why, if he tried that in Texas, my family would have him for barbecue! Stupid arthropod.” YellowRubberDuckie is using the show’s intertextuality to explain the scene with Sandy. Texas is generally viewed as a conservative state with high family values and that’s where Sandy Cheeks is from. When the man of the hour tried to make a move, the writer drew on the intertextuality that is Texas and Sandy’s upbringing. YellowRubberDuckie then presents Plankton who is newly single because his wife left him for the internet. The reader must have the prior knowledge that Plankton is very into computers and is committed only to his computer named WIFE. Both the reader and producer must see the intertextual connection between the original Spongebob show and the produced fanfiction in order for it to be correctly understood. Elements of the original show were textually poached to please the readers of YellowRubberDuckie’s piece of work.

After 15 years, Spongebob still reigns at the top. Spongebob has continuously attracted viewers and fans ranging from young kids to grown adults. The excessiveness, obviousness and simple comedic traits of the show make it a successful producerly text. The show’s fanfiction derives from intertextuality and textual poaching, thus, making pertinence points of relevance easily understood by the audience. Spongebob Squarepants is also insanely funny and just hilarious to watch. It is almost impossible to hate an optimistic yellow sponge.