In my past two columns, I discussed both the visual and audio design of "SpongeBob Squarepants" and how they influence its comedy. The show's gone south since season four, and the changes to its animation and sound are pretty clear and indicate a pretty solid drop in quality. So, for this final column, let's talk about two things: the characters and the jokes.
In writing these columns, I struggled to find any online resources that analyzed "SpongeBob Squarepants" as a culmination of artistic techniques, but plenty of YouTube content creators have made it clear that even the characters themselves lack the charm and likeability of their pre-movie iterations, and the episodes' plots reflect that. The cast has become a poor man's commedia dell'arte; every character has their nuances and become a trope.
Patrick Star was somewhat disillusioned but always managed to exude this air of confidence, which SpongeBob would usually fall prey to. He was a goofball like SpongeBob, but he was also his foil. He was not --- as he is now --- brainless and manipulative. Squidward Tentacles was an artist; he was pretentious and stuck in the rat race, and he usually played the straight man. He could find solace in his art, and his relationship with SpongeBob was not hostile but rather resentful, almost jealous of SpongeBob's naivety. He was not --- as he is now --- depressed and rage-filled. In fact, in a season 8 episode, a depressed Squidward alludes to two attempts at suicide: He shoves his head in the oven, only to grab a batch of brownies, and then he throws a rope over a hook in his house, only to pull up from that rope a bird cage. It's incredibly unsettling.
Most importantly, SpongeBob was naive. He was a young adult growing into a very adult world. He was malleable; earlier seasons of the show are chock-full of morals for SpongeBob to learn, and SpongeBob is regularly led down the wrong path by Patrick, Squidward or Mr. Krabs. SpongeBob was excitable but not ignorant; rather, he was out of the loop. His laugh was annoying, but his character wasn't. He was not --- as he is now --- obnoxious, ignorant and incessant.
So, the characters are gross exaggerations. What does this do for the comedy? For one, the jokes get stale. Stock characters acting like themselves isn't inherently funny; rather, their interactions with each other and the dynamics they produce create comedy. Juxtaposition is a huge part of comedy, because it pits together two dissimilar characters. When they're together, their differences are accentuated. Comedy is about irony, and irony is about co-existing opposites.
There's a fundamental difference between acting silly and being funny. Silliness, in this context, is making a silly face, saying a funny word, farting or anything of that nature. Silliness lacks context. And without that context, no one will call your silliness "funny." Rather, they'll call it "immature" or simply "odd." The context that silliness needs to be funny is juxtaposition: A 20-second silence during a dramatic scene is broken by a light fart. The camera pans across a line of stone-faced soldiers, covered in dirt and blood. The camera continues to pan and passes a soldier with a goofy grin and a "get them commies" pin on his jacket. The camera continues to pan across more stone-faced soldiers.
"SpongeBob Squarepants" nowadays has an incredible lack of juxtaposition. There are no longer characters with whom the audience can identify, because every character is a trope. When every character is at their extreme, you lose that juxtaposition.
I said this would be my last "SpongeBob Squarepants" column, but I really want to write one on the slapstick, particularly on how gross "SpongeBob Squarepants" episodes have become. Am I going to write it? I'll make that decision in a week.
Michael Smith is a UF art freshman. His column runs on Tuesdays, so you'd better go catch it!
