Squidward: SpongeBob And The Internet Subculture

Anyone who grew up in the nineties has had a childhood filled with classic cartoon TV shows. Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Animax, and many more have paved the way for a child’s ability to experience quality entertainment while learning new ideas and concepts at a young age. Since 1999, one show has been consistent in delivering quality cartoon television: SpongeBob SquarePants. The beloved Nickelodeon classic cartoon show has touched many children with a great sense of humor, idyllic sense of optimism, and a realistic depiction of what social norms really do look like on land.

Spongebob Squarepants is a product of the child-centric TV network that is Nickelodeon and has spanned 20 solid years of great entertainment for many kids who looked to the show for amusement but gained more than just a few laughs. The creator of the show, Stephen Hillenburg, gave kids all over the world the adventures of Spongebob with his underwater friends, Patrick, Sandy, and even his neighbor and frenemy, Squidward a remarkable 12 years in kids television on a global scale. 20 years later, Nickelodeon commemorated the show’s more than a decade of success with a special line of Spongebob meme figurines.

20th Anniversary Relics

As Nickelodeon airs its 12th season of the renowned TV cartoon, simultaneously, it releases the “Mocking SpongeBob”, an eight-inch vinyl figurine that has a distorted face of SpongeBob sassily bending forward with his arms on his hips. There is also the “Handsome Squidward” that’s already been on display, drastically altering the typically skinny Squidward with an Adonis-like figure that boasts canonical chest hair and a razor-sharp jawline.

According to Daily Dot, the most iconic and sarcastic meme that Nickelodeon was eager to recreate into a toy was the “Imagination SpongeBob.” The figurine fashions a customary rainbow with stars and sparkles that appeared on the show. Each of the figures costs $21.99 on Amazon. They’re currently sold out but are subject to availability per request.

SpongeBob: the Internet Subculture

In an age where many Generation Z-ers are learning more from pads and tablets than television, kids entertainment has found their way around the digital space. SpongeBob’s contribution to kids entertainment and amusement has played a huge role in the meme culture many millennials and Gen Z-ers are accustomed to in the lingo of the internet today. Epic SpongeBob’s most iconic memes include the “Imagination” meme with a rainbow drawn between SpongeBob’s hands, another is the chiseled and attractive Squidward, and the most popular caveman Spongebob is known as SpongeGar.

Somehow, all these seemingly ridiculous memes as a form of self-expression and even storytelling have evolved into a whole other subculture. According to Vox, the SpongeBob meme phenomenon began on Twitter and vastly grew on Reddit. “BikiniBottomTwitter” has over 1.7 million subscribers, and the memes have become Reddit’s most popular meme subreddits. Perhaps the show’s electric energy fuels itself enough to become an unlimited supply of “super memes” that can be used over and over again, without it ever getting irrelevant or outdated online.

For Kids By Kids

The allure of SpongeBob has never seemed to wear out, as it accompanied many of us millennials after a long day at school, boring weekends in, and even while browsing through channels on TV, an episode or two of SpongeBob have given now “adulting” millennials good memories and a sense of nostalgia. According to Vox, the whimsy, absurd, and occasionally even the dark humor that the internet is often known for is something best captured by SpongeBob memes to date. It’s no surprise that meme culture was cultivated by millennials and Gen Z-ers, since the most entertaining memes today, like historical and political memes, are all structured the same way SpongeBob memes were first created for our global amusement.

The musical element of the show’s beloved underwater sea creatures was celebrated in various episodes of the show. According to COS, some of which included the F.U.N. song that taught many young viewers the simple and ironic definition of fun and amusement as a kid; that trying to force fun is not fun in itself. Another iconic musical segment was the Campfire Song Song, a lovely little tune sung in repetition, showing the ocean’s favorite sponge singing an anthem for camping with his ukelele and bonfire intact. The musical side of the cartoon show helped foster the educative aspect of the show, becoming an instant hit for kids who learn better through music and auditory experiences.

SpongeBob has kept its “dank meme” reputation, while also managing to remain wholesome and mainstream in the increasingly modern era of the internet. Aside from fond childhood memories, SpongeBob Squarepants and his lovable underwater friends have found a way to stay in our adulthood in the most expressive way we know how: meme culture. It has remained one of Nickelodeon’s best, 20 years in and hopefully, 20 years more into the future.