Werner1

Mack Werner

Mrs. Honaker

AP English 12

May 11, 2017

The Generation of SpongeBob SquarePants

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS! SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS! SpongeBooob SquarePaaaaaaants! A-ha-ha-

ha-ha! [SpongeBob plays nose like a flute.] The SpongeBob SquarePants

theme song was released with the pilot in 1999 and plays before every

episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, sung by Painty the Pirate and a group of

children. The theme song was written by the creators of SpongeBob

SquarePants, Stephen Hillenburg and Derek Drymon (Fandom). This infamous

childrens cartoon nurtured the youth of this generation. In accordance with

the impact, influence, and resemblance to some of the most important

moments in history, the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song is one of the

best lyrical representations of this generation.

The first season of SpongeBob SquarePants aired from May 1, 1999 to

April 8, 2000. Hillenburg first conceived the idea in 1984, while working as a

Marine Biologist. During this period, Hillenburg worked a lot with drawing

comics, one of which included a sponge named Bob. He then started

studying animation at the California Institute of the Arts, which kicked off his
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career (Beck). Just as SpongeBob began, it began flooding the homes of

America. In February, 2002, 56.1 million people watched SpongeBob. 58% of

those were Children, the other 42% included people from 14-49 (Johnson).

SpongeBob has grown to an $8 Billion a year industry for Nickelodeon. The

SpongeBob SquarePants Movie made $140 Million worldwide making it the

current fifth-highest grossing animated TV adaptation ever (Cormier). Even

more than a decade later, the popularity remains, ranked as one of the

greatest cartoons of all time, adjacent to mighty shows such as The

Simpsons, Tom and Jerry, Looney Toons, and South Park (Fandom). The pure

popularity of SpongeBob has earned it the longest running Nickelodeon

Series ever, surpassing Rugrats. Despite rumors, SpongeBob is scheduled to

continue into its 10th and 11th seasons and theres no clear date of when it

will come to an end. To further support SpongeBobs influence, in 2011 a new

species of mushroom was named Spongiforma squarepantsii after the

popular TV show by researchers at San Francisco State University (Cormier).

SpongeBob SquarePants can be considered the cartoon of this generation

through all the impact it has had on the lives of so many kids so therefore, its

theme song strongly represents this generation.

Although popularity of the show for its initial audience has declined as

original 1999 episodes got revamped into the modern episodes, the views for

SpongeBob havent repressed (Beck). The original jokes moments that

matured fans remember from their childhood are what have kept the show

so strongly afloat. The internet phenomena of memes greatly favor the work
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of SpongeBob SquarePants due to how popular it was, and how large of a

percentage of the public understand the references. A meme is a humorous

cultural image or action which is quickly spread and popularized mainly

through the internet. With the main demographic of meme creators being

young people of this generation who are part of the SpongeBob fanatic

majority, an immense concentration of memes include SpongeBob

references. The theme song itself has been part of this internet phenomena.

There are an unlimited amount of remixes and parodies of the TV shows

theme. The influence of SpongeBob on pop culture has impacted this

generation substantially (Fandom).

Are you ready kids? Painty the pirate. Aye-aye Captain, undisclosed

member of Seal Team Six. Considered to be one of the greatest

accomplishments in modern United States History, the assassination of

Osama bin Laden was an extraordinary win for America. May 2, 2011 U.S.

Special Forces, Seal Team Six raided the founder and head of the Islamist

group shortly after 1:00 am (Sherwell). The SpongeBob SquarePants theme

song was obviously not written because of the death of Osama Bin Laden.

Although, there are multiple parts in the lyrics which can be compared to the

assassination. Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? After the

assassination, The deceased's body was washed then placed in a white

sheet. The body was placed in a weighted bag. A military officer read

prepared religious remarks, which were translated into Arabic by a native

speaker ("Secret details of Bin Laden burial revealed."). Therefore, the one
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who lives under the sea, is Bin Laden himself. Absorbent and yellow and

porous is he? Yellow refers to the cowardly nature of Bin Laden. After the

attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001, Bin Laden went into hiding in

order to avoid capture. Many rumors circulated regarding his whereabouts,

although it wasnt until August 2010 that the U.S. located his compound in

Abbottabad Pakistan where hed eventually be killed. Porous refers to the

small spaces or holes scattered around sea life which allow air to flow

through them, such as SpongeBob. Member of Seal Team Six, Robert O Neill,

shot Bin Laden as he shielded himself with a woman two times in the

forehead and once more as he fell, or flopped like a fish (Sherwell). This

type of representation further supports that the SpongeBob SquarePants

theme song is emblematic of this generation, because it resembles one of its

proudest moments.

In conclusion, the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song is a song which

strongly represents this generation. SpongeBob is a norm in daily

conversation and almost the entire population is familiar with many of the

hilarious jokes which come with the sponge. When the fans matured, they

took SpongeBob with them through the new internet phenomena of memes.

Plus, it resembles one of this generations greatest victories. The SpongeBob

SquarePants theme song represents everything from childhood to pop

culture in this day and age.

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Works Cited

Beck, Jerry. Spongebob squarepants experience: a deep dive into the

world of bikini bottom. San Rafael, CA: Insight Editions, 2013. Print.

Cormier, Roger. "14 Things You May Not Have Known About SpongeBob

SquarePants." 14 Things You May Not Have Known About 'SpongeBob

SquarePants' | Mental Floss. N.p., 05 Jan. 2016. Web. 11 May 2017.

Fandom. "SpongeBob SquarePants Theme Song." Encyclopedia

SpongeBobia. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2017.

Johnson, L.A. "'SpongeBob SquarePants' is soaking up viewers." Post-

gazette.com. A&E, 3 July 2002. Web. 11 May 2017.

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"Secret details of Bin Laden burial revealed." Secret details of Bin

Laden burial revealed - Al Jazeera English. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2017.

Sherwell, Philip. "Osama bin Laden killed: Behind the scenes of the

deadly raid." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 07 May 2011. Web. 11

May 2017.