Why is SpongeBob so amazing?

SpongeBob aired in 1999 and has had incredible longevity, still being aired today and being given more attention than any other nickelodeon shows. Any other cartoon show aired during a similar time does not even come close to catching up to the time that SpongeBob has been on air, for example, Johnny Bravo aired in 1998 and was finished in 2004. Even outside the show itself, a myriad of memes, reaction images, vines and references come from the series and are nearly impossible to miss in any social media feed.

This show has always been popular, getting youtube videos many views and retaining audience even when they grow up, maintaining its relevance over the years. And in a more empirical manner, we can see the shows popularity translated into revenue, as since it aired, it has produced around 13 billion dollars including merchandising for Nickelodeon, making it much more understandable that it has had such a consistent and long lasting airing time.

It could even be said that SpongeBob has more relevance than Mickey Mouse as the latter has become more of a company image, no one really watches Mickey Mouse cartoons and no memes are made about him. So, one could think that SpongeBob was made by some marketing genius looking to make money by specifically targeting a certain audience. This would be wrong, as its creator Stephen Hillenburg, was a marine biologist before studying animation. Unfortunately, he has recently passed away.

So why is SpongeBob so popular? We can speculate that the humour of the show is what makes it so special since it is pretty unpredictable and fresh, nonetheless, many other shows such as Chowder or The marvellous adventures of Flapjack use a similar kind of humour with similar pacing and have not been met with nearly as much popularity as SpongeBob. Maybe the reason for the popularity is the characters then, SpongeBob himself obviously plays a part in it but he is not the only important one. We could say that Patrick makes the show special, but, once again, there are many other shows with a dumb sidekick that have not had the same results as SpongeBob, for instance, The FairlyOdd Parents has Cosmo.

Our beloved protagonist

The character that makes the show unique is Squidward as thanks to him, a dichotomy is created with him and SpongeBob. When we are young we can identify with the naiveness and optimistic innocent of the latter whilst once we grow older we can identify with the cynicism of the former. They are both stuck in the same situation: a minimum wage job and with hobbies that other people do not care for, which are art and jellyfish hunting respectively, nonetheless, it is their outlook on this same situation that creates an interesting contrast which the viewer can relate to either on one end or the other. This is the essential formula for the show's success.

Bae Squidward

It is proven time and time again that this conflict is at cause of the popularity since the most popular episodes star the duo. Usually their personalities clash until Squidward gives in to SpongeBob's optimism and gets to experience a rare but fleeting moment of happiness. There are some episodes that subvert this, for example, the episode Pizza Delivery has them both try to deliver a pizza, enduring many hardships to get to their goal and when they finally get to the customer's door and give him what he ordered, he turns out to be a total asshole and makes SpongeBob cry, giving in to Squidward's usual frame. However, in this case Squidward stands up for SpongeBob, giving his character a real sense of depth.

In conclusion, Squidward and SpongeBob would not work separately and it is only when the show focuses on their dynamic that it becomes truly great.