I know this young man who works at a restaurant as a fry cook. He works with a mean employee who hates him dearly. His boss is very cheap and barely pays him anything. He lives next door to his mean employee but also a couple houses down from his best friend, who lets just say tap dances on the fine line between idiocy and plain stupidity. Oh did I mention he lives in a pineapple under the sea? Yes you got it, Sponge bob Square pants. The funny yellow sponge that we all came to love but is watching him act as a buffoon good for the brain. Studies show that it is not. In a way, Sponge bob portrays all the wrong things in life.
For instance in one episode labeled "Patrick Smart pants" Patrick falls off a cliff, loses the point at the top of his head, putting sponge bob in the predicament where he has to put what he thought was Patrick's original point back on his head. But little did they know, they put smart corral on his head, turning him instantly intelligent. The first thing wrong with this episode and many of the others episodes is that they portray men as idiots. That is not true what so ever. Men are capable of being very intelligent. Throughout the show Sponge bob does not like that Patrick has become smart. So right there it shows that intelligence is frowned upon.
The role of women in this episode is that they are already intelligent and do not like it when they receive criticism from intelligent men. Sandy (the only dominant female role in the show) gets upset when Patrick, and his new found intelligence proves, proves her wrong in a math problem she was trying to solve. Now this situation can also be flipped by saying that men can be egotistic when gaining knowledge because they think they know everything. It's negative either way you look at it.
This entire episode does no justice for the brain. It sends out all the wrong messages especially to the children. It's not right to think learning and being intelligent is a bad thing. This message mainly goes out to young males who watch the show. Also to the girls, don't think that men aren't suppose to be smart just because of what you see on this show. Men and Woman are equal when it comes to intelligence. Everyone has an opportunity to gain knowledge. Although sponge bob is entertaining but you must take into consideration the hidden messages behind each character and their personalities.
Briana, this is really interesting! I've always thought the same thing about sponge bob. Yeah, its a funny show to watch, but it sends kids wrong messages like goofing off and acting like total fools. I think you did a great job explaining, and giving the example of that one episode, but I wish you had given more examples of other episodes that would make this even stronger. I also think you could have explained more how this show reflects our society and culture, and possibly how you believe it effects young childrens' developments.
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