Mediated Values

 

The Power of Attitude

My favorite cartoon to watch as a child was SpongeBob SquarePants. Like most children, I enjoyed the adventures SpongeBob underwent as he aspired to manifest his potential as the best Krusty Krab employee possible. Besides SpongeBob’s hysterical naivety and compassion in the face of misfortune, he has since inspired me to develop an optimistic attitude towards myself and others. After promptly showing up to work, constantly enduring the complaints and nihilism of his co-worker Squidward, being fortunate for his underpaid salary, and remaining steadfast in his efforts to protect his workplace from the evil Krabby Patty formula-stealer, Plankton, he still manages to return home, treating his pet snail Gary and friends Patrick and Sandy with the utmost compassion and respect. On a serious note, SpongeBob’s actions have molded my perspective to ultimately see the world as a place in which my only self that deserves manifestation is my best self.

Remembering SpongeBob SquarePants often, I am drawn back to the memory of his love and tranquil spirit. Though the TV series is commonly known for its ability to make kids laugh, I always remembered WHY it made me laugh so much. The series was able to provoke laughter not because of the stupidity of the characters, but rather the attitude of the characters while they were acting, stupidly or not. Filled with irony and an utter disregard for their uncanny ability to start a fire under the ocean, SpongeBob was able to remain carefree throughout his career as a jelly-fishing sea sponge.

Squidward and Plankton, though they both had a consistently pessimistic attitude, the show managed to greatly counteract this with Mr. Krab’s, Sandy’s, SpongeBob’s, and Patrick’s positive attitudes. In addition, the TV show displays morality, in a very broad sense, among the characters because of this opposition of good and bad. For instance, Squidward and Plankton, though they consistently display their pessimistic outlooks on life, I have yet to recall an episode where they actually obtained what they wanted. Thus, the SpongeBob SquarePants TV series can be of great value when young children are learning the basics of morality. Several themes drawn from SpongeBob on this occasion might be: 1) Failing is necessary for appreciating what we want, 2) Imagination is essential to understanding the world around us, and most importantly, 3) attitude has no limits to where it can take us.

Through countless, ultimately successful, attempts at receiving a good score on his boating exam, selling chocolate bars, and protecting the Krusty Krab from invasion, SpongeBob’s powerful attitude truly resonates with young children, and certainly, it did with me. His positive attitude, in the face of adversity, is unsurmountable by even the clever Plankton. Since my early childhood, the SpongeBob SquarePants series has inspired me to be the most productive, happiest, most upbeat, kind, respectful version of myself. And though the show is sometimes underestimated in terms of its reach, scope, and dim-wittedness, I aspire to show, through my writing, that SpongeBob SquarePants is a television miracle that has made an enormous impact on my life and attitude as well as most of the young adult population.

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