DadMom AngryPants
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This started out as a regular answer to the "How old do you think each character is?" topic but evolved into an essay I've been planning on writing for a long time and never got around to.
I put it in a new thread because it's kind of long.
Introduction
Fans of SpongeBob SquarePants have been attempting to pin an age on him since the show's inception. Since his exact age has never been explicitly mentioned or confirmed, and is highly unlikely to be, it remains a prime topic for debate. There have been numerous allusions to SpongeBob's age throughout the series, as well as certain assumptions we can make, which in theory should help us to at least pinpoint a vague age range. In practice, however, these hints are wildly contradictory and serve only to increase confusion.
Assumptions
SpongeBob no longer lives with his parents. He has his own home, a job and attends a driving school. Therefore, it would be reasonable to assume that he is legally an adult. The problem with this assumption is that it is prone to contradiction, as will be explained later. It is also based on another assumption – that Bikini Bottom laws about driving age, employment and home ownership are comparable to those of a typical American community.
This Is An Adult Program … Right?
At Mrs. Puff's Boating School, SpongeBob's classmates seem to vary in age depending on the episode. Sometimes they resemble child characters; other times they look and sound like teenagers or young adults. In “The Bully”, the fact that the driving course is an adult program is referenced several times. During a speech, SpongeBob addresses his “fellow adult classmates”. In “Nautical Novice”, however, Mrs. Puff refers to her students as “kids”, and in “Oral Report” SpongeBob evades arrest for dangerous driving because he is, apparently, a minor (a person under the age of full legal responsibility).
Mrs. Puff runs the course like a grade school, with Good Noodle stickers, field trips, picture days, hall monitors and detention. Still, we know that SpongeBob has completed his formal education as he refers to his junior prom (“The Chaperone”) and time in high school (“Frankendoodle”). In “The Bully”, Patrick says that Flatts is a community college buddy, and since Patrick and SpongeBob are the same age (we see them as babies together multiple times) that would make SpongeBob old enough to have been to college, too. In “Party Pooper Pants”, SpongeBob's class Kindergarten picture is shown, and his classmate is portrayed as a now middle-aged man. Similarly, in “The Sponge Who Could Fly”, an old man tells SpongeBob that they went to elementary school together.
Some Actual Numbers and Stuff
There are a few instances where specific numbers referenced make it possible to do some simple calculations and arrive at SpongeBob's possible age, but even these numbers are not clear cut and allow plenty of room for interpretation, so ultimately can't be used to deduce an official age.
The first and most prominent example is SpongeBob's driver's license. The first two times it was shown (“Sleepy Time” and “No Free Rides”) a birth date of 1986 could be seen. Given that the characters do not age and the series premiered in 1999, this would make SpongeBob 13 years old. When his license is shown in future episodes, however, the birth date is missing. Perhaps it is just a coincidence that SpongeBob's supposed birth date was omitted, or perhaps the show's crew intentionally removed it in order to avoid specifying SpongeBob's age.
In “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie”, SpongeBob says that he has 374 consecutive Employee of the Month awards. This amounts to just over 31 years. Since he didn't start working at the Krusty Krab when he was a baby, accepting this as fact would place him well into middle-age. It is possible that this improbably large number was used for comedic effect and not meant to be taken literally, since a middle-aged SpongeBob would be somewhat contradictory with the movie's main message, which is that SpongeBob is just a kid and he's OK with that.
In “Buried in Time”, when SpongeBob reads the label of an old tartar sauce canister, he remarks: "This can has been here for 50 years. That's longer than me!"
I Guess You're Right, Plankton: I Am Just A Kid
The way in which SpongeBob is addressed and treated by other characters tells us that he is either quite young or is often seen to be a child whether he actually is one or not. To strangers he can be anything from “little boy” to “sir” depending on the situation. Father figure Mr. Krabs typically addresses his employee as “boy”, “kid”, “son” etc. In “The Krabby Kronicle”, Spongebob writes that he is an underage reporter; in the same episode, a customer berates Mr. Krabs for taking advantage of an innocent child.
As mentioned previously, a core theme of “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie” is SpongeBob's acceptance of his immaturity. While at first he is stung by accusations that he is just a kid, by the end of the movie he learns to embrace it.
50 in Sponge Years
When questioned about SpongeBob's age for a trivia book, Hillenburg jokingly gave this answer before explaining that SpongeBob has no specific age. Although he was only kidding about sponge years, it is true that sea creatures don't have the same life spans as humans. The life span of a sea sponge varies greatly, from several years to several hundred years. We don't know exactly what species SpongeBob is (made more difficult by the fact that he resembles a synthetic sponge) but if his total life span was hundreds of years it would be possible for him to be 50 and still be considered a child.
Of course, given that the characters in the show all appear to adhere to a human life span, the realistic life spans of various sea creatures is not really relevant to this discussion, but it's interesting to think about nonetheless.
An Inconclusive Conclusion
While SpongeBob certainly acts like a child, he lives an adult life. He vacillates between childhood and adulthood, dipping into both as and when the plot requires. He's not quite a boy and not quite a man. But it is this agelessness and fluidity that arguably makes SpongeBob such a timeless and widely appealing character. Adults relate to the grown-up world SpongeBob lives in and children relate to the way he sees it. To anchor this character with a specific age would be needlessly restrictive.
The Short Answer
So, how old is SpongeBob? Nobody really knows, and it doesn't really matter, but here is how Stephen Hillenburg described his creation in a TV Guide interview for the show's 10th anniversary: “He's an adult man-boy in arrested development.”
I put it in a new thread because it's kind of long.
SpongeBob Non-Age-SpecificPants
By DadMom AngryPants
Introduction
Fans of SpongeBob SquarePants have been attempting to pin an age on him since the show's inception. Since his exact age has never been explicitly mentioned or confirmed, and is highly unlikely to be, it remains a prime topic for debate. There have been numerous allusions to SpongeBob's age throughout the series, as well as certain assumptions we can make, which in theory should help us to at least pinpoint a vague age range. In practice, however, these hints are wildly contradictory and serve only to increase confusion.
Assumptions
SpongeBob no longer lives with his parents. He has his own home, a job and attends a driving school. Therefore, it would be reasonable to assume that he is legally an adult. The problem with this assumption is that it is prone to contradiction, as will be explained later. It is also based on another assumption – that Bikini Bottom laws about driving age, employment and home ownership are comparable to those of a typical American community.
This Is An Adult Program … Right?
At Mrs. Puff's Boating School, SpongeBob's classmates seem to vary in age depending on the episode. Sometimes they resemble child characters; other times they look and sound like teenagers or young adults. In “The Bully”, the fact that the driving course is an adult program is referenced several times. During a speech, SpongeBob addresses his “fellow adult classmates”. In “Nautical Novice”, however, Mrs. Puff refers to her students as “kids”, and in “Oral Report” SpongeBob evades arrest for dangerous driving because he is, apparently, a minor (a person under the age of full legal responsibility).
Mrs. Puff runs the course like a grade school, with Good Noodle stickers, field trips, picture days, hall monitors and detention. Still, we know that SpongeBob has completed his formal education as he refers to his junior prom (“The Chaperone”) and time in high school (“Frankendoodle”). In “The Bully”, Patrick says that Flatts is a community college buddy, and since Patrick and SpongeBob are the same age (we see them as babies together multiple times) that would make SpongeBob old enough to have been to college, too. In “Party Pooper Pants”, SpongeBob's class Kindergarten picture is shown, and his classmate is portrayed as a now middle-aged man. Similarly, in “The Sponge Who Could Fly”, an old man tells SpongeBob that they went to elementary school together.
Some Actual Numbers and Stuff
There are a few instances where specific numbers referenced make it possible to do some simple calculations and arrive at SpongeBob's possible age, but even these numbers are not clear cut and allow plenty of room for interpretation, so ultimately can't be used to deduce an official age.
The first and most prominent example is SpongeBob's driver's license. The first two times it was shown (“Sleepy Time” and “No Free Rides”) a birth date of 1986 could be seen. Given that the characters do not age and the series premiered in 1999, this would make SpongeBob 13 years old. When his license is shown in future episodes, however, the birth date is missing. Perhaps it is just a coincidence that SpongeBob's supposed birth date was omitted, or perhaps the show's crew intentionally removed it in order to avoid specifying SpongeBob's age.
In “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie”, SpongeBob says that he has 374 consecutive Employee of the Month awards. This amounts to just over 31 years. Since he didn't start working at the Krusty Krab when he was a baby, accepting this as fact would place him well into middle-age. It is possible that this improbably large number was used for comedic effect and not meant to be taken literally, since a middle-aged SpongeBob would be somewhat contradictory with the movie's main message, which is that SpongeBob is just a kid and he's OK with that.
In “Buried in Time”, when SpongeBob reads the label of an old tartar sauce canister, he remarks: "This can has been here for 50 years. That's longer than me!"
I Guess You're Right, Plankton: I Am Just A Kid
The way in which SpongeBob is addressed and treated by other characters tells us that he is either quite young or is often seen to be a child whether he actually is one or not. To strangers he can be anything from “little boy” to “sir” depending on the situation. Father figure Mr. Krabs typically addresses his employee as “boy”, “kid”, “son” etc. In “The Krabby Kronicle”, Spongebob writes that he is an underage reporter; in the same episode, a customer berates Mr. Krabs for taking advantage of an innocent child.
As mentioned previously, a core theme of “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie” is SpongeBob's acceptance of his immaturity. While at first he is stung by accusations that he is just a kid, by the end of the movie he learns to embrace it.
50 in Sponge Years
When questioned about SpongeBob's age for a trivia book, Hillenburg jokingly gave this answer before explaining that SpongeBob has no specific age. Although he was only kidding about sponge years, it is true that sea creatures don't have the same life spans as humans. The life span of a sea sponge varies greatly, from several years to several hundred years. We don't know exactly what species SpongeBob is (made more difficult by the fact that he resembles a synthetic sponge) but if his total life span was hundreds of years it would be possible for him to be 50 and still be considered a child.
Of course, given that the characters in the show all appear to adhere to a human life span, the realistic life spans of various sea creatures is not really relevant to this discussion, but it's interesting to think about nonetheless.
An Inconclusive Conclusion
While SpongeBob certainly acts like a child, he lives an adult life. He vacillates between childhood and adulthood, dipping into both as and when the plot requires. He's not quite a boy and not quite a man. But it is this agelessness and fluidity that arguably makes SpongeBob such a timeless and widely appealing character. Adults relate to the grown-up world SpongeBob lives in and children relate to the way he sees it. To anchor this character with a specific age would be needlessly restrictive.
http://www.sbmania.net/pictures.php?img=4XMvnCnFXfIyrC/JsEmi21CX15NTwrdj5AC8T9Fn02E= http://www.sbmania.net/pictures.php?img=hBfFmo+NZH3th0YLexLB1vpMJRbBSspY58YQCACM3Lk=
The Short Answer
So, how old is SpongeBob? Nobody really knows, and it doesn't really matter, but here is how Stephen Hillenburg described his creation in a TV Guide interview for the show's 10th anniversary: “He's an adult man-boy in arrested development.”
