Squidville, Happiness and the “Other” Mirror
Spongebob Squarepants Cartoon Analysis In Squidville Episode
The beginning
When I was little, I really liked to spend time playing. Seeking pleasure seems to be an unavoidable obligation. Not infrequently also the pleasure sought turns out to have limits. Passing the limit, means getting punishment from parents. Such a cycle occurs more or less at the age of 8 to 14 years.
Childhood is the most enjoyable time. At that time, besides spending time playing with friends, I also spent time watching television.
Cartoons to be exact. One of my favorite shows at that time was Spongebob Squarepants. The figure of a yellow sponge with its characteristic laugh is enough to captivate me when I was little. The show was purely just entertainment for my age at that time. Nothing more or less.
The yellow sponge figure and the box were able to make my childhood happy. The Spongebob Squarepants cartoon changed from a fun spectacle to an important spectacle to study especially when I realized that the creator of this cartoon is a marine biologist.
How is it possible? A biologist is able to make cartoons that mushroom in children and even adults. So spectacularly, Stephen Hillenburg — the creator — once proposed to terminate the contract with Nickelodeon in the third season, but the producers refused because of the great interest from the audience.
This little information made me try to see how great the Spongebob Squarepants cartoon was, making Nickelodeon maintain the show.
Even though there is still polemic about several scenes, and even received strong criticism about cartoons that do not educate children, one thing that is undeniable is that Spongebob Squarepants still exists today.
I also tried to find some information to find the strong meaning of the cartoon series. I also chose the series entitled Squidville. This series seems to present a “other” mirror for the audience.
The Figure Behind Spongebob Squarepants
The Spongebob Squarepants cartoon film originally came from a comic for the benefit of a lecture on marine biology. Stephen McDannell Hillenburg who is the creator of Spongebob said that this cartoon before it was produced was still a comic for learning at the Orange Country Marine Institute , California in 1987.
The comic, entitled Intertidal Zone, presents life under the sea and adds an anthropomorphic element in which every underwater animal is able to interact like an ordinary human.
After going through a period of teaching on campus, Stephen chose to become an animation creator by studying at CalArts ( Los Angeles, County Museum of Art ) and received an offer from Joe Murray as the owner of a United States television series called Rocko’s Modern Life.
The premiere of the Spongebob Squarepants cartoon took place on May 1, 1999 which was broadcast via Nickelodeon. The cartoon, which was set in the Hawaiian Islands, received a great response from the audience.
As a scholar of underwater biology, Stephen Hillenburg displays the repertoire of the Spongebob Squarepants universe in great detail. Issues about environmental pollution, economics, politics, the relationship between humans and other living things, even about the impact of the atomic bomb tragedy are the whole discussion of the cartoon. Shows for children’s entertainment actually hide problems in human life.
The complexity of life is displayed through cartoons as entertainment. In short, through the underwater animal characters, Stephen apart from providing information about the knowledge he carries, he also presents relevant problems in human life.
The world of the entertainment industry has brought the name Stephen McDannell Hillenburg through the iconic Spongebob Squarepants to the world. There are approximately 200 episodes that have developed from the hands of the Creator.
The highest achievement of the Spongebob Squarepants cartoon occurred in 2004 and at the same time, Stephen announced to end the Spongebob Squarepants cartoon and resign from making children’s cartoons.
Although he stepped down from making Spongebob, Stephen continued to work as an executive producer. Until finally on November 28 2018, before the launch of the fifth series of Spongebob, Stephen Hillenburg died due to ALM ( Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ).
Character Building in Squidville
Squidville is an episode of Spongebob Squarepants in season three. The story in this cartoon is centered on the character of Squidward the octopus. As one of the protagonists in Bikini Bottom, he is one of the animals who likes to live quietly.
More precisely calm against the disturbances from Spongebob and Patrick the starfish even wants to calm down from all his busy work at the Krusty Krab. The protagonist character of Squidward Tentacles can be seen from his selfish, angry attitude and always fails in art leading him to existentialist stories.
This episode begins with the package Spongebob and Patrick received in the form of a Reef Blower . They use the tool not based on its function, namely cleaning the page. The cleaning tool was used as a game of tag ( typical silliness for Spongebob and Patrick characters ).
At first cleaning Spongebob’s Pineapple house, then Squidward’s house. Squidward’s anger is not without cause, because Patrick and Spongebob use the Rock Blower by removing the eyes ( windows ), nose ( home accessories ) and doors from Squidward’s house.
As a result of cleaning activities, Squidward is stuck at home and chooses to get out by punching a hole in the floor. Squidward says “Give me back my house!” .
Spongebob and Patrick also returned part of Squidward’s house, but what happened was that Squidward’s house was destroyed by a collision from the parts of his house that had been sucked up. As a result of the damage, Squidward said; “Spongebob, this is for the last time. I’ll be moving far away, so I can indulge myself. I’d rather rip my brains out, take him to the middle of the nearest intersection and play jump rope with him, than have to stay where I am.”
Facing the fact that neighbors always irritate him, is the main reason for moving. At this point, Squidward gets the news about the dream housing that is Tentacle Acres .
A place for the Tentacles to live side by side by excluding themselves from outside civilization. Squidville has become a mirror “Other” for Squidward.
What is Happiness?
The search for happiness never stops. Then how do humans define happiness, if it becomes a search that doesn’t end. Various answers can be given to this question.
However, whether the question of happiness can end if it can be answered comprehensively and systematically. More or less, true happiness is a never-ending search process.
Happiness is a road that has no end. The Stoics or Stoicism expressed the idea of human happiness. These Greek thinkers argued that happiness was something that needed to be controlled.
Bad or happy feelings are actually feelings that are outside of human beings. Happiness that is present outside oneself is an addition that has a temporary impact that is even impossible to control.
Therefore, humans can be said to be happy if they are able to control themselves against factors that are outside of themselves. So, humans can be in happiness if they are able to control the contents of their feelings. Aristotle as a Greek thinker also put forward the idea of happiness.
Aristotle’s famous concept is Eudaimonia or the search for life is happiness. In principle Aristotle stated that happiness is the end of the search for human life.
Through this search, humans need to obey the rules that are present and mutually agreed upon. In short, Aristotle’s thought wanted to show that the way to achieve happiness is when humans succeed in choosing a format that suits them.
The search for the meaning of happiness actually brings humans to a dilemma that continues in life. The achievement of happiness besides having a positive impact, happiness can also be interpreted as a short way to suffering. Shows that something that ends is suffering. So when happiness is defined as the short way, it becomes clear that it is not happiness but suffering.
Lines of understanding about true happiness are important themes in the Squidville series. In the Spongebob cartoon, it is shown that Squidward wants to go to a place that makes him calm and the way out is tentacle housing ( Tentacle Acres ). The peaceful life of the tentacles and dream activities. But is that true happiness?
Happy Protagonist
Squidward is a selfish protagonist. The dream to be happy for him is to live in peace. Free from the distractions of neighbors and the world of work is the biggest dream of this protagonist. That fact seems to reverse when Squidward has found his dream.
In the Squidville series, Squidward really enjoys the fruit of his dream. Until finally happiness becomes the biggest loneliness that he built himself. Loneliness is shown when Squidward gets bored with his ideal routine. The protagonist who wants to be happy has fallen into a deep hole of loneliness. The moment when Squidward has to return to remembering his past filled with anger turns out to be part of the process to be happy.
Squidward remembers the happiness Spongebob and Patrick made with a reef blower . Because of loneliness he also plays the instrument as a trigger for pleasure. As a result of the search for happiness, all people who live in Squidville hate it.
The whole community judged him and Squidward said “ This city is a complaint. There should be laws for misers living in one place. This city must be destroyed!” The sentence uttered by Squidward is a rebuke of the housing that has become his residence.
Something that longed for peace, beauty and even heaven has become a prison for Squidward. Then the closing of the Squidville series is closed with the happiness of Squidward leaving the house.
The protagonist has found happiness when he is able to break free from the character being turned on. Squidward’s departure using a rock blower is a sign that happiness actually processes through the way humans think and decide to take an action. The protagonist is freed from himself.
“The Other” Mirror
The Squidville series culminates in Squidward’s life at Tentacle Acres. Favorite activities such as playing music, sports, cycling and shopping have become a new daily life for Squidward.
But that happiness slowly became over. Happiness is what turns out to be suffering. As Squidward had wanted, his new life brought him boredom. This is the deepest part of human existence.
Humans in search of happiness have led to experiences of boredom and even depression. Something opposite seems to be the path that needs to be traversed in the life of every human being. Like Squidward in the Squidville series, he seems to be in a cycle of circles against himself. endless cycle of circles to find happiness.
Like a mirror, the creators of Spongebob cartoon have shown how Squidward is fighting himself. The “Other” mirror has shown who humans are in front of themselves. The protagonist character that is inherent in Squidward in the series seems to be reunited with a group of his kind.
The type that longs for peace and quiet but actually always feels pain. This is due to the dwarfism of the understanding of happiness.
As a real solution, we are made aware of by the Spongebob Squarepants character. Even though he has a mischievous and mischievous character, the audience is presented with the happiness shown through Spongebob’s way of life.
He is more open to the world outside himself and consciously chooses to be happy with what comes from outside. At this stage, actually the happiness that I longed for about a pleasant childhood also became a mirror of “Other” about endless search.
Closing
Watching cartoons has been a rewarding experience as a child. Moving pictures, characters and even background music are actually things that children really pay attention to. The presence of cartoons has made life in childhood so happy. After passing through childhood, the real problem awaits. The longing to be happy in childhood is everyone’s cherished dream. It feels like going back to the past.
Spongebob Squarepants is a cherished cartoon in childhood. Cartoon films that make adult audiences want to return to childhood. But Squidville, Happiness and the “Other” Mirror are signs that time gone cannot be repeated.
The awareness of dialogue, signs and human experience that is presented through the Squidville series actually holds various meanings for the audience. The short happiness of childhood, becomes something that needs to be left behind.
Because true happiness is awareness of the endless process in dealing with life’s choices.
