That's what a guy says in a new Atlantic article on the Spongebob Squarepants phenomenon.
“SpongeBob is one of the greatest believers in the American dream in all of children’s entertainment,” says Greg Rowland, whose consultancy, Greg Rowland Semiotics, has performed brand analyses for Unilever, KFC, and Coca-Cola. “He’s courageous, he’s optimistic, he’s representing everything that Mickey Mouse should have represented but never did. There’s even something Jesus-like about him—a 9-year-old Jesus after 15 packets of Junior Mints.”
And, as you can see from this Feb.21, 2005 cover of The Nation, it's not the first time the Spongebob-as-Jesus theory has appeared in one of them high-falutin' magazines.
Also, this Atlantic piece by James Parker has maybe the greatest two sentences ever written in post-modern television criticism:
It is Squidward, actually, tending his soufflés at home, who might be said to exhibit a certain spinsterish or curate-like gayness; SpongeBob and Patrick simply love each other very much. Steeped in the soft-edged eroticism of Freud’s latency period, they gambol together through the jellyfish fields.
Gambol together through the jellyfish fields? You know James Parker is awful proud of himself for that.
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"Baby Got Back" + Spongebob Squarepants = New Controversial Burger King Ad [VIDEO]
Johnny Depp Arouses Strange And Confusing Feelings In Spongebob's Squarepants [VIDEO]
Mr. Rogers: The Original Mr. Jesus