The Philosophy of Spongebob: Squid’s Day Off
By: Alex Lago
Tags: Life Lessons, Crime, Philosophy, Morality, Spirituality

Lately, many people have experienced an increased amount of free time. I work at an office usually, but now that I’m working from home, I have more time to spend the uneventful work hours on things that I choose.

I can work on side hustles, go exercise, or do any activity of my choosing. So what do I do? Obviously, watch Spongebob.

Now hear me out, even though you might be thinking it is a waste of time— it’s not a complete waste of time. Spongebob is a show many people in their 20’s and 30’s love and it evokes a certain nostalgia.

Amazon Prime has seasons 1–5, and every Spongebob fan knows these are the best. But as I was watching for cheap entertainment and laughs I realized that Spongebob has many lessons that I missed when I was younger.

So as a way to relax and unwind during this pandemic, let me explain the philosophical lessons I learned from rewatching Spongebob.

Today I want to look at perhaps the most interesting season for life lessons — season 2.

Season 2 of Spongebob offers episodes such as “Squid’s Day Off”, “Big Pink Loser”, “Patty Hype”, and “Squidsville”, that all deal with self-image and broader meaning than just a cheap cartoon for laughs.

A good episode to start at is “Squid’s Day Off”.

When Spongebob accidentally drops a dime down the sink, his cheapskate boss, Mr. Krabs, tries to save it by reaching his claw inside the drain. The only problem is that his claw is way too big and he can’t remove it unless he lets go of the coin. However, that’s not an option for the miserly Mr. Krabs. He keeps trying to save the coin and accidentally gets his arm ripped off while flying back and collapsing a shelf. All the contents of the shelf drop onto his head, sending him to the hospital and putting Squidward in charge.

Squidward sees this as an opportunity to slack off and takes the day off, assigning all the restaurant duties to Spongebob.

Squidward tells Spongebob he will be “running some errands”. As he is going home, he starts thinking about how Spongebob could mess up and possibly cause an accident at the restaurant.

This ties into a deeper lesson because if you ever slacked off while on the clock or tried to take the easy way out with an obligation, very few of us can do it without worrying. Unless you are emotionless and cold-blooded, everyone feels wrong whenever they are doing something they aren’t supposed to.

Squidward was tasked with taking care of the restaurant but instead wants to relax. It is his responsibility to make sure nothing bad happens and he can’t relax while he has this on his mind. He begins to imagine Spongebob giving away all the restaurant’s money or burning down the restaurant.

How does this tie into philosophy? This can be seen as the age-old concept that crime is its own punishment. When we do something we are not supposed to, we may get quick satisfaction, but eventually, our morality starts to weigh on us. The action we initially completed to cut corners ends up causing us more internal problems in the future.

This concept can be seen in Greek thought with Socrates who believes that the natural way of the world was to avoid deception and to seek the truth. He believes that whatever deities existed would surely punish us for the evil we have committed by this deception.

But even without the existence of deities our guilt and inherent sense of morality would weigh on us when committing a crime.

“The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment.”

― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment

Similarly, Squidward wants to take advantage of the trust his boss put into him, but he can’t bear the consequences of not following his responsibilities. What had at first been an easy way for Squidward to slack off and relax, turns into his personal hell that would have been much easier had he just stuck to his responsibilities.

In the end, Squidward has gone through hell and back for such a minor transgression. He finally accepts his position back at the restaurant and goes back to complete his duty. He realizes that the position he so sought to avoid was eventually even more relaxing than going home to slack off.

This teaches us to always follow our duty and to go against our nature is wrong. Some alternate explanations for the episode may also deal with Capitalism and its strain on the worker, giving him an anxious and impulsive sense of duty. But I believe the lesson here can be extended to the broader concept of an individual’s duty.