Seems the Wall Street Journal is reporting that a large number of gay people are seeing Spongebob Squarepants, the undersea sponge living in a bizarre world, as one of them. What, Waylon Smithers wasn't enough?
Bad jokes aside, the reasoning apparently seems understandable. He lives in a town called Bikini Bottom, his best friend is a pink starfish named Patrick...basically, they're seeing many of the common homosexual stereotypes applied to Spongebob.
Even some less obvious "signs" are being noticed. One of the characters, Squidward (a fussbudget who likes bubble baths and classical music), apparently has a voice reminiscent of the late Paul Lynde, who specialized in gay double-entendre on Hollywood Squares.
Of course, people find meanings in everything. Ask three different people what The Matrix is supposed to represent, and you'll get three different answers. One site claims it to be a modern-day parable, an allegory of the Bible. Others call it an invitation to revolution. Still more claim it to be a message of awakening, a tale of human potential. But just because you see it doesn't mean it's really there.
Let's face it. People are going to see whatever they want to IN whatever they want to. If they want to see Spongebob Squarepants as a subtle way of convincing children that gay people are still human, let them. There's worse things they can believe.
But if there's a "very special episode" of Spongebob Squarepants this week, I'm going to be watching the next 700 Club just to see the fireworks.
