There are two kinds of people in the world: those who love
SpongeBob SquarePants, and those who do not.
For those who love him, the passion goes quite far.
Walking down the halls of Sproul 3 North, the music blaring from
most rooms will be Jay-Z, Yellowcard and Britney Spears.
Second-year student Stephanie Lee’s room, however, will
blast the bubbly “FUN” song from the upcoming film
“The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.”
Since the show’s inception in 1999, it has appealed to
both children and adults.
Lee has watched the cartoon since her junior year of high school
in 2002, when her older brother suggested that she watch an
episode.
Since then, she has been compelled by the show’s low humor
to continue watching it.
“It takes me away from the harsh world,” said Lee.
“We have so much reality television based on adult issues;
they are just things I don’t enjoy watching.”
Aside from her own personal enjoyment, Lee’s interest in
the show has made it easier for her friends to buy her gifts.
Her room looks like a 7-year-old raided the SpongeBob
SquarePants section of a Nickelodeon store and hid the booty in the
residence.
The room is riddled with SpongeBob artifacts collected over the
years, from posters and blankets to pillowcases and a chair about a
foot tall, obviously made for a child.
But the small size doesn’t seem to bother Lee.
“Some people think (my collection) is kind of weird, even
overboard,” said Lee.
“Even people that enjoy watching SpongeBob are sometimes
turned off by it all.”
Across the Hill in Dykstra Hall, Thuy Nguyen confesses about the
$100 she has spent on SpongeBob gear.
“I can’t recite the dialogue from episodes, but I
can recall story lines and plots,” said Ngyuen.
Both Lee and Ngyuen agreed on the fact that if they were to see
a guy wearing a SpongeBob shirt on any given day on the street, he
would definitely catch their eye.
In fact, UCLA’s underground culture of SpongeBob
SquarePants fans have their own unique ways of connecting with each
other.
Many of UCLA’s SpongeBob SquarePants groupies connect
through the dedicated Thefacebook.com online group, which recently
gained sponsorship from the actual SpongeBob SquarePants movie.
Messages posted on the online group’s message board range
from declarations of SpongeBob love from fans to notes from
SpongeBob haters telling the former to “grow up.”
But most of the recent messages are concerned with the release
of the SpongeBob SquarePants film, which is scheduled to come out
in theaters this Friday.
The movie’s storyline follows the theft of King
Neptune’s crown. SpongeBob’s boss, Mr. Krabs, is blamed
for the object’s disappearance, so SpongeBob and best friend
Patrick, a starfish, attempt to set the story straight by finding
the real bandit in an adventure across Shell City.
Expectations for the movie are high from fans. Nickelodeon
actually had the creative team of SpongeBob SquarePants cease
production of the television show in order to focus their attention
on the film.
Boxofficeprophets.com, which accurately predicted gross sales
for the first weekend of “The Incredibles”
(approximately $70 million), forecasts about $100 million in total
gross sales for the month of November for “SpongeBob
SquarePants: the Movie.”
The movie includes a cameo by David Hasselhoff, meaning
worldwide sales for the movie could be go especially high in places
like Germany, where Hasselhoff is a big star.
November has been a competitive month for children’s
movies, with the release of “The Incredibles” and
“The Polar Express.”
Still, despite the rumors of tough competition, fans are ready
to storm the theaters to watch the SpongeBob movie.
“I may watch the movie several times, depending on how
good it is,” said Lee.