"A pessimist might observe that SpongeBob and Patrick’s dispersal of bad poetry lowered the aesthetic standards of the town.... A similar pessimist might make the case that bad poetry should stay private, that Bigshot Records— much like vanity presses—lures subpar writers with the illusive promise of fame and recognition. Yet, to me, there is a performative exuberence in Spongebob and Patrick’s blaring, gum-attached gramophone that makes it seem like an ultimately salutary, and even revolutionary, gesture for Bikini Bottom—that it shocked the town out of its rigid aesthetic categories. I want to optimistically think that at the very moment when that fish thought “You know—It’s not that bad,” some kind of aesthetic recalibration occurred, that Patrick’s poem redefined his notions of what art can be."
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
What's Good About Bad Poetry? The Case of Patrick the Starfish
Check out Michael Leong's beautiful take on the stinky poetry of Patrick the Starfish from SpongeBob SquarePants. An excerpt:
"A pessimist might observe that SpongeBob and Patrick’s dispersal of bad poetry lowered the aesthetic standards of the town.... A similar pessimist might make the case that bad poetry should stay private, that Bigshot Records— much like vanity presses—lures subpar writers with the illusive promise of fame and recognition. Yet, to me, there is a performative exuberence in Spongebob and Patrick’s blaring, gum-attached gramophone that makes it seem like an ultimately salutary, and even revolutionary, gesture for Bikini Bottom—that it shocked the town out of its rigid aesthetic categories. I want to optimistically think that at the very moment when that fish thought “You know—It’s not that bad,” some kind of aesthetic recalibration occurred, that Patrick’s poem redefined his notions of what art can be."
"A pessimist might observe that SpongeBob and Patrick’s dispersal of bad poetry lowered the aesthetic standards of the town.... A similar pessimist might make the case that bad poetry should stay private, that Bigshot Records— much like vanity presses—lures subpar writers with the illusive promise of fame and recognition. Yet, to me, there is a performative exuberence in Spongebob and Patrick’s blaring, gum-attached gramophone that makes it seem like an ultimately salutary, and even revolutionary, gesture for Bikini Bottom—that it shocked the town out of its rigid aesthetic categories. I want to optimistically think that at the very moment when that fish thought “You know—It’s not that bad,” some kind of aesthetic recalibration occurred, that Patrick’s poem redefined his notions of what art can be."
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