May 1st 1999 is a very special day when it comes to animation, and more specifically, Nickelodeon.
This was the first day that Spongebob Squarepants was released and began its journey into becoming a worldwide
phenomenon it paved the way for future
cartoons and carved out a very special style of its own whether if you're a fan of the hilarious character storylines or dare I say...
memes, this show has so many different things and more than likely, one of them is probably for you.
But what is this show is portraying one of its main characters in a different way than they actually are?
We can't forget the spongebob is a show that likes to have jokes that go right over kids heads, for example:
"Patrick your genius is showing." So with that in mind,
what if SpongeBob's closest friend, Patrick isn't really who he is and what if this is all just some kind of front and there's actually
some really disturbing subliminal stuff hidden behind the scenes, or maybe it's just been hidden in plain sight all along?
Let's take a closer look. Hi everyone. I'm Justin with ChannelFrederator and in this episode of cartoon conspiracy,
We're going to be tackling the very interesting theory that Patrick is indeed a psychopath. You ready? I'm ready, I'm re-
I- i- i had to do it. I'm sorry. Here we go! Are you all ready kids?
So we all know Patrick Star, right? Lovable underwater sea star with seemingly no care in the world the best friend of main character and
Legend, SpongeBob Squarepants. Patrick is portrayed in some really interesting ways in
SpongeBob and a lot of people pass him off as being the "Not so intelligent kind of dim-witted character",
But what is that's not the case? What if he's actually a psychopath?
That's all fine and dandy, right?
But what actually is a "psychopath"? Dictionary.com states that it's a person with a psychopathic personality,
Which manifests as amoral, anti-social behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme
egocentricity, failiure to learn from experience, etc.
Let's back this up a little bit and pick this apart starting with the phrase which manifests as a Moral and anti-social behavior.
Amoral behavior is the real interesting part of this because Patrick does sometimes lose his cool and go off the deep end
usually when things don't really seem to go his way or
even aligned closely with the thing that he would like and also sometimes for like no real
reason? And a lot of this behavior can be found in the season 1 episode:
"Nature pants". In this episode Spongebob is thinking about starting a more natural life, and by doing so, he's going to go live with the
Jellyfish. So with SpongeBob now having this more minimalistic view on life,
he's not going to need any of his personal belongings anymore,
just like that jar of mayonnaise that he gives Patrick as well as the legend, "O'l Reliable" which is Spongebob's most prized
jellyfishing net. With all this happening Patrick gets overridden with sadness and once Spongebob leaves, he decides to go and try to catch him as
A jellyfish. Yeah. While he begins to chase Spongebob around, he even says the phrase "If I can't have you as a friend...
I'm going to make you a trophy!" Yeah. Very creepy stuff.
He even picks out the jar that he's going to keep Spongebob in on his shelf?
Yeah,
We can't make this stuff up. Patrick then proceeds to chase SpongeBob around Jellyfish Fields until Spongebob
realizes his big mistake, and makes his way back home.
But if we think about that whole scene for a second, where Spongebob is being chased by Patrick,
Uhh, It's kind of void of any logic. Of course, Patrick is sad that Spongebob isn't home anymore,
and that he's not going to be able to hang out with him as much as he used to, but he just chases him around
the field like a maniac instead of just reasoning with him. Hmmm...
But looking further in the series, this crazy out of the ordinary behavior doesn't end there it actually picks up again in the episode
"Valentine's day". In this episode Spongebob hands out Valentine's day cards to all of his closest friends and Patrick gets, as
SpongeBob states, "The greatest, the bestest, the most fantabulous
present, but you can't have it yet." so Spongebob and Patrick head down to the local
carnival where Sandy is setting up for the big reveal for Patrick.
How exciting. Sandy starts to fly in on Spongebob's huge gift to Patrick. It's, stick with me now. A heart-shaped,
chocolate, hot-air balloon with a picture of Patrick on it. What a good friend.
But then to throw a little bit of convenience into the situation, a giant swarm of "chocolate-eating scallops"
comes out of nowhere and ruins the plan.
One bite puts a hole in the balloon and starts to deflate it. Spongebob begins to break it to Patrick that the plan didn't go
too well and since he has nothing to show for his friend on Valentine's day,
he offers him... a frienly handshake. The two friends shake hands, but Patrick is so bitter about this and to cope with it,
he holds his hand out next to his head... for the remainder of the day.
But Spongebob and Patrick take a seat and Patrick lets his friend know that it's okay
and it's just really the thought that counts. Aww! in the end, it's okay, It's alright, It doesn't matter, It's alright,
it's just one Valentine's day. Everything's fine and dandy, right? *Whoo*. Happy ending.
We'd like to think so...
But that actually isn't the case because suddenly all SpongeBob's
acquaintances stop by and thank him for the Valentine's day gifts that he gave them earlier on in the day.
Patrick notices what's going on, he puts two and two together, and starts going crazy. He runs around the park ruining
everyone's time and trying to destroy all the carnival rides? He even tries to attack his best friend, Spongebob,
but before he gets the chance, Sandy comes in on a patched-up version of his Valentine's day gift, saving the day.
Thank goodness!
Which you would think might be the end of this, but
stick with us. Going back to the definition of "Psychopaths", it explains that they're very egocentric,
and always want themselves to be the main focus and "star" of the show and...
You don't know how long I've waited to use that. Yeah for reasons unknown,
I'm pretty proud of that one.
But doesn't this whole freakout situation really fit that mold? Doesn't it seem like Patrick is making a bigger deal this then is really necessary?
It really seems like it, and especially when all the other gift recipients come by and thank
SpongeBob, and the Sad Starfish says
"Patrick needs love too!" as if he's completely forgot about the fact that Spongebob just spent the entire day with him; hanging out at the
carnival, trying to have fun, going on all these rides. He just doesn't see it.
It really seems like Patrick just wants things to be about himself and be the main focus.
But it's this kind of behavior that really makes us question him, I mean was all that really needed? Was it necessary?
Did he HAVE to run around the Valentine's day carnival and just ruin everyone's time? Was it justified?
We think not. This is the kind of immoral behavior that we've been talking about this entire episode
and he's not concerned at all with what he's doing
and if it's justified. These are all signs of a psychopath. Another example of this behavior can be found in the episode "Missing Identity".
SpongeBob loses his nametag and Patrick freaks out.
It's not even his nametag! And with reasons unknown, Patrick just loses his mind,
it's not even explained in the episode, and it kind of random. As we can see, Patrick isn't really the most stable of characters from
the roster of SpongeBob Squarepants, but it doesn't end there. Let's see what else we can pull from that definition. The definition also mentions:
"The lack of ability to love or establish meaningful
personal relationships" and as we've seen throughout the entire run of Spongebob, so far that isn't really Patrick's area of
expertise. Could this be because Patrick actually doesn't know what love is? Well...
Maybe? A strong example of this can be seen in the episode
"Chocolate with Nuts", a personal favorite of mine in this episode, Patrick and Spongebob make their way around town and try to sell people
chocolate. One of their potential buyers opens up the door and Patrick randomly says "I love you!". What? What's up with this?
Why does he say it? Does he even know what love means?
Probably not. It's really interesting and actually some scientists have done some studies and found information that some
psychopaths are unable to feel or understand love. Could this be a tie with that? Possibly. But our next clue comes from the episode
"I'm with Stupid" where Patrick is getting ready for his parents to stop by and check out its humble Rock. But throughout this entire episode,
Patrick is worried that his parents are going to think that he's "Dumber than last time"?
Which can be seen by the letter that they sent him in the episode. It reads:
"Dear Patrick, Your mom and I are coming out tomorrow for Starfish Day. Please try to remember,
but don't try too hard or you'll hurt yourself like last time. Love, Daddy." Aww.
So- so loving and caring. So Spongebob sees the letter and volunteers to act dumb and make Patrick look smart which is an interesting point
when examining psychotic behavior.
Though SpongeBob willingly volunteers,
Patrick starts to take advantage of him and his friendship. The whole situation is kind of weird and Patrick puts on an "I'm with the
Dummy" shirt with an arrow pointing towards Spongebob?
It's pretty cruel,
but not as bad as when Patrick's family actually show up and buy into the gag. We have to remember that Spongebob did
volunteer here, but he didn't volunteer to be taken advantage of.
Patrick begins to take things way too far as if he wasn't really joke anymore?
He talks about how annoying Spongebob is and that he doesn't know how to dress? Geez.
SpongeBob asks for a quick word in the kitchen where he reminds patrick that it's only part of the plan. He's not actually dumb but
Patrick takes the manipulation a step further and tries to really convince SpongeBob that he's really "that dumb". Pretty cruel stuff.
SpongeBob then breaks it to Patrick's parents that he's actually smart and that he was just trying to make them appreciate
Patrick a little more, but patrick doesn't let up. He still insists that Spongebob is dumb and ends up making him lose his
mind and run away. What a great friend.
Then we find out that these two people aren't even
Patrick's real parents, his real parents have been waiting outside to Squidward's house all day. This could all tie into the fact that he can't
establish a meaningful relationship.
I mean the guy can barely remember who his parents are. It's due to everything that's going on inside Patrick's mind
and we feel that this episode is where this theory really starts to come into play, it proves that Patrick can't form meaningful
relationship and that he's very super manipulative. Interesting.
But the last huge thing furthering this theory can be found in the episode "The Card", where we see the release of the new
Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy trading cards,
and of course,
SpongeBob's a huge fan and he wants to collect them all. So spongebob goes down to his local card shop, buys up every last pack
that he can afford, opens them all, and sadly doesn't get the Ultra-Rare card...
But then Patrick walks into the card shop, sees the last pack of cards, goes up to the counter, buys it, opens it ups and
gets the Ultra-Rare card and doesn't even know it until Spongebob has to mention it to him.
It's a really funny episode and throughout the entire thing, Spongebob protects Patrick because he has that Super rare card.
Patrick is doing all this dangerous stuff and Spongebob is right behind him protecting him,
but Spongebob is actually just trying to protect the card and not his dear friend? As time passes Patrick walks Straight into Goo Lagoon and
Spongebob of course freaks out and runs in to save him, bringing him to safety. Spongebob ends up questioning patrick and asked him
"Why did you go into Goo lagoon?"
"Why did you do that?" and Patrick responds with "SpongeBob, you can't always expect my usual brand of stupidity.
I like to mix it up! Keep you on your toes!"
Then Patrick continues to walk across a beam held up by a crane and jumps into a giant pot of fire.
Good old Patrick. This is a
significant point of this theory because it begs the question: "Could patrick just be playing everyone through with the entire course of the series?" we
think it could be
possible. And the quote that we just heard sort of confirms that Patrick is indeed in on how stupid
he really is. It's a really interesting fourth wall break if you ask us.
This could most certainly be another trade pointing to Patrick being a psychopath, but how does this theory actually hold up in the breakdown?
So the obvious
argument that people have been trying to make is the fact that Patrick just isn't that smart which we agree with to an extent, but
it just seems like there's more to Patrick than just a low level of
intelligence. The inability to handle his emotions or understand love, the deep
manipulation with Spongebob in the "I'm with Stupid" episode, or the need to always be the "star" of the show... (Pun completely attended again.)
Really does point to him being some sort of psychopath...
He does check a lot of the boxes if not all of them, but we have to remember this is Patrick Star
we're dealing with the dude is.. is crazy.
He's not really the brightest character,
but when he drops that line in the episode "The Card", it really does make us think differently about him. It really makes us think
about the creators and what they're doing behind the scenes and how they intend on portraying the characters at hand. Are they in on this?
Did they make Patrick a super secret psychopath? Well we're just going to have to wait and see as the series continues
So with all this information, I have to rate this theory three of Patrick Starfish limbs out of five, it's- it's pretty interesting.
It's really convincing,
but we don't really know yet for sure. do you? We want to know what you guys think in the comments section down below.
Is Patrick super smart? Is he intelligent? Is he a
psychopath? Or is he just good old Patrick Star? let us know in the comment section down below. And if you have a theory that
you want to see covered here on ChannelFrederator,
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I'm Justin, A.K.A. Scoutfly, and don't forget, Frederator loves you.