SpongeBob SquarePants: Transforming Unions from Protector to Foe of the Working Joe

• In Event: Critiquing, Engaging, and Transforming the Social: Burke and the Strategic Use of Symbols

Abstract

In SpongeBob SquarePants Season Four’s episode “Bummer Vacation,” the Fry Cooks Union forces Mr. Krabs, The Krusty Krab’s proprietor, to give SpongeBob a vacation or face a hefty fine. A Burkean pentadic analysis of this episode illustrates how the union is transformed from an advocate of the employee to an adversary of both the employee and the employer. This transformation exemplifies a long tradition of distorted media views of unions.

Author

• Amber Burkett Peplow, Wright State University