SpongeBob - The TONE-DEAF theory

why does Squidward suck so bad at playing the clarinet I love Squidward and his never-ending misery and unbearably handsome face but the more I watch the show the more I start to notice something that makes no sense how does he play the clarinet this much and suck this bad you might disagree with me but it just doesn't make any sense to dedicate so much of your life to one thing and come out this badly which just makes me wonder is it possible that Squidward doesn't actually know how bad he is and if that is the case what exactly is it that is preventing him from knowing from the very first season of the show Squidward has always been a bad-tempered snob who loves the Finer Things in life and craves Fame his pursuit of clarinet stardom has been an extremely important part of his character from the beginning yet no matter how hard he tries Squidward always manages to fall in his face long before he achieves the success he Longs for now some people online have speculated that there may actually be a reason that Squidward is so bad at the clarinet the two most common theories are that Squidward is either toned deaf or that he has had the most unfortunate curse placed on him that prevents him from ever becoming successful I personally think one is more likely than the other but I'll come back to that later right now let's dig into the context of both theories here the show has always made a point to highlight just how much Squidward truly loves his clarinet he loves the thing so much that he even gives it a human name Clary which is totally normal he also sleeps with it at night and gives it a pillow of its own to rest on which is not normal but then every time he picks it up and starts to play it he basically repels anybody who happens to be standing nearby it's not the biggest confidence booster he could have in the season 13 episode mandatory music Squidward attempts to impress his fellow residents of bikini bottom with a free public concert performance but instead of being impressed by his talents the residents angrily Chase Squidward out of the park his music makes entire buildings collapse and eventually he gets interrogated by the music police who confiscate his clarinet and send him to mandatory music education at a local Academy they basically use their authority to order him to get good anyway Squidward's reeducation is pretty much ruined when SpongeBob joins the class and becomes the only member of the entire group to show any kind of musical Talent a major blow to Squidward with his clarinet gone Squidward is forced to try out a bunch of new instruments but he just gets worse and worse with each one when he eventually takes his clarinet back Squidward creates a musical tornado forcing the music police to try and stop him but he refuses so they send in a robot Maestro who shoots a cork into Squidward's clarinet to stop him from destroying the world with his terrible mus music Squidward is put under musical arrest and his clarinet gets shredded but when SpongeBob Comforts him he hands Squidward a tissue that creates a trumpet-like noise when Squidward sneezes into it that ends up making Squidward hugely popular among the musicians and he's hailed as a musical genius honestly this is not one of the greatest episodes of SpongeBob but it's probably the closest example of Squidward being shown to be toned deaf throughout the episode he seems to have absolutely no idea that his playing is as bad as it is and even when he takes a turn on the other instruments he causes even more chaos because he doesn't seem to understand how it all sounds yet when SpongeBob gives him the tissue Squidward unintentionally makes great music without even trying this is not an uncommon thing for musical Geniuses as even Beethoven was completely deaf and still managed to create some of the most outstanding classical music pieces in history of course deafness and tone deafness are two very different things tone deafness is defined as someone being unable to perceive the differences in musical pitch or notes this is exactly what Squidward does in this episode he has absolutely no idea whether what he's trying to do is right or wrong good or bad he just does it and it largely sucks except for when he isn't trying but I also have to bring up some points the show has raised about Squidward's playing you see the show has always made a point to highlight that Squidward does have some talent but as I said a moment ago it really only comes out when he's not trying unfortunately Squidward is a narcissist desperate for fame he can't help but try in the season 1 episode bubble stand Squidward is practicing his clarinet when SpongeBob decides to build a bubble stand outside in the loudest possible way when Patrick arrives at the stand SpongeBob teaches him how to blow bubbles creating a giant one that enters Squidward's house and Pops as always Squidward is really really irritated with this as soon as Squidward gets the chance he tries to blow a bubble of his own but he just can't do it in the same way SpongeBob did but as he loses his mind and screams at them he unintentionally creates a giant bubble once again highlighting how good Squidward is at stuff when he stops trying however the bubble later descends and wraps around Squidward's house ripping it out of the earth and floating back up to the surface SpongeBob and Patrick tried to get his attention but Squidward is playing his clarinet [Music] well when he finally realizes what's going on with his house he's super high above ground level the bubble pops with a serious explosive force leaving the house plummeting back to earth when it does land he lets out a few notes from his clarinet and sure enough it sounds really really bad if we go back and look at the episode again we can see that Squidward got really good at the clarinette after he had expelled all of his anger it's as if all that repressed rage was holding him back from truly achieving greatness when he stops trying to impress other people or be something he isn't he can play like a real master but then of course the bubble bursts and he collapses back to the Earth and he's terrible once again now I think we have to to acknowledge that the force of the bubble exploding was really really [Music] strong wow so it's possible that this had a major effect on his hearing and could actually have sent him from being just tone deaf to fully deaf I mean I guess it's like people who have had guns fired right next to their eard drums leaving with irreparable damage and sometimes full deafness so maybe we just witnessed the reason that Squidward is so truly terrible at the one hobby he loves but what if it isn't anything to do with being toned deaf what happens if Squidward's ears are completely normal and healthy in that case how is he so appalling on the clarinet well that's where the curse comes in now if you were to ask Squidward himself what the cause of his lack of success was he would never claim to be toned deaf he'd be quick to point the finger at the people around him namely SpongeBob and I think this is where the curse really comes in because the guy just cannot catch a break not only is he neighbors with the most chaotic being in the entire ocean but even when he is actually chasing his artistic Ambitions he just cannot seem to cross the finish line of Victory I mean think about it pretty much every single disaster that Squidward has ever faced comes back to SpongeBob Andor Patrick getting involved if he succeeds it's usually nothing to do with him at all in the episode Band Geeks Squidward encounters his old high school classmate and rival Squam f who brags that he's leading a band playing the prestigious bubble bowl and making Squidward a half-hearted backhanded offer to take over but Squidward says yes not wanting to save face Squidward hastily assembles a band from the residents of the Town including Patrick but discovers that nobody can play any instruments whatsoever the rehearsals are not any better ultimately leading to a position where nobody in the band has made any notable progress whatsoever too bad that didn't kill me he gets so upset that they haven't taken his dream seriously that he eventually just leaves all together when the day of the performance arrives Squidward is ready for the inevitable failure that seems to haunt him instead SpongeBob makes him look incredible choreographing an elaborate Rock performance that humiliates Squilliam and makes Squidward look like a genius I think this shows again that Squidward is really His Own Worst Enemy when he gets out of the way and lets someone else take over everything goes perfectly well but but when he's in charge it's just one disaster after another in fact it's entirely possible that he is the curse think about it when he's completely out of the picture it's about as close to success as he ever gets but when he's the one leading the effort it just never works out the way he wants it to now I also want to add a third option which is that Squidward may only be unsuccessful and bad because he plays badly on purpose what would ever compel an ambitious success Seeker like Squidward to do such a thing Revenge namely revenge on SpongeBob and Patrick it sounds crazy I know but we have entire episodes in which SpongeBob and Patrick do everything they can to make as much noise as physically possible seemingly just to drive Squidward to the brink of insanity I don't think it's unrealistic to imagine that Squidward would want to get Vengeance any way he could by making so much noise that people leave him alone now of course this Vengeance Ploy would end up backfiring on him I mean it's keeping him locked in obscurity and failure but that's exactly the kind of thing that Squidward would never really think about as I said from the beginning of the show Squidward is His Own Worst Enemy he's so focused on trying to be famous and successful that he doesn't really think about anything beyond the immediate moment that's why Squam is constantly outsmarting him and why Squidward always ends up losing his strategies are always rooted in the shortterm now the official explanation given by the show is that Squidward is only good at the clarinet when he's confident in the zone and not doing it just to chase Fame but let's be honest even when he's far away from SpongeBob and practicing on his own he still sucks and if he doesn't have any confidence on his own I'm not sure he would be confident in front of a crowd but there's also one final point to make here one key reason that may explain why he's so bad at playing a clarinet a more practical reason Squidward is literally an octopus trying to play a human instrument and one that requires finger dexterity he of course does not have fingers he has tentacles it's not exactly the easiest thing in the world having watched hours of SpongeBob just for this video I can confidently say that I don't think Squidward is toned dep he shows some moments of genuine Brilliance and talent but I do think that he is cursed unfortunately the curse is just him as long as he's involved in something it will never be a success if you live in Bikini Bottom you'll want to stay as far away from this guy as humanly possible because he does seem to be cursed to never actually succeed as long long as he wants to or maybe Squidward is just a pretty bad octopus musician who chose an instrument that requires fingers I don't know man I just like cartoons

Channel: Flixtoon

Views: 3,289

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Id: sooKE_CO4mU

Length: 11min 47sec (707 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 13 2024