"Beauty and the Patriarchal Beast"...in Spongebob??

Spongebob Squarepants on Nickelodeon is probably the last place you would expect to find an example of the article we just read, "Beauty and the Patriarchal Beast." Yet there was one episode in particular that focused on a familiar family situation. Now that I've actually thought about it, the main characters in the cartoon do not have significant others or spouses or anything so normally, one doesn't consider how the cartoon portrays dominance in the household. There is one episode, however, where Patrick and Spongebob find a baby clam and decide to raise it. Spongebob takes on the "mom," and patrick the "dad." When they first start out, everything is all fine and dandy. Patrick goes to "work" and Spongebob stays home with the baby. Yet, Patrick starts to come in from work and Spongebob is tired from working at home all day and Patrick goes straight to the TV to watch this coconut falling on someone's head. Spongebob whimpers for help around the house, while he has about 8 arms doing different things around the house. Patrick continues to promise that he will help out the next day. Helping out never comes, until one day Spongebob gets fed up and yells at Patrick, who retreats to his job. Spongebob follows him and see that Patrick hasn't even been going to work, he has been going to his own home watching the same TV show!! To make it worse, his briefcase is full of desserts. In the end, they are arguing but Patrick is never reprimanded for his actions because they both stop arguing to save the baby. It is just like the article almost, where the man of the household is not worth much but nothing is truly done about. It took Spongebob till his breaking point to even yell at Patrick about it. This shows that even in cartoons you can find the "Beauty and the Beast trend" and perhaps these only help to subtly encourage a home with male dominance.