SpongeBob's pet snail Gary

Do you remember Gary, SpongeBob's pet snail. It's quite an interesting character for me and I wondered why and how they came up with that character idea.

SpongeBob is an iconic cartoon that was introduced in 1999, the idea of Gary was that they wanted to model the character after a house cat in terms of behavior.

So if you're familiar with the Gary character, it communicates with cat "meow" sounds and even purrs. I think it adds some form of humor because of how it contrast with his snail form. You wouldn't expect a snail to behave that way and that's what makes the character cool.

SpongeBob's character is arguably hyperactive, I say arguably because some might consider his character as not hyperactive enough, I'll just make this a subjective claim and not an objective one. So that's another contrast with his pet snail's slow movement and calm aura.

Gary the snail does a good job in highlighting SpongeBob's sense of responsibility and kindness. The way he takes care of Gary is somewhat cute. The character is quite a memorable one and the details, tiny details that makes him cool, from the bright spiral shell to the drooping eyes and the way it leaves sticky trails when it moves.

Gray is most certainly not a main character but he has some funny storylines and scenes like when he refuses food or wanders off and that connects to the main story so well.

The character really needs no words, just the sound design, mainly Tom Kenny's meows gives it a lovable personality without having to say a word.

A lot of children watch the SpongeBob show and they like Gary most because of how cute he is, well again subjectively speaking and also because of his odd behavior for a snail. We the adults usually watch the children's cartoons and notice the subtle jokes and can relate at another level.

Some jokes in children's cartoons are not meant for the children to understand

Gary is a great example of silent characters. I don't know whether to compare it with Groot in Guardians of the galaxy and Avengers but the point is mostly silent characters can add heart and depth to a movie in a way that would make them more lovable than some other characters that actually talk.

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