The Smurfs: Sweet, Snuggly, Subversive

[Chimaera182]

In the honor of dissecting old childhood cartoons (I'm speaking of the homosexual He-Man thread), I'm deciding to talk about those lovable creatures, the Smurfs.

Years ago, a friend of mine was doing research on god knows what; my memory doesn't last five minutes, let alone years. Anyway, he's a history major, and I don't exactly recall how he came across this one particular article, but he sent it to me as a cheap laugh. In it, the author--a college student, not exactly someone overly trustworthy--compared the Smurfs to communists! The article was quite funny.

There was a bit of truth in it, however. The further I read, the more entertaining it became. But also, I could see the parallels between the Smurf society and a socialist society. Even the comparison of Gargamel, that poor misunderstood man, and his cat Azrael to greedy capitalists made sense. More sense than was comfortable.

Last year, in my Critical Approaches to Literature class, we were learning different schools of thought on how to dissect literature and art, and one of these was the Marxist school. Since we had to write a reaction paper on two of the schools of thought, and the Marxist school was one I understood quite well, I chose it. In it, I too used the comparison between socialism and Smurfs (I also took a comparison from Winnie the Pooh which was in our text; amazing, how deeply-entrenched communism was in children's cartoons, isn't it? ).

Anyway, I saw an episode of Robot Chicken recently (I'd seen it before, but last night I was watching it again) where they parody the Smurfs, and I had the urge to write a small rant on MySpace about how Brainy Smurf was depicted. I chose to start the rant with some background info from the article I read years back and went searching for it. Little had I realized that this one college student's essay was hardly the only source of this link between Smurfs and socialism. I've been reading some of the articles (do note that several of the links I'm posting are ".com" as few of the links I found were anything but this), and naturally there are differences of opinion between the pieces, but the overall message is the same: the Smurfs were representative of a true classless, communist society.

http://www.iamlost.com/features/smurfs/commies.shtml or http://www.birdhouse.org/words/misc/commie.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smurf_Communism
http://www.angelfire.com/mo/potatofarm/smurf.html
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpo...415/smurf.html (This article was a poor read, honestly, but I liked the SMURF acronym )
http://www.wesleyan.edu/argus/sept22/c1.html

[Damuna_Nova]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chim (do note that several of the links I'm posting are ".com" as few of the links I found were anything but this)

Well it's hardly going to be ".cap".

[Lestat]

As for the SMURF acronym... The real, original name is "Schtroumpf", so try to make an acronym of that... in French...

And anyway, I base myself on my childhood comics, rather than the televisionseries. Moreover the whole setup of the smurfvillage bears a far more striking resemblance to the communal system in some pre-industrial societies (notably in Africa, with le grand schtroumpf as traditional village chief), or the ideal village living in communion with Nature as according to Rousseau. This whole theory is moreover based on the English version, while the original is in French and there are some notable differences: Brainy smurf is "schtroumpf à lunettes" in the original, i.e. smurf with glasses and he's more of a pseudo-intellectual, an utter brownnoser and often pictured as in the end more stupid than others; Smurfette appears in only one comic and is a creation of Gargamel; vanity smurf is "schtroumpf coquet" or coquettish smurf & greedy smurf is "schtroumpf gourmand" so English more negative than French and theories based on their names slightly idiotic.

And this happy go lucky communal life is more pronounced in the (ironically American made) telivision series than in the comics. E.g. in one of the comics the village is devided in a North and South with different dialects who get into a fight (a clear reference to the language situation in Belgium). In another the village gets, in the abscence of papa smurf, divided in a group that supports some type of dictator/king, "le Schtroumpfissime" and those that rebel against him. Note also that papa smurf is the leader by virtue of his age, wisdom & knowledge, rather than by any force. And he usually shames people into obeying the moral rules, all again references to a more pre-industrial communal system based on respect for elders.
So if the smurfs became communist, you have the Americans to thank for it, don't blame us Belgians. And don't mess with my childhood...

[Aramant]

I once heard the Smurfs compared to the KKK. Among other things, the key similarity is that all of the smurfs wear white caps, while the leader wears a red one.

[Phreddie]

So what? They were just trying to teach kids to share...

[dj_venom]

They say you see in the world, what you carry in your heart.

I say we just hunt down the buggar who saw this first, he's the real commy. Been too long since a commy hunt happened.

Anyway, great links, funny stuff!

[Chimaera182]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Damuna_Nova Well it's hardly going to be ".cap".

I merely meant that '.com' is a less reliable source than something like '.org' or '.edu' because .com is commercial. A .org site would be more reliable, although not the most trustworthy of sites to read; a .edu is generally a good source for reliable information. Hence, why I said that about most of the links being '.com'; I know you were joking when you said that, but I felt like clarifying it anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lestat As for the SMURF acronym... The real, original name is "Schtroumpf", so try to make an acronym of that... in French... ... So if the smurfs became communist, you have the Americans to thank for it, don't blame us Belgians.

I read that on one of the sites, probably Wikipedia. I just thought the acronym that one site came up with was pretty funny, hence why I posted the link. And yes, all us Americans are commies. Haven't you ever wondered why there are more red stripes than white in the U.S. flag?

Quote:

This whole theory is moreover based on the English version, while the original is in French and there are some notable differences: Brainy smurf is "schtroumpf à lunettes" in the original, i.e. smurf with glasses and he's more of a pseudo-intellectual, an utter brownnoser and often pictured as in the end more stupid than others; Smurfette appears in only one comic and is a creation of Gargamel; vanity smurf is "schtroumpf coquet" or coquettish smurf & greedy smurf is "schtroumpf gourmand" so English more negative than French and theories based on their names slightly idiotic.

But I was talking about the English version here. Anyway, I think my favorite Smurf was the one made on Robot Chicken, and he was Chronic-Masturbator Smurf.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dj_venom They say you see in the world, what you carry in your heart. I say we just hunt down the buggar who saw this first, he's the real commy. Been too long since a commy hunt happened. Anyway, great links, funny stuff!

I thought so, Venom. I just felt like sharing it in the spirit of the creation of the He-Man thread, and because I hadn't realized how popular the theory on the Smurfs actually was. It's pretty funny, and just like with He-Man, you can see why people think such things when you know to look for them (it's like when I was going to see the new Chronicles of Narnia movie, and a friend of mine said it was full of Christian imagery; after he said that, I spent most of the movie finding such tidbits, the obvious ones of course being the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve ).

[Lestat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chimaera182 (it's like when I was going to see the new Chronicles of Narnia movie, and a friend of mine said it was full of Christian imagery; after he said that, I spent most of the movie finding such tidbits, the obvious ones of course being the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve ).

The difference being that C. S. Lewis purposefully stuffed his novels (Narnia Chronicles as well as the Cosmic Trilogy) with Christian imagery, while I highly doubt that Peyo stuffed his comics with communist imagery (as said elsewhere it's set in the Middle Ages and has more in common with pre-industrial cultures than a post-industrial one like communism).
I've read both the chronicles and the trilogy, and though I liked it to a certain degree, the abundance of the Christian imagery becomes a bit tedious after a while. On the other hand, it's not the rabid version of Christianity that Lewis promulgates either.

I'm still wondering whether the homoeroticism in He-Man is on purpose or not...

Oh, and Peyo has been accused of:
- racism: in the first comic a smurf gets bitten by a strange insect and then turns into a crazed black smurf who can infect other smurfs by biting their tail.
- fascism/nazism: for much the same reasons as the communism one, plus that Gargamel has the typical cartoon characteristics of "the Jew" (hooked nose and such) and Azrael is a hebrew name (and they become symbols of not only international capitalism but also international "jewry").
- antiroyalism; because of the album "King Smurf" (where a royalist experiment goes horribly wrong)
- misogynism: smurfette is originally an instrument of Gargamel and does nothing but cause trouble, and even later on (though she doesn't reappear in the earlier comics I read, she appears on the shows) is still very much a blonde stereotype. I really need to post the recipe he uses for making smurfette it's hilarious. It will have to wait though.
- smurf village is homotopia: a hundred guys living together, hm? With hefty, handy & vanity as gay stereotypes

[Chimaera182]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lestat The difference being that C. S. Lewis purposefully stuffed his novels (Narnia Chronicles as well as the Cosmic Trilogy) with Christian imagery, while I highly doubt that Peyo stuffed his comics with communist imagery (as said elsewhere it's set in the Middle Ages and has more in common with pre-industrial cultures than a post-industrial one like communism).

No one suggested Peyo intentionally put communism in the Smurfs; you're the one who said if communism was inserted into the Smurf world, it was by Americans, and we are discussing the American cartoon. And for a place to be communist does not necessarily mean it has to be a post-industrial place.

Anyway, methinks you're taking this thread far more seriously than the rest of us.

[Phreddie]

Smurfs have tails? *Runs around in circle trying to see if tail has sprung*

Let the creators of these shows make what they want, I say some of these concepts are alittle too advanced for 3 yr. old Jack.

[Chimaera182]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phreddie Let the creators of these shows make what they want, I say some of these concepts are alittle too advanced for 3 yr. old Jack.

And yet, how many of these cartoons are solely for the enjoyment of children? I mean c'mon, look at something like the Powerpuff Girls or the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Those may be popular for kids, but so much of that humor is more adult-oriented (I don't mean sexually, although sometimes it might be). The Smurfs can be for adults just as much as it can for kids.

[Lestat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chimaera182 Anyway, methinks you're taking this thread far more seriously than the rest of us.

Of course! It's my country & my childhood I'm defending! I knew I had to put more smileys

Anyway just wait until I post that recipe, I must find it...

@ Phreddie: you never noticed the smurfs had little knobbly tails?