Smurfs

When growing up do you recall watching the Smurfs on Saturday morning? I bet you didn’t analysis what they represent or anything close. They were 100 of these litte blue figures living in a small village that were only as tall as three apples stacked on top of each other (BlueBuddies, 2008). They were named after their personalites or what they were good at like Lazy, Brainy, Handy, Clumbsy, Hefty, Harmony, Grouchy and Vanity. This group of little blue fellows were always trying to be eraticated by the evil wizard Gargamel.

One day Gargamel comes up with diabolical plan to destroy the smurfs he sends them Smurfette (BlueBuddies, 2008). For those of you that don’t know what a Smurfette is she is a female Smurf. What?? Is this cartoon really expressing sending a girl to destroy boys? Now looking back what were they thinking? Eventually Papa Smurf caught on the evil Smurfette and used magic to make her into a sweet girl.

I do recall many years ago (not sure when) a controversy over the Smurfs not being a good example for small children, but I never realized what the commotion was over until I begain research and writing about the Smurfs. The controversy over the Smurfs ranged from them representing Socialism, the KKK and even Nazism (Chadwick, 2008). I guess when you start reading the depiction of the Smurfs you could actually understand where they are coming from.
The Smurfs seem to be a friendly, fun and amusing cartoon series. I loved that each had a different personaliy that made them unique. I had my favorites like Jokey and Harmony. And, yes Smurfette. I thought it was awesome that she was the only female having all those boy smurfs taking care of her every whim! Though the creation of Smurfette might not be best way to depict females I really didn’t understand it when I was a child.

Reference:

Blue Buddies (2008) Smurfs 101. Retrieved January 24, 2008 from: http://bluebuddies.com/help/smurf_names_and_list_of_the_smurfs.htm

Chadwick L. (2008) Smurfs: aryan puppets or harmless cartoon toys? Retrieved January 24, 2008 from: http://www.evl.uic.edu/caylor/SMURF/aryan.html