Smurfette

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Smurfette as she originally appeared (left) and after Papa Smurf remade her (right).

Smurfette (French: La Schtroumpfette) is a female character from the Smurfs.

Smurfette was the only female Smurf until the creation of Sassette. A Granny Smurf was also later introduced, although it is unclear how she was created. Thierry Culliford, the son of Peyo and current head of the Studio Peyo, announced in 2008 that more female Smurfs would be introduced in the stories.^[1] Smurfette has more delicate features than the other Smurfs, with long blonde wavy hair, longer eyelashes, and wears a white dress and white high heels. She is the love interest of almost every Smurf. Those voicing her include Céline Monsarrat and Lucille Bliss.^{[citation needed]}

Original Introduction

The adventure of the Smurfette first started in Spirou magazine in 1966. At the end of this story she left the Smurf village, thus restoring the status quo of an all-male community. She made the occasional on-off appearance, but when the animated TV series of the Smurfs was made in the 1980s she featured as a permanent character — appearing in stories in which she was not included in the original source comics. Thus the comics also started to feature her as a permanent character.^{[citation needed]}

Jeffrey P. Dennis, author of the journal article "The Same Thing We Do Every Night: Signifying Same-Sex Desire in Television Cartoons," said that the inclusion of Smurfette in the cartoon version of The Smurfs was likely to serve as an object of heterosexual desire for the other Smurfs and to end speculation arguing that the Smurfs were homosexual.^[2] In a response to Dennis's statements, Martin Goodman of Animation World Network, said that Dennis's argument that Smurfette was introduced to prove that the Smurfs were not homosexual caused Goodman's skepticism towards Dennis's thesis to increase. Goodman added that on page 458 in the book Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia 1949-1993, author Hal Erickson said that the inclusion of Smurfette in the cartoon version of The Smurfs was "...bowing to merchandising dictates... the better to appeal to little girl toy consumers." Goodman further argued that capturing the young female audience would increase ratings, so the networks were more likely trying to pander to young girls than trying to defuse accusations of homosexuality; Smurfette was the most frequently merchandised of the Smurfs.^[3]

Fictional biography

Comics

Smurfette was magically created from clay by the Smurfs' enemy, Gargamel, so that she would use her charms to cause jealousy and competition among the Smurfs in order to cause their fall. He left her in the forest and Hefty Smurf took her to the Smurf village, where she was kept out of kindness.

Gargamel's plans didn't work well at first, as her appearance was flawed. He had designed her in such a way that she might be attractive to a sad and despicable person like himself, but to the Smurfs she looked like just a male Smurf but with long spiky black hair and a dress. She tried to be feminine and considerate, but was unattractive and proved to be more annoying than seductive.

Frustrated, the Smurfs got back at her by making her think that she had put on weight and was becoming fat, thus causing her to fall into a state of depression. Papa Smurf took pity on her and took her to his laboratory, where they locked themselves in for several days before emerging. Smurfette now had long, flowing blond hair and an appealing character. This caused every Smurf of the village to fall in love with her.

(Although Grouchy Smurf had customarily stated "I hate Smurfette," he did draw a love symbol on a wall when he was sure no-one was watching.)

Alas for the Smurfs, it did cause violence and jealousy as schemed by Gargamel, causing chaos among the Smurfs who competed, fighting against each other to win Smurfette's heart. She herself later convinced Vanity Smurf to open the water dam just to see the spurting water, but the dam got stuck and the village was flooded. After struggling to close the dam on his own, Papa Smurf showed his frustration towards the trouble-making nature of Smurfette, who, offended, announced that she would "return to the great sorcerer Gargamel's". The Smurfs were shocked about this revelation, and Papa Smurf ordered her to be arrested and put on trial.

Proceedings were marred by the Smurfs' passion towards her which made them call out that she was innocent even when the evidence against her was introduced. Brainy Smurf, as the prosecutor, was booed and pelted with tomatoes by the audience, not because of their general dislike for him, but for their love for Smurfette. He himself took his job of prosecution seriously but was unable to find any witnesses to testify against her.

On the other hand, the whole audience volunteered to testify in her defence, their passion surmounting any wrongdoing she may have committed. Jokey Smurf, her attorney in the trial, also claimed that Judge Papa Smurf was to blame, since it was he who had turned her from an ugly to an attractive appearance.

The jury found her not guilty, but Smurfette felt sorry for the trouble she had caused and ran away into the forest. The Smurfs got their revenge on Gargamel by using the same process that he had used to make the Smurfette, but in this case they built a man-sized, wart-covered, ugly old hag who talked Smurf language and chased the horrified sorcerer all over the forest.

Smurfette returned occasionally to the village, though she found that her presence still aroused conflict. When the Smurfs argued about which one should marry her, she herself announced that she would take Grouchy Smurf, who had customarily stated "I hate marriage", thus making her point that the subject was closed.

The Smurfs then moderated their passion for her, worshiping from a distance, and she settled permanently in the village. She even learned to talk in Smurf language when previously she had talked in straight human speech in accordance with Gargamel's magic.

Her influence could still be used for positive actions. When Hefty Smurf tried to organise Olympic Smurfs (in 1980), the other Smurfs showed no interest. But when it was later announced that the winner would get a kiss from the Smurfette this produced a mad rush for the signing-in office.

Cartoon series

In the original 1966 comic, Smurfette, when she first came to the village, was the stereotype annoying female who made life frustrating for the Smurfs without actually intending it: constantly asking silly questions; advising caution while travelling; making jumpers that were too big for the intended wearer, etc.

The Hanna-Barbera cartoon series of the Smurfs, made in 1981, had her as an actual Gargamel spy and saboteur who intentionally tries to disrupt life in the village. She was magically created from blue clay, sugar and spice but nothing nice, crocodile tears, half a pack of lies, a chatter of a magpie, and the hardest stone for her heart. She is found in the forest by Hefty Smurf (The Smurfs, season 1 volume 1, "The Smurfette").

Working for Gargamel, Smurfette tried a few different approaches to defeat the Smurfs, all of which failed. In the dam incident, she used a slice of cake to lure Greedy Smurf into opening it. When Greedy tried to close the dam again, Smurfette yanked it back. Greedy soon caught on, all the tugging eventually threw Smurfette off balance and she promptly fell into the river. While Greedy hammered the dam back down, Smurfette was rescued by Papa Smurf who sent her to court.

In Smurf court, Smurfette's beauty was to no avail. She finally admitted her slavery to Gargamel, and begged Papa Smurf to make her a real Smurf. Papa Smurf undid some of Gargamel's spells, consequently turning Smurfette into a more beautiful creature. Her hair grew, becoming blond and more voluptuous. Her dress became more frilly. As a final touch, her shoes turned into high-heel pumps. Of course, everyone now loved her and actually fought to do trivial favors for her such as walking her home.

When Gargamel tells Scruple about how he regrets creating her, he comments how bad is that Gargamel can't turn her evil again, and he remembers there is a way. They kidnap her and prepare a spell which initially doesn't seem to work and the Smurfs take her home. When Scruple turns on the next page of Gargamel's spell book, the bad guys realize the spell is complete but it's effects won't become apparent until the next full moon's midnight, which they didn't have to wait much for. The effects included her changing back to her original appearance, which she managed to hide by concealing her black hair with a wig but the Smurfs eventually learned the truth. Papa Smurf said he couldn't repeat the spell that had initially turned her good. However, when Gargamel was about to put the male Smurfs on his cauldron, she turned good on her own and regained her blond-haired appearance.

References in popular culture

• In a humorous scene in the 2001 film Donnie Darko, Donnie's friends use the word 'Smurfette' to mean a sexual partner, and imply that Papa Smurf created her, and the Smurfs engaged in sexual acts with her. A very stressed Donnie explains forcefully the origins of Smurfette to others: "First of all, Papa Smurf didn't create Smurfette. Gargamel did. She was sent in as Gargamel's evil spy with the intention of destroying the Smurf village. But the overwhelming goodness of the Smurf way of life transformed her. And as for the whole gang-bang scenario, it just couldn't happen. Smurfs are asexual. They don't even have... reproductive organs under those little, white pants. It's just so illogical, you know, about being a Smurf. You know, what's the point of living... if you don't have a dick?"

• In the Robot Chicken episode "Atta toy" Smurfette is murdered by Jokey Smurf by decapitation in a spoof of the movie Seven.

• An animated TV Funhouse segment of NBC's Saturday Night Live featured an obese Smurfette in The Smurfette Show, a spoof of The Anna Nicole Show, a reality series featuring Anna Nicole Smith.

• Smurfette was the Secret Service code name for US vice-president Al Gore's daughter Karenna. She picked the name herself, and in 1997 said "Ever since four years ago, when I was put on the spot and told 'two syllables' and 'It has to start with an s,' I have been cringing in the back seat when identified as 'Smurfette.'"^[4]

• In the TV series Bones, Dr. Brennan wants a Smurfette as a secret santa gift. Instead, she got a Brainy Smurf.

• In the TV series Scrubs (TV series), the character Todd makes an innuendo about Smurfette and her "blue boobies".

• Smurfette appears in the VHS and poster cover to 1990's Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue Drug Special. However Smurffette does not appear at all in the special.

• Eric Cartman tells the story about how he fell in love with Smurfette while living with the Smurfs in the South Park season 13 episode "Dances with Smurfs."

See also

• List of characters in The Smurfs

Notes