Editor's Note: The following article comes from Worldcrunch, an innovative, new global news site that translates stories of note in foreign languages into English. This article was originally published in Le Nouvel Observateur.
By Tristan Berteloot, Worldcrunch
The stars of an upcoming summer blockbuster, the world-famous Smurfs are once again the talk of the town – though not necessarily for all the right reasons.
Known as Schtroumph in the original French, Puffi in Italian, Pitufos in Spanish, Stroumfakia in Greek, Kumafu in Japanese and Schlümpfe across the Rhine (since “schtroumpf” means “sock” in German), the little blue imps have been going strong for more than half a century, entertaining children the world over in comic books, animated cartoons and feature films.
More recently, however, the Smurfs have also caught the attention of a controversial French academic who says there may be more than meets the eye when it comes to the pint-sized characters. Hidden behind their charming veneer are some pretty dark undertones, argues Antoine Buéno, whose work “Le Petit Livre Bleu” (The Little Blue Book) accuses the Smurfs of being maybe just a bit fascist.
Buéno, who is both a senior lecturer at SciencePo University in Paris and a novelist, never set out to destroy the magical energy that emanates from these blue-colored characters. Nevertheless, he analyzes their society and ideology – Smurfology – through an unforgiving political lens.
“Le Petit Livre Bleu” focuses specifically on the man behind the cryptic cartoons, original Smurf author Pierre Culliford, aka Peyo. Whether he meant it or not, Culliford endowed his magical little creatures with some Stalinist, racist and anti-Semitic leanings, argues Buéno.
Read: Here comes the McBaguette.
Buéno first questioned the Smurfs' biological nature and sexuality: by the way, why is there only one Smurfette? Then, he tried to show that Smurf society is the archetype of a totalitarian utopia marked by Stalinism and Nazism.
Peyo came up with the word “Smurf” while dining in 1958 with his friend André Franquin. Peyo reportedly asked Franquin: “could you pass me the Smurf?” He meant to say “could you pass me the salt?” The rest is cartoon history.
The spirit of an era
Born in 1928 in Brussels, Peyo lived in German-occupied Belgium. As an adult, he did not look back fondly on that time in history. Nonetheless, Buéno thinks that “a piece of work can convey an imagery that the author himself does not support. Thus, the Smurfs seem to reflect more the spirit of an era than Peyo's political leanings.”
The Smurfs are self-sufficient. Smurf society is collectivist and interventionist. Its only leader, Papa Smurf, is all-powerful. And, like Stalin, his favorite color is red.
Read: Has Venice reached a breaking point?
They all eat at the canteen and are all ridiculously puritan. In “The Black Smurfs” album, racism is obvious: blood purity becomes something vital and the dark brown Smurf is referred to as "the ugly one." In another album called “Smurfette,” Buéno notes how the Aryan blond is idealized.
The Smurfs are also united against a sworn enemy called Gargamel, a large-nosed, black-haired possibly anti-Semitic caricature, and his cat Azrael.
Smurf lovers have been quick to challenge Buéno’s “Little Blue Book,” saying his arguments are neither serious nor credible. “Generally speaking I’ve gotten two types of knee-jerk reactions: people saying that I’m either an idiot, or a crook,” says Buéno’s.
“But my analysis isn’t just coming out of nowhere,” he goes on to say. “People from other institutions have been looking at [the Smurfs] before me. People in the United States at one point suspected Peyo’s Smurf albums of being socialist propaganda, going so far as to say the word Smurf was actually an acronym for ‘Small Men Under Red Forces.’”
After Peyo died in 1992, his son, Thierry Culliford, continued to draw the Smurfs. Culliford's albums offered a much more educational approach. According to Buéno, that explains why “the Smurfs' village becomes more explicitly a metaphor for reality.”
The Smurfs make their next big appearance this summer in a 3D live-action movie directed by Raja Gosnell. The blue-colored creatures will besiege New York City for the occasion.
Read: Costs of a coverup in China.
But before the movie is released, the Lombard Editions will publish a 29th album called “The Smurfs and the Golden Tree,” and in November, “the Smurf Encyclopedia”.
All rights reserved ©Worldcrunch – in partnership with Observateur.
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No, but the GOP are fascists.
Fascist = Nazi = National Socialist Party = Socialists = Slave Owners = Confederacy = Democrats
To be fair, Fascism was first created by socialists who wanted total control (Totalitarianism) to implement their social changes for the working class by attacking groups of people such as the wealthy class or races, and only later leaned towards the right.
That is the silliest chain of reasoning I have ever seen. Socialist = Slave owner? Where did you go to school, the U of Glenn Beck? And socialism has nothing to do with Totalitarianism. Look up the definitions.
Fascism comes from a combination of Nationalism and Corporatism. Look it up.
Misinformed, ignorant, irrational, preposterous, flat out misrepresentation of factual based history....don't know how else to say it.
facism was born out of musolini in italy. It is the sinergy of companies and government, which the GOP has delivered on a plate here in the US, we are more facist then any other nation that has ever walked the earth, and it must stop. End the insanity in 2012, by voteing out every single republican, and restoring the republic to its glory.
Another right-winger desperately trying to tie in Nazis with the left.
You're talking about a specific political group of German nationalists – the Nazis – whose party began as a small group of people, some of whom claimed to be socialists. The party was very soon commandeered by admirers of Mussolini's fascist movement in Italy. Adolph Hitler first became associated with them as an agent of the German army, who were looking into such groups to determine if they were a threat, or if they could be turned into recruiting mechanisms for the unofficial paramilitary groups that were forming in Germany after the First World War. Hitler finally left the army and became a full-time member of the Nazi leadership. The word "socialist" in the party name was purely a remnant of those original founders, who were ultimately purged by the fascists. This is the only historical linkage between fascism and socialism – the two ideologies have nothing to do with each other.
Socialism = slave owners???? ummmmm...what?? That is just reaching so you can somehow make democrats equal nazi.
All this bickering over an article about Smurfs. How sad has the national debate become if it has deteriorated to this?
You right-wingers remind me of a five-year-old who loves to use curse words, but has no idea what they mean.
The Democrats of the Civil War were Southern Conservatives (AKA Republicans today). Sometime in the early 1900's The Democrats became liberal and the Republcians became conservative but never before then.
I just paid $22.87 for an iPad2-64GB and my girlfriend loves her Panasonic Lumix GF 1 Camera that we got for $38.76 there arriving tomorrow by UPS. I will never pay such expensive retail prices in stores again. Especially when I also sold a 40 inch LED TV to my boss for $675 which only cost me $62.81 to buy. Here is the website we use to get it all from, CoolCent. com
sounds more like zionists
Nice work CA_Bill. Rewriting history one blog comment at a time!
Slavery predates Socialism by several thousand years you ignorant right-wing moron. Besides, why is it that every 2-dimensional pea-brain thing you construct have to revolve around some sort of post hoc fallacy. Thankfully, enough of you morons are dying off faster than you can be replaced (especially in the South). Good Riddance.
Poor confused liberals. Still upset that their party fought against freeing slaves. Still upset that about the comparisons to Nazism, which is in deed very factual. Hitler blamed people other than themselves for their problems. Isnt that EXACTLY what Democrats do? Blame the rich? Blame the successful. Yep, clear as day. Morons.
"Socialists = Slave Owners"? Seriously? Dude, I don't think Evel Knievel could have made that leap.
Bill, you are an idiot. Socialism and fascism, or democracy (ergo democrats) and national socialism are not the same concepts. Look it up. You borrow your logic from Beck, and it's pathetic.
John Stewart's response to a Republican saying National Socialism (Nazism) was socialism:
"Just like I am a communist because I'm a Republican and you have The People's Republic of China."
The Nazis passionately hated socialists. They imprisoned and sometimes executed socialists. They called them traitors to Germany, Aryans and humanity. CA_Bill's assertion is pure, anti-historical claptrap.
First off fascism and socialism is not the same, and slave owner? really? Oh yeah flash back slavery is a very conservative idea, and by the way one social idea wont make U.S. a socialist country, i mean look at germany they are a social democracy, and their economy is better than ours. Shut the hell up and i don't see how taxing the poor will help us while the rich are exempt from taxes. It has to be the other way around.
RETARD
CA_Bill = total idiot
Its good to see Glenn Beck has found a way to spend his time.
SMURFS!!!! THIS WHOLE FRIGGIN' ARTICLE WAS ABOUT FRIGGIN' SMURFS!!!
How the HELL did you geniuses manage to twist it into a history-revising argument over right vs left???
You are copping a fair amount of flack on this one however, for the record, Hitler was the leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi). The Smurfs are cartoon characters created to entertain children.
Not cool man, I lost family to the nazis, and I'm a democrat. Sure the Democrats were the main party in the confederacy, but it was the conservative right wing republicans who apposed civil rights in the 60s. It's 8th grade social studies.
No, it wasn't. I;m so tired of the lying idiot Republicans like you.
You need to study history a little more. National Socialists weren't socialists. They used socialists and the fear of socialists as objects of hate to advance their own political agenda. It was very much like the way Republicans use illegal immigrants and welfare recipients today.
As you said they leaned toward the right extreme, the Slave Owners = Confederacy were Republicans not democrats of present days. in the other hand the Utopian society was invented first by Jesus and early christians , then recreated in different forms in the renaissance and Illuminist era ,Thomas Moore and many others.Then Marx collected all those and wanted to create a society where each individual were more concerned about the welfare of others, and shared their own wealth to help those in need, first based in the christian ideas trying to create an angelic society with out considering human need of greed.
Hitler's advisors had contact with ET's. They developed the swastika to represent supernatural properties. Then their technology advanced, and they almost wont the war. But the US took the holders of the ET technology and won. When the war was over, we brought the rest of them here and went to the moon. The Smurfs are creepy to me.
Ahh political and economic philosophy. One of the few areas of knowledge in which 95% of people who think they know something about it actually know nothing at all. Nothing that's true, at least. CA_Bill, you are very, very misguided.
You are a complete moron. It's embarrassing.
Fascist = Nazi = National Socialist Party = Socialists = Slave Owners = Confederacy = Democrats
Then again based on your theory:
Slave Owners = Confederacy = Democrats of the past = Jim Crowe = Republicans of Today = Tea Party.
If this rant doesn't qualify you for a Tea Party scholarship to Beck University, I don't know what will. Moron.
Take a history class. Fascists are an extreme right wing group while the Nazis were on the extreme left. The Nazis themselves would have blanched at an association with socialism (as they didn't see their ideologies comparable at all), and not that I'm defending them or anything. But seriously, where did you learn this stuff? It's not even propaganda. It's just plain wrong.
NAZISM - (Nationalsozialismus, National Socialism; alternatively spelled Naziism; historically also Hitlerism, Hitlerismus) was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany. It was a unique variety of fascism that incorporated biological racism and antisemitism. Nazism presented itself as politically syncretic, incorporating policies, tactics and philosophies from right- and left-wing ideologies, though a majority of scholars hold it to be a far right form of politics.
I have just reposted the textbook and dictionary definitions of Nazism. I will await the inevitable refutations from the supporters of the right who still think Nazis were socialists.
To be fair, you are an idiot.
Fascist = Corporate control of the state
Hitler had whatever "socialist" element that existed in the Nazi party purged on The Night of the Long Knives. I wouldn't expect you to know that though, what with your lack of "fancy yankee book lernin"
The Nazis hated socialists? Then why were they the National Socialist party? The Nazis hated COMMUNISTS, which were differently only in name. Both the Nazis and the communists, in propaganda, accused the other of being the same as capitalists. Nazis, communists, and socialists were all extreme totalitarian movements based on the idea that an all-powerful government was best for the people. Arguing about their differences is nothing but acceptance of their propaganda.
Fascism is nationalism plus corporatism? Maybe, but which party wants all corporations to work for the government?
Will said:
"Fascist = Corporate control of the state"
No, that's just corruption. Hitler and Mussolini were two of the biggest fascists ever, and they were politicians who seized private corporations (for the good of the nation, of course), not CEOs who controlled politicians.
What have you been smoking? The Nazies hated the Socialists and tried to wipe them out and have ideology that's more in common with conservatives than liberals; the slave owners practiced the most free form of free market where money can buy the freedom of human beings; lastly the rebel states emphasized states rights, small federal government, and low taxes which are the same things that are being preached by the modern GOP.
Bill, etc – Grow a brain, and get an education. There were fascists uin ancient Greece, Rome, etc. A fasce is a bundle of sticks tied together for strength. Take one #2 pencil. Try to snap it in half. It easily breaks. Then, take 20, or 30, such pencils, put them together in a more, or less, cylindrical shape, and wrap a couple of rubber bands around them to hold them together. NOW try to snap the pencils in half. You can't. In unity is strength. That is what a fasce symbolizes ... strength through unity. Anyone who believes in strength through unity is a fascist. Boy Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, all political parties, all religions, etc, are fascist. Some folks unite along racial lines, others along poltical, or religious, or financial, or neighborhood, or other lines. One can be a fascist without being a racist, or Nazi, or Commie, or such. However, all Nazis, racists, Commies, Catholics, etc, are fascists.
CA_Bill..YOU have no idea what you're talking about. Go back to school and try again.
@ Thomas – I started to engage this argument and then I read your post. Best comment I've read in weeks! Too funny!
"You right-wingers remind me of a five-year-old who loves to use curse words, but has no idea what they mean." They will say you are a fascist, a communist, and a nazi all at the same time with no idea what those are. They also seem to think 'socialism' means "confiscate all the guns and make everybody get gay-married." Look it up, people, how can you debate if you can't define your terms?
Fascism I think is when business influences government so that it writes laws to benefit business. I am pretty sure that all politicians are influenced by lobbyists paid by large business, and America is a fascist nation.
Please be a troll, please be a troll, please be a troll...
FASCISM – a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
Does that sound like the kind of government a businessman would want?
Only Dick Cheney.
Yes, if your business required abundant cheap labor and a guaranteed market of government contracts. Farben and Krupp loved the Nazi government in Germany – they were at their height of profitability during the 1930s.
kake79 – Yes it sounds exactly like the kind of Government a corporate director would want.
Facisim= nationalism+ racism
I learned that in 7th grade. But a more descriptive definition would be...
Facisim is a form of extreme nationalism, where one party believes to be higher than all others and is the "best" or "superior" party. In the case of the Nazis, for example, they declared the Aryan race to be superior, and everyone else ( Jews, Gypsies, Africans, you know the story) a lesser race. You can link their views to that of the KKK, who thought white Christians ( I forget which form) terrorized Jews, African Americans, and others who weren't like them. You can say fascism and capitalism are similar, as neither government owns EVERYTHING, but Facisim is still a " speak against us you die, or worse" type of philosophy, where capitalism is do as want and please. I know these are economic views, but the countries who run like these two systems are like that.
"Fascism I think is when" For God's sake, look it up. Your opinion isn't worth jack squat.
Growing up, my mother had said something similar to me about the smurfs and I wasn't aloud to watch it.
I think you "wasn't aloud to watch it" because your mom wanted you reading and not watching tv. Otherwise you'd know that you weren't "allowed".
The American Education System, failing future generations one person at a time.
I love how the english majors always come on and go into extreme depth analyzing someone's spelling and grammar. Grow up, some of us are getting BS degrees or MS not BA or MA which are about 1/4 of the work. So, we take one or two english classes and spend the rest of the time in real classes learning math and science which actually takes brain power, not just memorizing and research.
I have a BA and a Master's in English. First off, spelling is NOT indicative of intelligence. Good spelling is desirable, but we can all chill out a little bit and realize we have all made mistakes. However, I do take offense at the intimation that getting a BA in English is somehow easier, "dumber," or less laborious than a BS or some other math/science derivative. Though English is often plagued by psuedo-intellectualism, it is an extremely taxing degree to earn (legitimately, from a decent university) and also extremely valuable in developing critical thinking. Think it doesn't have any practical applications? Look into what majors transition best in success in law, for starters.
Beth,
You need to re-read that sentence. She says "I wasn't allowed to watch it." Minus the contraction, that would say "I was not allowed to watch it." You suggest that she should have said "I weren't allowed to watch it." Minus the contraction there and we have "I were not allowed to watch it." Which one sounds right to you? Your attempt at being a grammar NAZI seems to fit well with this particular conversation, though.
Bryan, Lisa used the word "aloud" for "allowed." No one is griping about the contraction.
Wooo! Tell her Juan! Put that h0 in her place
@jhbishop: English is definitely an important subject and something that should be mastered (I'm far from it) but in today's world an English degree isn't going to improve society or quality of life. Math, Science, Engineering, etc. definitely will, but one needs to be proficient in English to convey those ideas properly, project a perception of intelligence through communication skills, and succeed internationally...as long as English remains the language of business. Soon it may be Spanish or something else. That being said, your argument about success in law doesn't really do it for me. The last thing we need in this country are "successful" lawyers. They re-defines success, in a law context, as a manipulation of the legal system, winning frivolous lawsuit after frivolous lawsuit, and eliminating "accident" and "mistake" from the English dictionary.
My friend is a genius, and works for the government doing secret stuff. He is a math whiz but can't spell as well as he should. Nevertheless, he would NEVER confuse "allowed" with "aloud." That's a stupid mistake.
Actually on the political spectrum democrats are closer in ideologically to Fascism than Republicans. Fascism is a form of National Socialism. Obliviously neither party is fascist any shape or form.
Sorry but fascism and socialism are polar opposites. Fascism believes that the government exists for the benefit of the businesses and socialism believes the government exists to serve the people.
Keith, shame on you. These days you have no excuse for this level of ignorance, especially if you're sitting in front of your computer right now and have access to a number of sources explaining fascism. Fascism very much includes social issues. I will not post its definition here because really, you should not be this lazy.
Fascism is nationalistic Corporatism. Look it up.
Speaking of ignorance... this is why you won't look it up. It actually shows that fascism is the exact opposite of what you said.
fascism: any ideology or movement inspired by Italian Fascism, such as German National Socialism; any right-wing nationalist ideology or movement with an authoritarian and hierarchical structure that is fundamentally opposed to democracy and liberalism.
Don't ever tell people to look something up in the dictionary until you've done it first. Idiots. Seriously!!!
Actually not, and I hate to see a Marine spreading misinformation. The best working definition I've found is that fascism insists that you cannot trust ANY political system, but you can trust a person. Just make that person a dictator, and all your problems are solved. The GOP has plenty of Palins, Becks, and Bachmanns saying that exact thing right now, while the Dems tend to trust the system even after the Cheney Interrregnum. People who voted for Obama instead of what he stood for tend to have a fascist outlook. A "fasces" is a bundle of thin sticks tied with red ribbon and having a hatchet blade, symbolizing a group of men united by blood becoming a weapon. It was on US coins once, but since Mussolini it has fallen into disuse. It's the opposite of military discipline where you follow the chain of command no matter whose face it wears.
This relates to hidden meaning behind many great cartoons of the past; Has anyone noticed all disney princesses to be thin and perfect and needing a man to rescue them out of situations instead of being self reliant. Take for instance beauty and the beast, bell is not able to see her father and locked up within the castle and told what to do only to be in love with the man/beast who treats her like his captive for his own needs. Or another example of scooby doo and the hippie shagy and scooby always stepping out of a smoke filled van. Or how about the violence with bugs, daffy, and the gang which shows children the hilarity in hurting others. How about we teach our kids what is appropriate.
Damn right they are. The Smurfs is a childs cartoon. People like the author of this article should be banned from writing for anything resembling news.
because its stupid to evaluate things that our kids watch and are influenced by?
I wrote about the Smurf's being communist back in my 12th grade high school government class, back in 1994. boo to frenchie to stealing my thunder
The Smurfs aren't Fascists they are communists!. Ever notice how Pap Smurf looks exactly like Karl Marx and their society is set up so that everyone shares everything and contributes equally. http://www.iamlost.com/features/smurfs/commies.shtml
This is the most tortured twist of human reasoning that I have ever read. Some people can project their vision of the world into everywhere. Sometimes a silly story is just a silly story, nothing more and nothing less.
...and Liberals are liars. So, what you say is a lie. Therefore, Liberals are Facists.
The Smurfs are fictional, magical creatures 3 apples tall and fun for the whole family. Why hurt Peyo's creation with this total nonsense?
The only thing dumber than the thesis of this article is Sarah Palin.
The only thing dummer then Sarah Palin is JD. Ooooh! Snap!
No, I think you are far "dummer" than JD. Dumber also.
Fail!
"French academic who says there may be more than meets the eye when it comes to the pint-sized characters."
...so they're actually Transformers?
Yep! When the TV cameras turn off, they all turn into tiny Nazi drones, only instead of having swastikas, they all wear a patch that says, "Hooray! At least the French consider us threats to society when put up next to the garbage they put on TV at nine o'clock even though they KNOW that even the 8 years olds are probably still up (Family Guy, King of the Hill, ect.)!" A little wordy, I know. But STILL! Thats what the patch says! I swear!
This is, hands down, the best comment I have ever read. Brilliant!!! Thanks for the laugh this morning!
OMG. hahahaha I'm with Lisa. This is the funniest comment I've read in a long, long time on these message boards. hahahahaha
SMURF Socialist Men Under a Red Father.
S.M.U.R.F.: Synthetic Mechanical Unit Responsible for Fighting
Smack Monkeys Until Red Faced
Some Morons, Usually Redneck Fascists
Funny I always thought they were communist inspired. My favorite smurf was always Trotsky-smurf. He was the only one that truly represented the Smurf proletariat. Papa smurf was a counter-revolutionary controlled by the bourgeoisie.
nahh. Mao smurf was where it was at
Well as he said himself. he his a complete idiot and has no credibility of any kind. in fact he should be SUED to defamation.
Well at least your pseudonym is correct.
Reading far too much intent in a meaningless cartoon. It's a Rorschach test for people actively searching for things to be offended over.
Love your comment.
There are lots of folks looking to be offended
Of course, thats why liberals flock to things like this. Always gotta find something that offends them..so they can make a stand. Thats because their lives are just meaningless.
ZykPysk...the only thing truly offensive is your ignorance.
ZykPysk...go Smurf yourself.
This french academic is smurfing stupid. This entire article was a waste of smurf. There are way to many things to smurf right now, why even waste time researching this smurf?
This is smurfing BS. By smurf!
I'm smurfing the internet
First we state that meh = (yes + no + maybe + never, ect.) X every possible answer
Next, we must state my response to this article... MEH!
Finally, we must conclude that a very UN-smurfy article + my response = SMEHRF!!!!!
If you must use the word smurf, you should realize that the word smurf only implies POSITIVE things. Going out for ice cream is a SMURFY idea. Sometimes, they imply objects, but usually, the word "smurf" is used as an adjective. Geez! Am I the only one who watches The Smurfs anymore?! It's still on TV on a channel called Boomerang!!!
Except for that outtake on the blooper reel where Smurfette tells Brainy to go smurf himself.
Guess you haven’t seen the previews for the movie yet?
Scene: boy ..boy repeats Smurf several times.
: Scottish Smurf … there is no need for that kind of language lady!
Back in the 90s, when my son was small, my greatest objection to the Smurfs was their limited language ability.
Sounds like Tristan Berteloot smoked too much of something from the Turkish article.
And a French university pays him to do this?
What about the Snorks? Say it aint so...
snorks were druggie free-love communists
Well, I think there are all kinds of dangerous themes in the Smurfs. One of them is a terrorist who leaves exploding parcels around all the time. Most of them are clearly gay as there are no women for them – Handy in particular always struck me as a muscle Mary. And I'm sure if we dug in Papa Smurf's backyard, we would find the murdered bones of Mama Smurf.
Another academic with way, way too much time on his hands!
Yes, and we have to work for a living!
OMG – this is merely a kids show. Why do adults have to ruin everything for kids?
I ask the same thing in regards to the Christians that hate Harry Potter.
No, they're crypto-communists. Everybody knows that.
If the Smurfs were crypto-communists, wouldn't they be red?
"...the word Smurf was actually an acronym for ‘Small Men Under Red Flatulence,” as is the rest of this...gassy article.
What the smurf? If were going to label everything in a political box this world is smurfin smurfed.
Well, I'm glad they're still doing important research at French universities.
They might be fascist... or they might be FICTIONAL!
Wow. Just... wow. Reminds me of why I didn't continue on to get a Ph.D. Wow. I still love the French though.
As an American I still wish I could focus on such things. Some day we will also be so old and wise.
I could bludgeon you with a beer bottle, and get you there right now...
They may not be fascist but sure are misogynist.
Sick.
Another hard-hitting piece of journalism, brought to you by CNN.
It was shared with you by CNN. If you actually bothered to read the article, you would know it was written by a French person for World Crunch ....you feral minded idiot. Get a GED.
my lunch was made by a cook in the kitchen at applebee's and delivered to my table by a waitress, therefore my lunch was brought to me by a waitress, just as this article was brought to amalia by CNN, so your attack on their semantics is quite foolish. if you're angry at the implication then you've got a LOT of anti-CNN comments to respond to on the CNN comment board...
k!ke vermin whining again? just send them to aushwitz
But the real question is...
Why does any of this even matter at all?
Antoine Buéno is a freaking moron.
CA_Bill said: "Fascist = Nazi = National Socialist Party = Socialists = Slave Owners = Confederacy = Democrats"
Hey CA_Bill, you need to get your head out of your A.. and educate yourself. I have never heard of a chain that starts with Fascism and ends with Democracy. People like you are the ones we Americans should be afraid of.
Is this a real article or did CNN's website get hacked?
Actually they're utopian communists (the version on paper... not Soviet), but nice try.
Of course there are all these political type undertones. There always is. So what. Enjoy something without trying to be a Sigmond Freud about it. Papa smurf does look like a Stalin, or more of a Castro. Smurfette is blonde, but definitely not Aryan. Gargamel does look like a Jew, and his name along with his cat are both Hebrew.
No Smurfette isn't Aryan, but she's blonde, dumb, and subject to numerous incestuous gang bangs so its not that much of a leap.
But Gargamel means nothing in Hebrew. It's a variation of character from a book. That is not related to the smurfs.
This "academic" needs to get a life.
you people lead sad tortured lives,,, to have turned on the smurfs. how much acid did you eat while watching the movie?
The internet is now the official meeting place for overweight morons who have nothing better to do but fight complete strangers with poorly constructed sentences of hate and ignorance. I want the 1990's back NOW.
All credit due, this is one hell of a troll from this french 'academic'. It's funny, though. Here in America, we have a word other than academic we use to describe people who spend all day watching cartoons and then ranting about them online. I submit that our American word may be more appropriate in this situation.
This guy studying smurf ideology and society has too much time on his hands.
Google "socio-political smurfs" and click the first link that comes up. It's a pretty interesting little essay. Not that I'm saying the Smurfs really are representative of a Marxist utopia or that Gargamel is western capitalism in human form. Just an interesting take on a favorite childhood cartoon of mine.
This guy probably believes Nostradamus.
Before you call something fascist you should first define the term and then see if they fit the definition. Fasciscm is nationalistic corporatism. Look it up.
WOW...Talk about having nothing to do! Attack a Smurf?
Meanwhile down in Teletubbies Land-Tinky Winky is still g a y !
Dude, "schtroumpf" means nothing. In german there is the word "strumpf" that means sock, but the "schtroumpf" is one that was made up. Please, for the love of God, when you post an article on a large traffic site such as CNN, get your facts straight!
Not sure about the Smurf's, but the republicans clearly are. Come to think of it though, there is very little "crypto" about it at this point. Look at Michigan: their new dictator Governor (republican) now has been granted unlimited power by the all-republican Michigan Government to end democracy in Michigan cities/towns, and remove any & all elected officials, based on the opinion of the Governor ONLY, with no accountability to anyone or anything. There is no way to challenge it, and no way to stop it. If that is not fascism, what exactly is? There is talk that republicans are testing this on Michigan, before attempting it nationally.
If you are gullible enough to think "it can't happen here", you are sadly a very naive person.
The Smurfs were a great source of trauma for me as a child. I always knew there was something terribly wrong with them. And I could never understand why they showed them on TV in Israel (they're called "dardasim" in Hebrew). I wholeheartedly support my fellow Member of the Tribe and fearless partisan Gargamel in his epic fight against the Nazi conspiracy known as SMURF- may they be vanquished as their Nazi creators were!!!
With only one Smurfette we know who really rules the Smurf world, and it has nothing to do with politics
That's what happens to a news service when they get baked to long HU.
When I was a kid, there were urban legends that if you played some of their scripts backwards, there were satanic messages, kind of like our thread of a President...
All cartoons have a masked ideology behind them, who better to influence than the kids if you want your agenda played out. It's all propaganda designed to change the future in one way or another.
@Tom1970: Seriously? You SERIOUSLY believe that?
I hope the weather is good over there in the Glenn Beck conspiracy universe.
Next you'll be warning about black helicopters and New World Order stuff. Have you seen a doctor about any of this?
I always that it obvious that the smurfs were communists. They're all named after their jobs, they follow the patriarch who wears red.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar....
...so sayeth Ms. Lewinsky.
(sorry, I couldn't resist)
soviet
men
under
red
father
True:
Socialist
Men
Under
Red
Flag
The jewish owned and operated media is sick, very sick indeed. Any chance to bring up the nazis. The fail to bring up their silence on Palestine or the jewish role in killing over 20 million by starvation in the Bolshevik Revolution among many other crimes they are guilty of financially. Sick, twisted, disgusting jews!!! Enough said!!!!!
This is what mark sounds like when he eats salami right before he goes to bed. Little blue men start to crawl out from the woodwork. mark, no more cold cuts at bedtime. (mark's 's been wetting the bed again, folks. Have patience with him.)
I think that by this man thinking that Gargamel looks like a Jew, proves that this adedemic is a racist!
Gaddhafi had it right when he called NATO the new nazis...we're a fascist empire.
Sunnis
Mobilized
Under
Radical
Farts
Most cartoon characters live entirely within their own village, obey a benevolent (to them, anyway) leader, and have a common enemy who is a bizarrely drawn villain. But that doesn't make them Nazis.
Elmer Fudd, a fascist oppressing the innocent Bugs Bunny
And I thought I had seen it all, but no, no someone actually analyzing little, blue, cartoon smurfs for their political leanings. Now I think maybe I have seen it all. I need to go lay down.
I always thought the Smurfs were, at least unintentionally, Communist. In that they were written by a man in a Communist country and for goodness sake set in the "Dark Ages" and so practiced more or less "Isolated Village natural socialism" though technically they were a "Tribe" with Papa Smurf being their Chief. But that's what Marx aspired to/tried to bring to the modern world to try to improve it.
But anti-Jew...
Really, so SICK of media PC correctness and pandering to Israel and defeating anti male geni- mutilation measures because some pathetic "Judge" is scared of them... I'd WANT some antisemetic things in the media/print just to F- YOU to them
But the Smurfs aren't that. Just a Frenchie trying to "Ruin Everything" to keep up the Good Name of France. Gargamel is just a pathetic old failed wizard. There'd be SO many other refs if he was supposed to be a "Wicked Jew" it wouldn't be funny (or VERY funny, take yer pick, guten tag) and being in a communist country Peyo could have gotten away with it but he didn't...
Belgium is communist? Really? Are you SURE?
At least google it before you write. Or read a book.
Get out of the trailer now and again and have a look around!
I've always distrusted smurfism.
Tweetie Bird, forever struggles to escape the repression of the dictator, Sylvester.
Hmm...I thought the Smurfs were around on Saturday at 9am so that college kids could create the Smurf Drinking Game. This is such over-think about a cartoon. What's next? Is Buggs a symbol of the neo-nazi's, Wylie Coyote is a black panther, Captain Kirk a tool for the GOP? People need to get a grip.
Smurf Nazis Must Die!
The acronym I heard was not "Small Men Under Red Forces" but rather "Socialist Men Under Red Father".. comparisons were made to the beards of Karl Marx and Papa Smurf. =P But the fact that they all live collectively and have a leader is more based on the fact that they are mystical forest dwellers living in a village, rather than socialists. Asterix the Gaul & co. lived in a village in the woods under a chieftan, so do the Ewoks, etc.... but then again, Lucas himself said that the Ewoks were meant to represent the Vietnamese fighting the U.S. .... oh wow we're onto something here!
Technically Nazis and fascists are not the same, but they did work together.
Why are republicans trying to bash democrats by saying they are socialists, which by the way is not communism, Fascism, or Nazi. And one social program(i.e. free health care) won't make us a socialist country. I mean half of Europe has free heath care and their economies are far better than ours. Republicans need to shut up and let the rich pay some more taxes, I don't see how taxing people who don't have money is a good idea, but the ones who do have money get exempt. Wait a second Why don't the republicans shut up, and we can all watch the friggin' smurf movie.
Silly
Moronic
Uggh!
Retarded
Frenchmen
I think crypto-fascist is the wrong word, Marxist totalitarian would be more accurate.
i think its sad that something like the smurfs can make grown people go after each other like this. like it or not no matter which party ur in this is what they want from us and like heards of cows we go right along with it. what wonderful people we have in this country.
If you've ever read Mein Smurf you would know their true intentions.
Illinois Smurfs.... I hate Illinois Smurfs
Smurfenallnacht.
For the record, I do not support same Smurf marriages, hiring illegal Smurfs or the No Smurf Left Behind act.
I agree with both the nazi-esq and stalinist overtones of the Smurfs. Lets look at a few more examples. 1.) Handy Smurf. You know what he carried around all day every day? A hammer. And not just any hammer. It was identical the the hammer on the flag of the USSR. He worked hardest for the community of smurfs and was therefore the most liked smurf. The least liked smurf was of course Brainy smurf. He was full of original ideas and thought outside of the socialist box. Example 2.) The bad guy of the smurfs cartoon was Gargamel, and to a lesser extent his cat Azrael. His goal was to catch the smurfs and turn them into gold. Guy was just looking to make a little money like a good capitalist. To make matters worse, Gargamel and Azrael are both Hebrew names, and Gargamel is a pretty blatant Jewish stereotype. Of course the smurfs were always trying to foil his plans. Which leads me to example 3.) The smurfs had a real aryanesque thing going on. The only female smurf was blonde haired and blue eyed. The highest praised male smurfs were the tallest, biggest, and strongest. Runty little Brainy smurf was looked down on because of his disdain for the physical. Kind of reminds me of another facist group of the late 30's early 40's. And you know who they hated? See example 2.
Have you been eating paint chips all these years? Smurfette wasn't even a smurf. She was created by Gargamel and was eventually "turned good".
People are always going believe what they want to believe. If you wanted to believe that the Smurfs were actually about vampires and the Dracula regime, you'll find a way to make the connection. So I guess believe what you want, its apparent you're a fool.
Not to bad mouth my own people but really? His argument that his theory is supported because some Americans agreed that the Smurfs were socialist propaganda? Really? Yes half of America is ready to label anything that originated abroad as Socialist propaganda. Teletubies are Gay propaganda and Barny is the fuehrer. Ridiculous.
And, Wylie Kyote, Suuuuuuper Genius, is a symbol of Werner Von Braun, and the ACME company is the provider of dangerous V2 rockets. Obviously, Foghorn Leghorn is a dupe of the GOP, and Pepe Le Pew is a satire of de Gaulle. Conversely, Speedy Gonzales is....aww, I can't do this with a straight face anymore.
This controversial academic is just full of it.
The smurfs freak me out anyway, and in the movie they have that stupid smurf pun.
Took my family to see the smurfs today – guess what – my family and i didnt think the movie relates to crypto-fascism or that papa smurf was respesenting stalin. We thought it was a kids movie about smurfs.
Yep... This is what makes up the news here in America.
This reminds me of College. A friend of mine was almost out of time for a test. The last question was something like "What is the greatest threat to world peace and why?" in a Poly Sci class. So he threw down the answer "Smurfs". The professor grading it wrote a note, something to the effect "You answers are amusing but you could be doing better in the class if you read the material". We laughed about it for years, until there in the paper we saw a picture. It was an armored personnel carrier with a water cannon on top shooting some protestors in a Central American country. And there on the side, plastered big as life, was Brainy Smurf. Ever since then I've known they are out to get us all!
Awww man. Nothing is pure! Even the little smurfs are commie subversives? Noooooooo
I guess they think the 7 Dwarfs are commies
Smurfette, t h a t l i t t l e b l u e b u k k a k e q u e e n
Politicians cant just let a cartoon be entertaining can they? There always has to be some sort of "hidden meaning" and political spin on things. Way to ruin it for everyone else.
Is it really that hard to accept the fact that the cartoon is drawn in such a way as to limit its exposure to other elements that the artist was either not capable of getting into, either by time limitations, or simply just a decision made to focus on the adventure and not the backstory?
ppl love to think of things as "good" or "evil"... it was created by humans. why would it be pure and good just because its drawn as cartoons and we happened to show it to our kids? weird assumption
Sounds like far-right propaganda to me, finding socialists and Stalin in everything that exists . . .
REad my new book....."Mein Smurf"
Thats just Smurfing Wrong!!!! Go Smurf yourself ya Smurfing French Freak!!!!
There must also be some racial undertones in the fact the the bald headed, gun carrying, Elmer Fudd was always after the cross dressing Bugs Bunny, and the black Daffy Duck!! Man the French are weird!!!!
A college professor chooses to do research on the origins of the Smurf. Are you serious? Does this type of research reflect the ideology of schools in France? Why would anyone waste an ounce of time on something so silly? It is all based on hear say and at best gossip. What a waste of time and one school that I will definitely be avoiding if this is the type of research they conduct.
Is this article planted by a Smurf's publicist to try to drum up interest in a DOA movie?
"A friend of mine has this real weird theory about Smurfs. It's like about Krishna. You know, like Smurfs are blue. And he's saying that Smurfs are, like, getting kids used to seeing blue people. Kids see blue people, they, like, relate to Smurfs. And they relate to blue people when Krishna comes about, you know."
- From the film Slacker
No this perfect society does not include a female. Let's not forget that Smurfette was created by Gargamel out of blue dough to fool the Smurfs, and Papa Smurf magically reprogrammed her to be part of the group. In a perfect world the females would live in the village next door and fun would be int he middle of both. Utopia at last!
Back for a moment to the SMURFS? : "People in the United States at one point suspected Peyo’s Smurf albums of being socialist propaganda, going so far as to say the word Smurf was actually an acronym for ‘Small Men Under Red Forces.’” Please, be real! Decades before the word "Smurfs" was used in English speaking countries, it was started as the translation of the "Schtroumpf" in Flemish/Dutch, the other language spoken in Belgium, where the Smurfs were created and where I grew up! So, SMURFs doesn't stand for anything like that in Dutch / Flemish. Please, stop analyzing to death.
This is so funny because even though people deny these "hidden" meanings in a cartoon for kids, we are still so tempted to argue our points! This reminds me when anti-gays & fundamentalists called Barney the Dinosaur gay & next it was the Teletubbies Tinkywinky! The "For" crowd – he's purple, talks in a squeeky voice, jumps-claps-dances-sings, carries a purse(Tinkywinky)! The "Against" crowd- he's not real, he's a dinosaur/alien baby, it's a TV show for the 0-3 set! I go with the latter arguement & agree this french scholar has Too Much time on his hands, lol!!
If there was an intent to promote a utopian socialist/communist/facist.... society using these cartoons, it was probably lost when it jumped the pond and Hanna-Barbera started the animated series. I personally do not have a problem with conducting research into the origins of any widely distributed media. All forms of media including cartoons have been used to promote any number of desired behaviors. China bombards their airwaves with cartoons and short PSA's promoting good citizen behavior. The US has been running the Smokey Bear ad campaign since the 40's. No sane person would read anything cryptic into a fire prevention campaign but the fact remains, a widely distributed media is being used to promote a desired behavior. For the record, I had a set of Lazy Smurf pajamas so my objectivity may be subject to review.
This has to be the most azz stupid story ever written.
GODWIN'S LAW
I wonder what they will come up with if they analyze King of the Hill
Is it analyze kid shows week for the news. Slate just had an article about how Thomas the Tank engine is representative of British imperialism. It was more tongue in cheek and better written than this, but still kind of silly.
I watched the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles while I was growing up. But I don't live in a sewer, I don't have a diet consisting solely of pizza, and I don't drop-kick everything I see.
I wish I had enough time in my day to spend it studying the smurfs.
whereas now you just have time to seek out dumb articles about smurfs, read it AND comment on it
pay you debts first, then talk
This type of over-analyzation is more common than we think. Recently I read an excerpt from a book (a whole book, people), that presented the premise of Harry Potter as a good Christian (wizard!)! The debate was fierce! My take was Harry isn't real, a figment of JK.Rowlings imagination, he is what she says he is, no more, no less!Lol! (shakes head). I'd say the same in this situation!!
TELETUBBIES are the true ANTI-CHRIST !!!!!
I watch Heckle and Jeckle but that doesn't mean I believe all birds can talk !!!
must they destroy everything from my childhood. smurfs, dukes of hazard, Alvin and the chipmunks....god i hate Hollywood.
We're seriously over analyzing everything.
S.M.U.R.F.s = Soviet Men Under Red Father:
Clearly a collectivist ideology: Every Smurf has his role.
In fact, there are only male Smurfs: Smurfette (SP?) was created by Gargamel to infiltrate the Smurfs so he could profit from their Smurfy ways. These Smurfy ways corrupted Smurfette into joining the bunch and once again foiled Gargamel's capitalist plot.
Also note the contempt for the rest of the Smurfs, who did actual work, to Brainy Smurf (The Bourgeois Intelligentsia)
There is no such thing as over analyzing (especially for something so amusing).
aw, smurfs are anti semitic? jew vermin need to stfuu adolf should have finished the job
Fascism and Stalin? Double goodness....
Funniest thing about this for me...the yahoo who commented on the review of the Smurfs movie who claimed that the cartoon was a thinly-veiled indoctrination to socialism.
If CNN keeps posting such hilarious pro-Socialist propaganda.... Might as well refer to it as Cartoon Novel Morons. Tinted Editorial news is one thing that has crawled into occidental medias way too long. As if all human beings were incapable of thinking by themselves. Polls, Ignorance, Marketing Strategies, Sensationalism and cheap politics are all to blame of course for this degradation of human intelligence. Please let us breathe CNN !!!
A bon entendeur, Salut !!!
When Americans run out of things to complain about, they invent them. Here is your evidence.
Except it wasn't us this time. It was a Frenchie! lol
Most of the people commenting on this article are smurfing smurfholes.
You know give the smurfs a break already. How much crap hollywood puts out that is anti world but thats ok because you know who owns the media and the studios......
Smurfology?Are you serious?And a professor of it at that.What an F'n joke.
The only thing stupider than this article are the comments that it elicited. What is going on with the American brain?? Everyone complains about how our leaders are idiots but looking at the internal thoughts of average Americans from across the country one thing is clear: it takes idiots to perpetually re-elect idiots to represent them.
Oh, here we go again. Over the years, the Smurfs have been "proven" to be communists, socialists, fascists, nazis, right-wing, left-wing, republicans, democrats, cultists, pagans, atheists, and so many other "-ists", that it stoped being funny. Now this nonsense is just sad and stupid.
It's a French comic, designed for kids. It's long past time for the conspiracy theorists take off their tin-foil hats and grow up.
It Just A Comic!
I don't know anything about this. But academics like Bueno typically develop a theory-of-everything model that can be employed to show that any [piece of literature, public policy, artwork, or whatever the academic specializes in] can be placed into a particular category. The great thing about these models is that they are always internally consistent and are always, therefore, "right" - even when they contradict each other. Let us remember what Freud said, that sometime a cigar is just a cigar.
This argument again? Really? It's a cartoon people. A CARTOON! Get a grip. They're little blue gnomes that are meant to entertain children. That people are arguing about it sheds an interesting light on our maturity level in politics.
People tried to get the cartoon banned when I was a kid because the cat was named Azrael. Then Papa Smurf was Stalin. And then Gargamel was a negative portrayal of the Jewish people. People are going to always say this is this or that is that because they judge things through their own particular prejudices. The Smurfs aren't a problem. People reading way too much into them is the problem.
I saw the Smurfs at a klan rally one time burning crosses...they were chanting "Blue Power!"
Remember...todays GOP are yesterdays DEMS.......
Another way of looking at it (or at least the 2011 movie): http://www.movieguide.org/articles/main/are-the-smurfs-really-commies.html
watch movie online for free at http://www.onlinefreefilms.com/the-smurfs-movie/.