The Unenlightened Mystery of the Smurfs World: Theories About Smurfette’s Only Representation of Women in Cartoons

Published as a comic in 1958 and adapted for the big screen in 1981, there have been many comments about the Smurfs in terms of socialism. While some see it as a simple cartoon, others think that this created world wants to tell us something.

Created by Belgian Pierre Culliford, known as Peyo, the Smurfs are actually a happy community living on their own in a town. But the fact that there are all kinds of Smurfs among them, as well as only one female, leaves a question mark in mind.

It is said that it is not a coincidence that the Smurfs, whose original name is “The Smurfs”, have this name.

If we are going to deal with the events from the beginning, we have to start with the name of the cartoon. According to some interpretations, the initials of the name “Smurf” are thought to mean “Socialist Men Under Red Flag”, that is, “Socialist Men Under the Red Flag” when the initials are opened in sequence. We don’t know if this is true or not, but what the cartoon shows us seems to be directly proportional to this possibility.

Considering that each Smurf represents a socialist trait, does Smurfette represent feminism as a single woman?

For many people, when this subject is investigated, it is concluded that Smurfette, the only woman in the world of the Smurfs, also represents feminism. On the face of it, it might be a relatively accurate interpretation, but when we dig a little deeper into the cartoon, it turns out that there aren’t any females in the Smurfs world! How Does?

In fact, in the first two Smurf books written by Peyo in 1963 and 1965, the Smurfs were all male. As described in the third Smurf volume, La Schtroumpfette; Gargamel created Smurfette in his lab as a way to sow discord with the Smurfs.

With a little research, we learn that the Smurfs are actually 107 people.

Known as the villain in the cartoon, Gargamel and his cat Azman create an evil Smurfette at first. While doing this, Gargamel’s sole purpose is to spy on Smurf Town. The Smurfette she created is quite different from the blonde Smurfette we see. Black hair, unhappy, outdated clothes…

But things didn’t go as Gargamel had planned. Smurfette failed to attract the attention of the Smurfs. On the other hand, Papa Sirin took the fairy girl we know, the blonde Smurfette, from the laboratory.

Smurfette remained the only woman in the village for over twenty years.

In 1988, another girl, Sassette, joined the village until Les P’tits Schtroumpfs was released. But Sassette was also molded from the same magical clay that Gargamel used to bring the “first female smurf” to life. Another character is Nanny Shirin, a stereotypical grandmother. In one of the last episodes of the cartoon, these characters appear out of nowhere.

For reasons known only to the producers of the animated series, we only see Smurfette and Sassette Smurfs in the American animated series.

Also, the gender of Baby Smurf is unknown in the cartoon.

We don’t know whether it’s a boy or a girl, about the baby who is always referred to as “Cute Baby” throughout the cartoon. This can be seen as a possibility that Smurfette is not the only woman.

The Smurfs feature the singularity of Smurfette, the only woman in town. In fact, in one scene of the movie, a human character named Grace asks Smurfette why she is the only female Smurf. Smurfette replied, “A stork didn’t bring me like the others, my father saved me. He cast a special spell and made me the Smurf that I was meant to be.”

According to director Raja Gosnell, inventing a new female Smurf for the script was never on the agenda. It is stated that they want to continue the story of Smurfette, who continues as the only woman in the world of Smurfs created by Peyo.