January 09
Just cuz:
And I was reading about the Smurfs yesterday (when I told my wife this, she said, “Did you really just start out a sentence that way?”) and found much of interest.
You might know that the Smurfs (les Schtroumpfs) were originally a Belgian comic strip created by a guy named Peyo that was widely adapted into live-action cartoons around the world. But were you aware that Peyo had his Smurfs actually go to war with one another over—and this is the good part—whether “smurf” was a noun or a verb? One faction believed that you should call a bottle-opener a “smurf-opener” and the other that it was a “bottle-smurfer.” This disagreement resulted in out-and-out war between the little blue creatures just three apples tall. (Papa Smurf took a neutral position in this conflict.) I find that just smurfy.
Here’s part of an episode called “Crying Smurfs” which features prominently Smurfette—who wasn’t, you’ll recall, an actual smurf but rather the creation of Gargamel, who molded her out of clay in order to create jealousy and conflict within the ranks of the all-male smurf village:
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”).
After undergoing trial (trial! Smurf trial!) Smurfette was then remade by the red-capped warlock known as Papa Smurf. The point is, Belgians are sexist.
Posted by: Aaron Retka in Heterosexual Hall of Fame, Let's Win! | Permalink
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7 Responses to “Here’s a completely random post.”
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strange how the all-male smurf village sort of personifies good (except for the noun vs verb combat, which is pretty much snarky nitpicking), anyway, life was gay then evil Gargamel corrupts them by introducing (artificial) heterosexuality.
fucking homos.
btw aaron, thanks for putting that fucking reading rainbow song in my head. i’ll have visions of levar burton and his fake laugh all week.
sorry if i sound pissy. i’m fucking sick.
That’s funny, because I was only just singing that song to my husband the other day, but because he’s a totally illiterate Englishman, he just didn’t get it.
“What?!” he said, “You can go ANYWHERE?!”
Oh Britain, I said, you are a great island of illiteracy.
As a Britainian, I must protest. I grew up on Jackanory which is sort of like reading rainbow but less gimmicky and more literary. For example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv21CD1M-k4&feature=related
omg, it’s doctor who! so it’s the same in britain - if your career’s in a slump, do a kid’s show.