The Smurfs - Symbols and Allusions pt.2

I have been fascinated with symbols and their meaning as long as I can remember. I like to look for symbols and I gain pleasure when I pick up on a reference to a past literary work or moment in history. Understanding symbols and why they are used is a part of historical inquiry. It is also a mode of thought. One can become efficient, like an art historian or archeologist, at extracting the story from a visual scene. One investigates a scene like a forensic specialist, but not using science so much as knowledge of the humanities: language, culture, art, religion, philosophy, and law. Expert numismatists (people who study coins) can spend hours unpacking the meaning of a single Roman coin. Roman coins and architecture, in particular, are loaded with large amounts of visual symbolic content.

Aside from ancient sources, using popular or retro imagery is a good way to train one's investigative skills.

Let us look at the Smurfs. One doesn't need to smurf very long to discover the symbols and allusions in the imagery and text. Nonetheless, there are many references to explore in the cartoon which the creator of the little blue species left behind for us to discover.

Fig. 1 The Smurfs

Take a look at the hat of the little blue creatures. They are wearing a distinct style that would have been recognizable to the ancients of the Roman-Greco world. The hat is known as the "Phrygian cap." It is a symbol of the free man and was eventually used to embody the principle of Liberty. 

Fig. 2 A Roman coin

A Roman coin, commemorating the "Ides of March," depicts the Phrygian cap as a symbol of liberty from Gaius Iulius Caesar's dictatorship and a return to the old Republic. The coin above (Fig. 2) has a Phrygian cap without the characteristic arch of the top of the hat. 

 Fig. 3 Paris wearing a Phrygian cap

A Smurf as Free-Folk

Apropos, it would appear that the Phrygian cap wearing Smurfs are a free-folk. They all play a specialized role in society which is indicated by their name. I make it sound like pure social engineering, but some have names based on personality traits, not to be always based on functional roles in the tribal subsistence economy. An episode of the comic book explored what would happen if the village was ruled by a king. The character who called himself King Smurf made slaves out of the other Smurfs. Papa Smurf returned from his quest to find a potion ingredient and restored his own leadership by the end of the story. In the tale, the Smurf is originally elected to be the leader in Papa Smurf's absence, after much bribing. Once he is elected he names himself king and begins to abuse his power. This has been considered by some to be a reference to those who win the trust of the public with hollow promises and become a dictator once they are in power, like Adolf Hitler. Hitler came to power with legal means. It wasn't until Hitler created a police state from the spread of fear, invoked emergency powers, and became dictator. 

The "created" female

The "created" female is not new to myth. Eve was created from Adam's rib. Athena was created from Zeus' head. How about the False Maria of Fritz Lang's film "Metropolis?" Aphrodite was formed out of the seam foam created by Uranus' dismembered genitals. 

Fig. 4 Gargamel and Smurfette

Would you like to know Smurfette's dirty secret? She was not originally blonde. As a matter of fact, she was created by Gargamel as a trick to lure the Smurfs, who were very powerful potion ingredients, to Gargamel. 

Fig. 5 Smurfette as Gargamel created her

Smurfette, as she was created by Gargamel, was a force of discord. Not only was she dowdy and non-blonde, she got in the way and caused trouble, like non-attractive women do. Papa smurf re-created Smurfette into a blonde, with eyelashes, a nice dress, and high heels. No joke. She is an addition to the golem in literature, after the the False Maria. The Bride of Frankenstein, the female golem was so much an aesthetic improvement that the Female construct rejected the old male model by screaming in horror at his appearance. The monster then "goes ape." Interesting side note: the actress who played Maria/False Maria in Lang's Metropolis was a candidate for the part of the bride in Bride of Frankenstein, but was not chosen. 

The Use of Names

Let us now look at some of the names in the cartoon that have historical or literary significance. 

Fig. 6 The evil wizard Gargamel and his cat Azrael

Gargamel - The main antagonist of the story. The name Gargamel is found in Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel. The creature Gargamelle, was a female giant in the story by Rabelais; and Gargamel, in the Smurf cartoon, was a giant compared to the blue creatures who were less than a foot in height.

Azrael - Translated from the Hebrew the word means "helped by God." More appropriately, Azrael is the name of the Angel of Death in Jewish and Islamic text.

Fig. 7 Gargamel and his godfather, Balthazaar

Balthazaar - Gargamel's godfather. Also, the name for the famous Neo-Babylonian ruler in the Book of Daniel who saw the writing on the wall and the downfall of the empire.

Fig. 8 Father Time 

Father Time - The scythe carrying great wizard in the comics and cartoon. The pairing of father time (Kronos) and the scythe are frequent indicators of Time's toll on each human, which is often personified as the Grim Reaper or Death with his sickle. In Greek mythology, Kronos (Lt. Chronus/Saturn) castrated his father Ouranos (Lt. Uranus, "sky") with just such a weapon.

Beelzebub - In one episode Gargamel evokes the demon Beelzebub and swears an oath to eternally serve the demon in exchange for his services.

Fig. 9 Drawing Fred Barnard, 1846-1896, John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. Engraving by Dalziel Brothers.