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Author
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Topic: Sister on the Sidelines
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<Marilyn Friedman>
unregistered
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posted 01-21-2006 01:39 AM
I sugest you all read this to know what you are supporting!
From: Deep within Gargamel's Lair
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Eepē
Smurfling
Member # 1249
Member Rated:
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posted 01-21-2006 04:13 AM
Um, that article has so many half-truths it's silly.
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Every Smurf was only "three apples high" and wore a matching white hat.
Smurflings and Baby Smurf are less than 3 apples high. All smurfs don't wear a matching white hat. Papa Smurf wears a red hat. Sweepy Smurf wears a black brimmed hat. Handy's hat has a front brim. Wooley's hat is made of wool, fluffier, and has a tail. Grandpa's hat is yellow. Painter and Slouchy's hats droop. Dreamy wears a captain's hat when he's a captain. Miner has a candle on his dirty hat. Sloppy smurf's hat is also dirty and too big for his head (as is Clumsy's). Nat wears a tan wicker brimmed hat. Greedy's hat is a chef hat.
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Although there are one hundred male Smurfs (only about twenty or twenty-five are ever developed as characters), there is only one Smurfette. ... In "The Smurfs," however, the female-to-male ratio is 1 to 100.
Smurfette isn't the only female smurf; there's Sassette and Nanny too. Granted, these characters came later, but they're still there and bring the female-male smurf ratio down to more like 3:107.
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"The Smurfs" became one of the first television series to put "the Shortcake Strategy" [commercially-driven show] to the test.
To my knowledge (and I've been watching a lot of episodes lately) The Smurfs doesn't promote commercials/products in the show. I don't remember G.I.Joe and Transformers doing so either. Yes, all these shows featured chracters/vehicles (except The Smurfs) but these things weren't PROMOTED (as in " to attempt to sell or popularize by advertising or publicity"). Of course, what defines advertising? If simply featuring a character/vehicle in a show counts as advertising, then every single show/movie that every depicts anything that is made into a toy, etc, is advertising. In other words, this is vague and misleading.
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Even the story behind the creation of the television show "The Smurfs" is based on the presence of the toys. As Culliford himself explained:
NBC had originally turned down a Smurf show. But one day Mr. Silverman [an NBC executive] was taking a walk with his little daughter and she wanted a Smurf, which Mr. Silverman bought for her. She took it to bed with her. He quickly telephoned animator Hanna-Barbera [creators of The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, etc.] and gave them the go-ahead for a television show.(16)
While some might have argued that "The Smurfs" had been simply based on the comic strip, its beginnings were clearly centered around the licensed merchandise.
Perhaps, but *I* never bought a SINGLE smurf merchandise item until only this month--and I'm in my 30s--and I only did it for 3D modelling research.
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All of the Smurfs are blue and wear the same white hat and white pants, except for Smurfette (who wears a dress).
See above for why this is incorrect.
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While all of the Smurfs wear white, Papa Smurf wears a red hat and red pants.
Well, at least now the author distinguishes Papa Smurf's outfit from most, but not all, of the other smurfs.
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While most of the major characters derive their identity from a personality trait, Smurfette's distinguishing characteristic is that (until the appearance in 1985 of the adolescent Sassette) she is the only female in the village.
Only took the author half of the article to recognize that there's at least one other female smurf.
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Regardless of what specific characteristics she embodies, she is the only female Smurf. Even if she were as "progressive" as Velma on "Scooby-Doo," which she is not, the message would still be that women mostly belong on the sidelines. Her *** is simply a "characteristic," like clumsiness or artistic ability.
And then the author reverts back to his one-sidedness. The author chooses to see Smurfette, when she is the only female smurf (for half of the cartoon series), as a "sexual characteristic". However, he fails to recognize her ACTUAL characteristics: care and concern for others (smurfs, Gargamel, Azrael--everyone really), love of beauty (flowers mostly), etc. The author fails to mention Sassette's characteristics of being quite UNfeminine: tomyboyish, adventurous, rough, likes nature, etc.
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The appearance of Grandpa Smurf in the 1986-7 season further complicates this. In any case, there is a complete absence of any kind of mother-figures.
The author obviously missed "The Lost Smurf" episode where Nanny Smurf is introduced.
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In order for her to become "a real Smurf," her hair had to be blonde.
Her hair didn't HAVE to become blonde; it was simply chosen to be blonde by someone (writer, animator, Peyo--who knows?).
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Her blonde hair, which she needed to have in order to become "a real Smurf," would then suggest that the Smurfs, despite their initial appearance, are blonde-haired and blue-eyed - i.e. they are all Northern European.
Quite a leap in logic here...
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In conclusion, "The Smurfs," as one of the most successful Saturday morning cartoons of the eighties, is indicative of the "backlash" against the independent non-traditional female cartoon characters who had appeared in the 1970's. Katha Pollitt wrote of children's cartoons in 1991:
Contemporary shows are either essentially all male, like "Garfield," or are organized on what I call the Smurfette principle: a group of male buddies will be accented by a lone female, stereotypically defined.(31)
The "Smurfette principle" holds true for most of Hanna-Barbera's cartoons in the 1980's. Shows such as "Fonz and the Happy Days Gang," "Monchichis," "Mork and Mindy," "The Little Rascals," "Pac Man," "The Dukes," "Pound Puppies," and "Shirt Tails," all feature one (or occasionally two) female characters with enormous eyelashes who stand off balance. Pollitt explains the effects of such images on children.
The message is clear. Boys are the norm, girls the variation; boys are central, girls peripheral; boys are individuals, girls are types. Boys define the group, its story and its code of values. Girls exist only in relation to boys.(32)
There have been cartoons, such as "Wildfire," about a twelve year old girl who battles evil in another dimension, that defied the trend, but they are very few and far between. For the most part, female characters in the 1980's were relegated to the sidelines of Saturday morning.
Archie (Betty & Veronica), Gummi Bears, Jem, Strawberry Shortcake, Carebears, etc.
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This article makes some interesting points, but it just tries to "grasp at straws" far too much without providing many facts (and LOTS of heresay). While I do agree of smurf society being a "socialist utopia", I don't agree that The Smurfs is a sexist show.
Posts: 80 | From: Smearth | Registered: May 2001
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<truthiness>
unregistered
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posted 01-22-2006 05:30 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Eepē:
Um, that article has so many half-truths it's silly.
quote:
In order for her to become "a real Smurf," her hair had to be blonde.
Her hair didn't HAVE to become blonde; it was simply chosen to be blonde by someone (writer, animator, Peyo--who knows?).
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Her blonde hair, which she needed to have in order to become "a real Smurf," would then suggest that the Smurfs, despite their initial appearance, are blonde-haired and blue-eyed - i.e. they are all Northern European.
Quite a leap in logic here...
The addition of new clothes, new hair, new make-up etc. was added to the Smurfette story by Peyo to satisfy his readers...his FEMALE readers.
It is hetero women, definitely not hetero men, who relish the makeover fantasy. Think of all the female-oriented TV shows and movies that have makeovers of this kind. Why do you think that is? Because it is very, very appealing to women.
Blame women for Smurfette, because it is for they whom Smurfette was writen.
From: Deep within Gargamel's Lair
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