Smurfette

Smurfette is a female fictional character from the Smurfs.

Smurfette was the only female Smurf until the creation of Sassette. A Granny Smurf was also later introduced (it's unclear how she was created). Thierry Culliford, the son of Peyo and current head of the Studio Peyo, has announced that more female Smurfs will be introduced in the stories in 2008. [cite web |url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/15/content_7425970.htm |title=Smurfs mount invasion in Europe to celebrate 50th birthday |accessdate=2008-01-15 |author=Yao Siyan |date=2008-01-15 |publisher=www.chinaview.cn] Smurfette has more delicate features than the other Smurfs, with long blonde wavy hair, longer eyelashes, and wears a white dress and white high heels. She is the love interest of almost every Smurf and was voiced in the TV series by Lucille Bliss. The adventure of the Smurfette first started in "Spirou magazine" in 1966. At the end of this story she left the Smurf village, thus restoring the status quo of an all-male community. She made the occasional on-off appearance, but when the animated TV series of the Smurfs was made in the 1980s she featured as a permanent character — appearing in stories in which she was not included in the original source comics. Thus the comics also started to feature her as a permanent character.

Fictional biography

Comics

Smurfette was magically created from clay by the Smurfs' enemy, Gargamel, so that she would use her charms to cause jealousy and competition among the Smurfs in order to cause their fall. He left her in the forest and Hefty Smurf took her to the Smurf village, where she was kept out of kindness.

Gargamel's plans didn't work well at first, as her appearance was flawed. He had designed her in such a way that she might be attractive to a sad and despicable person like himself, but to the Smurfs she looked like just a male Smurf but with long spiky black hair and a dress. She tried to be feminine and considerate, but was unattractive and proved to be more annoying than seductive.

Frustrated, the Smurfs got back at her by making her think that she had put on weight and was becoming fat, thus causing her to fall into a state of depression. Papa Smurf took pity on her and took her to his laboratory, where they locked themselves in for several days before emerging. Smurfette now had long, flowing blond hair and an appealing character. This caused every Smurf of the village to fall in love with her.

(Although Grouchy Smurf had customarily stated "I hate Smurfettes", he did draw a love symbol on a wall when he was sure no-one was watching.)

Alas for the Smurfs, it did cause violence and jealousy as schemed by Gargamel, causing chaos among the Smurfs who competed, fighting against each other to win Smurfette's heart. She herself later convinced Vanity Smurf to open the water dam just to see the spurting water, but the dam got stuck and the village was flooded. After struggling to close the dam on his own, Papa Smurf showed his frustration towards the trouble-making nature of Smurfette, who, offended, announced that she would "return to the great sorcerer Gargamel's". The Smurfs were shocked about this revelation, and Papa Smurf ordered her to be arrested and put on trial.

Proceedings were marred by the Smurfs' passion towards her which made them call out that she was innocent even when the evidence against her was introduced. Brainy Smurf, as the prosecutor, was booed and pelted with tomatoes, just as much because of the audience's love for Smurfette as their general dislike for him. He himself took his job of prosecution seriously but was unable to find any witnesses to testify against her. On the other hand, the whole audience volunteered to testify in her defence, their passion surmounting any wrongdoing she may have committed. Jokey Smurf, her attorney in the trial, also claimed that Judge Papa Smurf was to blame, since it was he who had turned her from an ugly to an attractive appearance.

The jury found her not guilty, but Smurfette felt sorry for the trouble she had caused and ran away into the forest. The Smurfs got their revenge on Gargamel by using the same process that he had used to make the Smurfette, but in this case they built a man-sized, wart-covered, ugly old hag who talked Smurf language and chased the horrified sorcerer all over the forest.

Smurfette returned occasionally to the village, though she found that her presence still aroused conflict. When the Smurfs argued about which one should marry her, she herself announced that she would take Grouchy Smurf, who had customarily stated "I hate marriage", thus making her point that the subject was closed.

The Smurfs then moderated their passion for her, worshiping from a distance, and she settled permanently in the village. She even learned to talk in Smurf language when previously she had talked in straight human speech in accordance with Gargamel's magic.

Her influence could still be used for positive actions. When Hefty Smurf tried to organise Olympic Smurfs (in 1980), the other Smurfs showed no interest. But when it was later announced that the winner would get a kiss from the Smurfette this produced a mad rush for the signing-in office.

Cartoon series

In the original 1966 comic, Smurfette, when she first came to the village, was the stereotype annoying female who made life frustrating for the Smurfs without actually intending it: constantly asking silly questions; advising caution while travelling; making jumpers that were too big for the intended wearer, etc.

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").

Working for Gargamel, Smurfette tried a few different approaches to defeat the Smurfs, all of which failed. In the dam incident, she this time used a slice of cake to lure Greedy Smurf into opening it. When Greedy tried to close the dam again, Smurfette yanked it back. Greedy soon caught on, all the tugging eventually threw Smurfette off balance and she promptly fell into the river. While Greedy hammered the dam back down, Smurfette was rescued by Papa Smurf who sent her to court.

In Smurf court, Smurfette's beauty was to no avail. She finally admitted her slavery to Gargamel, and begged Papa Smurf to make her a real Smurf. Papa Smurf undid some of Gargamel's spells, consequently turning Smurfette into a more beautiful creature. Her hair grew, becoming blond and more voluptuous. Her dress became more frilly. As a final touch, her shoes turned into high-heel pumps. Of course, everyone now loved her and actually fought to do trivial favors for her such as walking her home.

Film

The Paramount Pictures/Nickelodeon Movies "Smurf" trilogy was announced in June 2008 and USA Today made their own casting choices. They chose "Heroes" star Hayden Panettiere as the voice of Smurfette. No official casting choice has been made yet.

References in popular culture

* In the 2001 film "Donnie Darko", a character tries to explain the origins of the Smurfette to others: "First of all, Papa Smurf didn't create Smurfette. Gargamel did. She was sent in as Gargamel's evil spy with the intention of destroying the Smurf village. But the overwhelming goodness of the Smurf way of life transformed her."

* In the "Robot Chicken" episode "Atta toy" Smurfette is murdered by Jokey Smurf by decapitation.

* An animated "TV Funhouse" segment of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" featured an obese Smurfette in "The Smurfette Show", a spoof of "The Anna Nicole Show", a reality series featuring Anna Nicole Smith.

See also

* Characters in The Smurfs

Notes