The Smurfs: a totalitarian utopia?

Le Regard Libre N° 42 - Nicolas Jutzet

The little blue men are now known to almost everyone. For sixty years, that's three generations, their adventures have been accompanying young people. But behind the ideal setting, that of a friendly troupe of elves hidden away in their mushroom village, in the middle of nowhere, in an unreachable forest, are they hiding something else? This is the question that Antoine Buéno, writer, chargé de mission at the French Senate and lecturer at Sciences-Po, attempts to answer in his book The Little Blue Book, a critical and political analysis of the Smurfs' society. But before returning to this decoding, a brief look back is in order.

The Smurfs, the genesis

Legend has it that the idea for the world of bluish humanoids was born in the mind of Peyo (whose real name was Pierre Culliford) over lunch. Welcomed by his colleague and friend André Franquin - another great figure in the world of comics, known for his creations Spirou and Fantasio, Gaston, or the Marsupilami - he struggles to find the words to pass the salt: «Pass me the..., pass me the..., pass me the Smurf! His friend replied, »Here's the Smurf, and when you've finished smurfing him, you can smurf him back to me! Amused by this little game, they continued throughout their stay. A tribute to this legendary exchange can be found in The Financial Smurf.

So it's only natural that the Belgian author should incorporate this new idea into his work. It takes the form of a group of little blue elves, as tall as three apples - which, depending on the apple, corresponds to a height of between fifteen and thirty centimetres. Herbivores, they feed on sarsaparilla, berries and Smurf baba. Their leader reaches a canonical age of over five hundred and forty, while most of the others are centenarians. Whether it's their appearance - disproportionate body size, color, hairiness, etc. - their longevity or their way of life, they're all part of the same family. - their longevity or their lifestyle, there's no doubt that the Smurfs resemble nothing that exists, and in fact come straight from Peyo's imagination.

Peyo, an absence of ideology?

It's worth pointing out that since the death of its creator in 1992, the series has continued to develop. Taken over and extended by the artist's son, Thierry Culliford, the adventure is by no means over. There is, however, a new approach. Under Peyo's pen, the Smurfs expressed a story based on the artist's thoughts and reflections. Today, the albums reflect societal themes. The educational role of the books has become more pronounced. The Smurfs now «serve» causes. Here are two examples: Le Schtroumpf reporter serves as a defense of press freedom while Smurf salad criticizes consumer society.

For Antoine Buéno, «Peyo creates a society, Thierry Culliford talks about ours». According to various accounts, Peyo never showed any real interest in political jousting. Above all, he was a measured man. He rejected the extremes of both right and left, and voted in the center, more by elimination than conviction. According to Antoine Buéno, «a work can convey imagery that its author, in good faith, does not endorse, without his or her being at all aware of it. The Smurfs would be a typical case of dissociation between an author's intentions and the representations and ideas actually deployed in his comics. They therefore reflect the spirit of an era rather than that of their creator.»

Throughout their history, the Smurfs have been accused of representing the gay community, anti-Semites, the Ku Klux Klan and triumphant communism. In the wake of McCarthyism and against the backdrop of the Cold War, this last accusation took on a decidedly political dimension. The Smurfs were even accused of being the collectivist counterpart to Mickey Mouse, the great hero of the capitalists. The omnipresence of the hammer and sickle in the peregrinations of the blue elves is no small part of this interpretation.

The world of the Smurfs, between Nazism and Stalinism?

The albums always follow the same binary scenario. Life in the village goes on peacefully, before being disrupted either by an external factor - Gargamel, Smurfette, a fire, etc. - or by the deviant behavior of a member of the tribe. - or by the deviant behavior of a member of the tribe - Le Smtroumpf financier, Cosmoschtroumpf, Schtroumpfissime, etc. The Smurfs' society is primitive, reminiscent of Rousseau's caricature of the bon sauvage. Opposed to progress and selfishness, it places the community above the individual, considered at best a parasite.

In their idealized everyday society, individuality is the problem, society the solution. Desires are few. No room for jealousy or hatred of others. It's a perfect utopia. Autarkic, self-sufficient and remote in an unknown place, deemed difficult to access. Trade doesn't exist, everyone shares and participates in the collective adventure. The uniformity of clothing is only confirmation of this common desire to be all the same. Uchrony and dirigisme, that's the Smurfs' world. Major works are at the heart of the story. The hammer symbolizes the work on the dam, the sickle the harvesting of sarsaparilla. We work towards a common goal, eat and celebrate together.

There are also similarities with Nazism, which is racist, corporatist and reactionary. When it comes to defending oneself against the «Black Smurfs», for example. Bitten by the «Bzzz» fly, every Smurf turns black, loses his intelligence and becomes a real danger to the rest of the healthy community. Another disturbing coincidence is that the arrival of the still brown Smurfette is met with indifference. Once Papa Smurf has metamorphosed her into a blonde creature, she is unanimously approved.

Anti-Semitism is personified by the sorcerer Gargamel and his cat, Azraël. Between Azraël and Israel... Greedy and scheming, Gargamel's looks and character are a perfect match for the Nazi cliché of the Jew. What's more, his venality is another point that reinforces the hypothesis of a Stalinist world, mentioned above. The kind, unselfish community, the Smurfs' village or the USSR, versus the evil, scheming capitalist opponent.

Finally, the world of the little blue creatures is fundamentally misogynistic and phalocratic. Smurf pre-exists Smurfette. Smurfette is a Machiavellian creature created by Gargamel to disrupt the village. Pushing Poet Smurf to a fault - he opens the dam, endangering the rest of the community - she symbolizes temptation. Superficial, she is subsequently confined to a subordinate, family role. Inspired by Brigitte Bardot, she is made using a magic recipe that speaks volumes about her future role: «A sprig of coquetry, a solid layer of bias, three crocodile tears, a linnet's brain, some powdered viper's tongue, a carat of cunning, a handful of anger, a finger of fabric of lies, sewn with white thread, of course, a bushel of gluttony, a quarter of bad faith, a dice of unconsciousness, a dash of pride, a dash of envy, a zest of sentimentality, a share of silliness and a share of cunning, a lot of volatile spirit and a lot of obstinacy, a candle burnt at both ends.»

In the end, for Antoine Buéno, «only the concept of totalitarianism makes the fusion of apparently antithetical ideologies within a single social entity intelligible and possible. The Smurfs» village is an image of what the totalitarian process could achieve. The notion of totalitarianism has the immense merit of highlighting the profound similarity between the Bolshevik-Communist system and the Nazi-fascist system, in terms of their governing techniques. Totalitarianism, posing as an anti-democracy, invests all powers in a leader who strives to quell all forms of dissent, designates scapegoats and destroys existing social structures to better control and dumb down the masses. These are all traits that can be found, without exception, in the Smurfs' society.

What's more, the language used in this universe is a novlange worthy of the legendary 1984 by George Orwell, with a simple principle: reduce the ability to express subversive ideas and concepts. Without words, without nuance, the individual is unable to express his or her desires, to reflect, yielding more and more to the pathos. By breaking down the ability to theorize and the ties that bind groups together, i.e., by creating an atomized society in which only the collective counts, we arrive at what the quintessence of a totalitarian world might look like.

Naturally, this analysis is intended to be polemical, but above all it's a reminder that we need to exercise our critical faculties everywhere, all the time.

Write to the author: nicolas.jutzet@leregardlibre.com

Further reading: Antoine Buéno, The Little Blue Book (2011), Editions Hors Collection
To be listened to: Who's alive? - «What are the Smurfs Smurfing about?», Europe 1