Smurfette

For the comic book, see The Smurfette.

Smurfette
Smurfette as she originally appeared (left) and after Papa Smurf turned her into a real Smurf (right)
Publication information
Publisher	Dupuis
First appearance	1966 (Comic Strip)
Created by	Peyo

Smurfette (French: La Schtroumpfette) is a female character from the Smurfs.

Smurfette was created by Gargamel, the Smurfs' enemy. He created her to distract the other Smurfs so he could trap them. Papa Smurf then rescued Smurfette and turned her into the real Smurf that she should be. She was the only female Smurf until the creation of Sassette. A Granny Smurf was also later introduced, although it is unclear how she was created. Thierry Culliford, the son of Peyo and current head of the Studio Peyo, announced in 2008 that more female Smurfs would be introduced in the stories. 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. Those voicing her include Céline Monsarrat and Lucille Bliss. Smurfette is voiced by pop superstar Katy Perry in the 2011 film version, and voiced by Melissa Sturm in The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol.

Original introduction

The adventure of the Smurfette first started in Spirou magazine in 1966. She was made by Gargamel as a means to sow unrest in the Smurf village. When this was discovered, Papa Smurf succeeded in turning her into a real Smurf, altering her appearance at the same time. She still was a source of envy between the Smurfs though, and 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 introduced in the 1980's she was 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.

Creation and conception

Hal Erickson said in Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia 1949-1993 that the reintroduction of Smurfette as a permanent character in the animated series was "bowing to merchandising dictates" in order to "appeal to little girl toy consumers." Jeffrey P. Dennis, author of the journal article "The Same Thing We Do Every Night: Signifying Same-Sex Desire in Television Cartoons," said that the inclusion of Smurfette in the cartoon version of The Smurfs was likely to serve as an object of heterosexual desire for the other Smurfs and to end speculation arguing that the Smurfs were homosexual. In a response to Dennis's statements, Martin Goodman of Animation World Network, said that Dennis had not taken into account Erickson's comments about merchandising. Goodman further argued that capturing the young female audience would increase ratings, so the networks were more likely trying to pander to young girls than trying to defuse accusations of homosexuality; Smurfette was the most frequently merchandised of the Smurfs.

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.

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

Gargamel's plans didn't work well at all. The Smurfs' kindness to Smurfette caused her to want nothing else than to be a real Smurf. Papa Smurf took pity on her and took her to his laboratory, where they locked themselves in while he cast spells, including infusing her with moonbeams, before emerging. Smurfette now had long, flowing blonde hair and an appealing character. This caused every Smurf of the village to fall in love with her. 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 organize the Olympic Smurfs, 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

The Hanna-Barbera cartoon series of the Smurfs, introduced 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 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 with the entire village angrily aware of her treachery. She finally admitted her slavery to Gargamel, and tearfully offered to submit the Smurfs' judgement. However, Papa Smurf absolves her of her guilt and offers to attempt to free her by making her a real Smurf. Papa Smurf magically undid some of Gargamel's spells, consequently turning Smurfette into a more beautiful creature. Her hair grew and became blonde. 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.

When Gargamel recontacts her, he is alarmed by her changed visage and realizes that Papa Smurf has undone his control of her. Instead he tries to placate his and manipulates her to lure the Smurfs into a trap. The trap is successful with the entire community captured and Smurfette is aghast at her unwitting role in it. However, she is then able to spectacularly undo her mistake by disguising herself as a male masked Smurf to lure away Gargamel and Azreal on a chase that both allows her to incapacitate the villains and free the Smurfs. At the conclusion of the story, any doubts of the Smurfs of Smurfette's loyalty are resolved and she is made a welcome permanent member of their village.

Smurfette's original artificial nature arose again in the sequel episode, "Smurfette Unmade." In this story, Gargamel tells Scruple about how he regrets creating her, he comments how bad is that Gargamel can't turn her evil again, and he remembers there is a way. They kidnap her and prepare a spell which initially doesn't seem to work and the Smurfs take her home. When Scruple turns on the next page of Gargamel's spell book, the bad guys realize the spell is complete but its effects won't become apparent until the next full moon's midnight, which happened to be that very night. The effects included Smurfette changing back to her original appearance and malicious personality before she could consult Papa Smurf on the matter. Thus changed into her original form, Smurfette managed to hide by concealing her black hair with a wig but the Smurfs eventually learned the truth when she arranges the Smurfs to be captured. Papa Smurf said he couldn't repeat the spell that had initially turned her good. However, when Gargamel was about to put the male Smurfs on his cauldron, Smurfette's conscience rebelled and it changed her back to her blond-haired appearance. She then rescued the Smurfs and they all returned home with Papa Smurf guessing that Smurfette's Smurf nature was too strong to ever fully remove in the first place.

Movies

In the 2011 Smurf movie, Smurfette is voiced by singer Katy Perry.

See also

• List of characters in The Smurfs