So today in French we were translating some of Rabelais' Gargantua and I noticed that Gargantua's mother's name was Gargamelle. Right away I thought of Gargamel, and it kinda makes sense, since Gargamelle is a giant after all. Anyone, does anyone know for certain where Gargamel came from?
I seem to recall reading that the company name is actually in reference to Gargamel, of The Smurfs. Of course, the question then is whether Smurfs' Gargamel is named after Gargantua's mother, Gargamelle. Seems appropriate since Gargamelle is a giant, and Gargamel was like a giant to the Smurfs. Not out of place either, since his cat was named Azrael in the cartoon...
frank, you might need to make a Papa Smurf bust. check out this article i found when i was googling gargamel. funny stuff. The Smurfs Were Communists! By Dave Morgan Okay, I know it sounds crazy. I didn't believe it myself at first. Then I started thinking about it, and it starts getting scary. First of all, you must put aside all the media-programmed, propaganda-driven thoughts or irrational fears you might already have about communists. Forget all that big bad Russian stuff that the 80's taught us, that doesn't exist anymore. Think of communism as just a way of life, a social order, an economic standpoint, a lifestyle choice. Take all the visions of sickles and hammers and tanks out of your head for awhile, and then you will be able to see it clearly. First of all, the Smurfs shared everything. The food in the Smurf village was stored away in those mushrooms the minute it was harvested and then equally distributed to all the Smurfs throughout the year. No one "farmer Smurf" sold his crop to a "consumer Smurf," or saw his labor exploited by another. It was understood that the crop was for the entire Smurf population, not for the sale or profit of one Smurf alone. Then there were those jobs each Smurf held. There was Handy Smurf, and Painter Smurf, and Brainy Smurf, etc... Each Smurf had his own specific job and was not allowed to try his hand at any other Smurf's assigned task. There actually was an episode where each Smurf tried to do another one's job, and failed. The moral of the story was apparently "Stick to what you do Best" or to put it another way, stick to what the society has chosen for you, or maybe just "You'll get what you get and like it!" Handy Smurf was always building. Painter Smurf was always painting. Everyone accepted what they were and didn't ask questions. Some other evidence I've gathered may strain the limits of credibility. Decide for yourself: Papa Smurf wore a red cap. All the Smurfs were the same color and sang the same song everywhere they went - stressing their Smurfy unity. Didn't you catch yourself singing that song as a kid? I know you did. Everyone did. Everyone. The most compelling evidence that the Smurfs were communists comes from their relationship to the arch-villian Gargamel. If you remember, the only thing that Gargamel wanted the Smurfs for was for his own profit. In the first four or five seasons, Gargamel's master plan was to catch the Smurfs, boil them, and turn them into gold. For some reason, in the later years when the show was dying, they started saying that he wanted to eat the poor blue creatures, but for the most part he wanted to turn them into gold. He didn't care about the Smurfs themselves, their culture, or their well-being. All he cared about was getting gold. His only interest in how to get rich, and nothing, nothing would get in his way. Gargamel was a capitalist. The evil antagonist of the Smurfs was the ultimate capitalist, terrorizing the peaceful good little communist Smurf community. It all starts to fit together doesn't it? It makes you wonder why somebody didn't speak up about this before, especially during the 80's with Reagan in the Whitehouse I guess nobody thought it worth their time.
I remember that dialogue from the movie Slacker about how the Smurfs were a plan to make kids more accepting of blue-skinned people like the Hindu gods.
Jesus, there's even a Wikipedia entry on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smurfs_and_communism And allegations of anti-Semitic overtones regarding the depiction of Gargamel. I love the internet.
Regardless of the Smurfs' politics, they made a shitload of money for their creators. Yay capitalism. I'm still Googling for a page that describes how the Smurfs and Snorks lived in peace, but the Snorks were then scapegoated for the Smurfs' problems and were herded into camps. I know it has to be out there somewhere.
Working on the Smurfs was my very first job right out of high school....... I worked on the intro where they are all riding on the back of the big bird among other scenes. Here are a couple of drawings I did for Wizard Magazine back in the day............
hey - nice drawings ratcrtur. I went to the Art Institute of CO - and am woking as a web designer in denver now. Did you go to school in denver?
I had just graduated from high school in Utah when I worked on the Smurfs back in '86..... I went to college at Utah State, CU Denver and Art Center in CA. I was never really able to figure out what I wanted to do. I finally ended up getting a BFA with an emphasis in drawing. I thought that I would do gallery work........ that was until I started doing comics...... that dream ended right there.
Thank you! I should have looked into advanced search terms before whining. This will be helpful with several searchesl. So much keyword spam over there.
