This is not a "another day another book finished"-post. I am still reading my way through a ghost story one and have about half the book to go... perhaps finish it next weekend, depending on how much reading I get done this week.
However, I do have something else I have been meaning to get off my chest. It has to do with some little blue creatures called Smurfs. Apparently they are not as innocent as I always presumed them to be. Let me explain how I found this out.
My sister very kindly keeps me posted on interesting Dutch news, on little things she feels I would find interesting or quirky. She has great taste in this department and the articles she sends always make me chuckle or go "mmmm, interesting" or "mmm, weird but interesting". Also, I love getting post the old fashioned way by proper post, not e-mail or Facebook message so it serves a double purpose. Anyhoo... back to the Smurfs. This article sis sent me mentioned that when the Smurfs were first introduced in the 1960s that some Americans had trouble on how to interpret the Smurfs!? This made me go: Really.... how? As far as I can see they are a race of blue cartoon characters that live together and get up to all sorts. That is all there is to it. But apparently the Smurfs and their tendencies to wear their white, tight little trousers and white pointy hats made our American friends think that they are gay and/or members of the Ku Klux Klan (the article does not mention which they would consider to be worse?). I myself do not see the comparison but if you look hard enough you will always find what you seek I guess. Maybe this analysis says more about the person than the actual facts presented? To add to the raw deal for the Smurfs there is also a French writer (Antoine Bueno) who has now written a book presenting "a serious sociological study" of the world of the Smurfs, and it is not good news. According to mr Bueno the Smurfs live in a society that is "the embodiment of a totalitarian utopian society, drenched in Stalinisn and Nazism". Poor Smurfs. I always thought they seemed rather happy go lucky and cheery to be living in their little world.
I do have a few simple words of advice for mr Bueno: GET OVER IT! It is a cartoon and it is only make believe. I cannot honestly believe that mr Peyo (the creator of the Smurfs) set out to give us a true reflection of human society. He probably just wanted to create a cartoon with some funny looking characters that each represent a certain personality trait present in each and every one of us. The fact that they have a society where they all work together to get the job done or the fact that the only female smurf around has blond hair does not mean that they are all going to be flying the Soviet flag and calling eachother comrade or are a portrayal of the Arian race. Geez... really.. if we took all our cartoons so seriously someone should sue Warner Brothers, Hanna Barbara and every other cartoon producing company for representing organised, repetitive homicide on a mass scale (how often does Tom kill Jerry again.. oh that's right EVERY cartoon) and animal abuse (animals dressed up in human clothes.. really)! Let's just keep it real here. The Smurfs are just a cartoon not to be used for a polemic against present day society. Leave them be! The only thing you could probably blame them for is the fact that the theme tune is soooo annoyingly catchy that even after not having watched them for at least 10 years I can still sing along with it.
Keep 'm coming Sis!!
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