Whether you grew up in the 70s, 80s, 90s, or 2000s, you surely had a childhood full of Saturday morning cartoons that you still love as much as the first day you saw them. Although they are aimed at children, some characters break barriers and become established in popular culture as great icons for decades.
Surely, the first thing most think of is Disney or the Looney Tunes characters, but some little blue creatures managed to earn a place in the pantheon of cartoon heavyweights. That’s right, we’re talking about the Smurfs, but if you’ve been living in a cave all these years, you might be wondering…
What Are The Smurfs?
The Smurfs are small blue elf-like creatures rough the size of an apple. Their origin dates back to 1958, when the Belgian cartoonist “Peyo” created their fantastic world in the Smurfs comics, with their original name of “Les Schtroumpfs”.
While the Belgian comic book series was quite well known in Europe in their early years, the Smurfs exploded in popularity worldwide with the 1981 animated series, which brought joy into the homes of millions of children with 9 seasons and 421 episodes. You have to take your time to watch it all.
Personality Of The Smurfs
One of the features that made the characters so popular is that each Smurf has their own name and matching characteristics. Sometimes this could be based on their job, hobby, or their general mood.
For example, Grouchy Smurf, as his nickname indicates, is always angry and bitter, while Handy Smurf carries his tools everywhere, which has become part of his outfit. In total, there are more than 100 Smurfs.
Thus, either a Smurf’s hobby or their main emotion helps to differentiate one from the other. In addition, they have the habit of adding the word “Smurf” to their sentences. At first, it’s hard to understand some of their expressions, but with time it becomes Smurftastic!
What Do Smurfs Wear?
The beloved blue characters are distinguished, beyond their personality differences, by their white pants and hats of the same color. The male Smurfs usually have their torso uncovered, while the few female Smurfs usually wear a dress.
Many Smurfs have special outfits or accessories that match their job or characteristics. For the most part, this is the only way to distinguish them apart, except of course for Smurfette and the baby Smurfs.
A Little More About How Smurfs Live
Being such charismatic characters, the world around them has to match. The Smurfs live in the vicinity of the forest in the Smurfs’ Village, composed of mushroom-shaped houses and protected by a magical barrier that makes their village invisible.
The leader of the community is the oldest Smurf, Papa Smurf, dressed in a red outfit and a beard that makes him stand out, but he is no decrepit old man, as he is knowledgeable about magic and more than once has saved his “children” from trouble.
Although most of the adventures take place in the forest, it has been made clear that the Smurfs live in the Middle Ages, a fascinating time but also full of threats, like the evil wizard Gargamel, a monk expelled from his order who with the help of his cat Azrael, tries to capture the Smurfs at all costs to increase the power of his black magic… or out of pure hatred, his intentions change depending on the episode but he never stops chasing them.
Still Singing A Happy Song
Nowadays, the Smurfs are all over the media and have even reached Hollywood, but no matter where you see them, they will never cease to be those happy little creatures with the common goal: to help anyone, no matter how many dangers are involved.
Kids and Adults alike still qualify their friends by their hobbies or mood as if they were Smurfs, although, with time, we realize that we all have a little bit of everything inside us, and that’s just smurfy…
