What is the Smurfette Principle?

Does that ring a bell? How many of you spent hours in front of the Smurfs as children? We’re sure you remember the smiley little girl with blond hair, a white dress and high heels. In case your memory has faded, in the wonderful world of the Smurfs, Smurfette is created by the evil wizard Gargamel to sow discord! How curious that the role of agitator is reserved for a female character, don’t you think?! Add to that the fact that the Smurfville population is exclusively male, until the arrival of the lone Smurfette. That’s where the idea of the Smurfette Principle comes from. It’s mainly to do with the overrepresentation of male figures as protagonists in works of fiction, to the detriment of female characters.

How can you base a whole theory on a single cartoon? What’s wrong with that? It’s fiction after all and fiction can write its own rules, can’t it? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

In partnership with upday UK.

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