The Smurfs used to be just cute – now they can’t go five minutes without a pop-culture reference. Cut!
DO YOU remember The Smurfs? If you do, you might remember them as innocent little blue men (and one woman) who believed in working together for a more harmonious society. The original material (by Belgian cartoonist Peyo), and subsequent Hanna-Barbera cartoon, had no pop culture references, no sarcasm and certainly no rapping.
Cut to 2011 and, like many other reboots of kids' characters, the Smurfs are shades-wearing, post-modern hipsters. Indeed, the film has been playing less than five minutes (surely some sort of depressing record) when the first pop culture reference emerges: one of them sings a line from The Pointer Sisters' raunchy disco/pop anthem , I'm So Excited. Later in the film, Smurfette (voiced by sexpot singer Katy Perry) refers to her anthem of sexual experimentation when she says, "I kissed a Smurf and I liked it." The Smurfs also rap ( Walk This Wayby Run-DMC, in case you're wondering).
Like many widespread viruses, it's hard to find the catalyst, the subject zero of this trend, but the finger of blame probably should point to the modern reboot of Alvin and the Chipmunks. Of course, arch, post-modern behaviour has been seen in cartoons before; even before The Simpsons,funky characters and pop culture references appeared in the likes of Disney's Aladdin(whose Arsenio Hall jokes are especially dated) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which refers to everything from hip-hop to skateboarding. But Alvin and the Chipmunksis one of the first times an innocent product, originally aimed at kids, was reinvented so aggressively.
Granted, Alvin and his rodent friends were singing pop tunes back in the 1950s, so a pop/hip-hop makeover makes a modicum of sense. But, following on from the 2007 reboot – with a few noble exceptions – kids' characters seem to be under pressure to appear cool (or at least a corporation's approximation of cool), and new incarnations of old favourites usually get the hipster makeover. The Easter Bunny, for example, is formerly a symbol of purity to make Easter palatable and appealing to kids. But in the film Hop, "EB" is playing videogames, wearing plaid shirts and voiced by Russell Brand.
These revised characters no longer resemble their original incarnations, but instead just evoke one another. When Shrek burst onto the scene in 2001, making a mockery of Disney’s over-earnest fairytales, it was a breath of fresh air. Old Grimm Brothers stories were replaced by new, original fairytales, the lead was ugly, supporting characters were parodies of family favourites and Pinocchio did the Moonwalk. But post-Shrek animations now seem to be competing to out-cool each other and – to insert a music reference of my own – that joke isn’t funny any more.
In the subsequent gold-rush to make the next cool kids' character, many filmmakers and animators jettisoned the innocent charm and endearing sincerity of their forbears. Imagine if Bambi made a joke about The Deer Hunterwhen his mother was shot? What if Snow White sang a Lady Gaga song while she did her chores (ironically)? And how would you like to see Baloo the Bear rapping a Notorious B.I.G. song in The Jungle Book? If Who Framed Roger Rabbit?was made now, Roger would wear a Vampire Weekend T-shirt and low-slung jeans and Betty Boop would be duetting with The Black Eyed Peas.
There's room, of course, for arch, postmodern too-cool-for-school kids' characters that resemble Poochie from The Simpsons, but it would be nice if children's characters were also sometimes innocent, sincere and warm.
Children have their whole adolescence to feel inadequate about their clothes and status – why start them early?
