Smurfs

The Smurfs are fictional blue-skinned humanoids created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo (Pierre Culliford) in 1958. They live in a forest village of mushroom-shaped houses and are depicted as a tight-knit, egalitarian community guided by shared tasks and mutual aid. Most Smurfs wear white trousers and hats, while Papa Smurf wears red garments and a beard, reflecting an elder leadership role. A distinctive linguistic trait is the Smurf language, in which the word smurf can substitute for many common nouns and verbs, giving their speech a characteristic playful cadence.

The Smurfs first appeared in the comic series Le Journal de Spirou (1958) and later became the central figures of a long-running franchise. The Smurf population includes numerous named characters, such as Papa Smurf, Brainy Smurf, Jokey Smurf, Hefty Smurf, Vanity Smurf, and Smurfette, the latter created by the wizard Gargamel to sow discord but later embraced by the village. Their arch-enemy is Gargamel, a wizard who seeks to capture the Smurfs for his own purposes, often aided by his cat Azrael.

Media adaptations began in the 1980s with an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera, which popularized the characters worldwide. The Smurfs have since been adapted into feature films, including a 2011 live-action/CGI movie and its 2013 sequel, and the 2017 animated film Smurfs: The Lost Village, among other media and merchandise. The franchise remains a recognizable children's property with ongoing releases and new audiences.