the myth of gargamel

Undoubtedly we are all familiar with the fictional group of small blue creatures known as the Smurfs. These docile, apparently asexual woodland dwellers (although I believe Vanity Smurf was pretty gay) lived in cozy mushrooms dwellings and were one of a virtual cornicopeia of items that graced U.S. toy store shelves in the early 1980's. But what is most bizarre is that our childhood intrigue might be rooted in a series of ancient myths surrounding this Hanna-Barbera classic; a monstrous French epic first arising in 1532. The first discovery that follows is about a man named “Gargamel.”

Throughout Europe in the 16th century boys and girls were likely assigned to governesses, full time nannies, which were responsible for the youths’ care and entertainment. Many wore full length black gowns. Intending Children to mature quickly, the French Renaissance was abloom with tales aimed to scare youth towards adulthood. It was here in the grotesque and dirty mind of François Rabelais that La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel first gave rise to notion of Gargamel.

The very horrific life of the great Gargantua is a series of tales about a giant (Gargantua) and his son (Pantagruel). Crude and sadistically willed governesses often found humor in retelling the violent tales of Giants out to devour innocent children as they slept. Odd was the fact that Gargamel was often left in search of an oracle of the divine, an answer to an impossible question. Thus the conflict.

The most surreal aspect of the Gargamel legend has to be François Rabelais’ moral disrobement sometime shortly after the 1532 publication of the Gargantua tales. By the 16th Century, the alchemists in Europe had separated into two groups. The first group focused on finding new compounds and their reactions - leading to what is now the science of chemistry. The second group continued to look at the more spiritual, metaphysical side of alchemy, continuing the search for immortality and the transmutation of base metals into gold.

It was within the metaphysical world that amateur alchemist François dabbled. The facts are dark but it appears that Reformation leadership charged François with moral indecencies for what a appears to be a series of ‘experiments’ aimed at extracting gold from the energies of unsuspecting youths throughout the French countryside. He even dressed the part!

The character Gargamel first appeared in Le Voleur de Schtroumpf (“The Smurfnapper”), published by a Belgium comic strip in 1959. He had captured a Smurf which he needed as the special ingredient for a potion to make gold in accordance with an old magic spell. Here however the vitality and youthful vigor of the childish Smurfs prevailed, the kidnapped Smurf was freed and Gargamel was defeated and humiliated. Similar to the Gargantua tales, no matter how elaborate Gargamel’s plans became it was destined to end in an unending search for gold.

Gargamel’s tale is evidence that with The Smurfs (Les Schtroumpfs) we are witness to a mystical, interconnected parody that spawns several centuries and thus needs to be professed once and for all.