This wasn't what I expected when I rewatched the first movie out of curiosity to see if it was really that bad because young me loved it. (spoiler: i complained all along)
So like, something happened the other night and now I'm on a Smurf brainrot. And I realized I'm an artist and I can draw what I want and next thing you know I got like ten pages in my sketchbook and I got my markers out for the first time in forever. I am so normal about Vanity btw
Also granity. Did I mention granity? Yeah I like them a lot. They give me strong huskerdust vibes so I also doodled some stuff from their songs because that's how normal I am.
Aaaaand random bullshit from me learning to draw these thangs for four days straight (there are more but I refuse to let the first ones ever see the light of day)
And bonus because I said so
You don't know how many times I started drawing a Smurf only to add Vanity's flower on their hat because it doesn't scratch my brain as much if it doesn't have it.
After the conclusion of the famous 80s smurfs cartoon, Peyo was only involved in 3 more comic releases (in 1990, 1991 and 1992) prior to his death in late December 1992.
Comics Brainy firmly remains established as his own distinct character, but his portrayal is still ultimately not immune to arguably being influenced somewhat by the characterisation exhibited of him in the 80s cartoon, as touched upon previously.
In a continuing pattern of Brainy’s illegitimate claims to knowledge (a feature of his character discussed heavily in Part 6 and prior installments of these analyses), in the final comic overseen by Peyo, Le Schtroumpf Financier (The Finance Smurf), Brainy makes a pretence of being able to read the writing of an old script, but it is quickly revealed that, in fact, he cannot actually understand it!
Of course, when discussing this specific tendency of Brainy’s character in prior instances, the focus has always been on the 80s cartoon as opposed to the comics, wherein I had made a point to distinguish the differences in apparent characterisation between the comics and cartoon counterpart. Yet here, we have a scene from the comics that wouldn’t be entirely out of place in the show. That being said, it is not necessarily a contradiction of what we know about or expect of this character based on the history of the comics, though it does seem to be something additional that hadn’t really been showcased much before in the comics – only in the cartoon.
Little things like this seem to be a continuing trend in the comics following Peyo’s death. While there were already potential instances of the tone of comic Brainy being set by the cartoon counterpart while Peyo was still alive, questions about the direction the character takes and how “true” or otherwise it is to the pre-existing material, and how influenced it may be by the cartoon or by new factors entirely being introduced can only increase post-Peyo. After all, with the original creator no longer at the helm dictating the character’s iteration, we can’t know what level of agreement or disagreement he may have had about the portrayals in further comic installments, and how different or similar things might have been if he was still involved.
Pretensions of intellectualism already slot in neatly with existing features of Schtroumpf à lunettes – it is not something out of place, so it is something that can be incorporated quite readily into his character. A few instances in this era of the comic also pop up where he seems to have some displays of cowardice, something that was definitely an element of his in the cartoon. It is unclear whether things like this are mere coincidence – whether comics Brainy can have/display these traits independently or whether there was any bleed-over effect involved.
There are multiple instances of Brainy being a stickler about language and grammar, with it becoming something of a repeated theme across several comics… (This is an incomplete selection of examples!):
And then, of course, in the Wild Smurf comic (Le Schtroumpf Sauvage), Brainy has a My Fair Lady-type plot trying to educate Wild Smurf in an attempt to make him more “civilised”. Language is only one element he touches on – really, he has here a focus on etiquette and the rules of conduct in society, which can often go hand-in-hand with moralising and are very on-theme for his character. Brainy appears to be the most offended by Wild’s egregious display of poor table manners :P. He works very hard to take on a teacher/mentor role to help Wild learn the ways of smurf life.
In the Gambler Smurfs comic, Brainy’s hypocrisy comes out once again. He is fickle, poised to reprimand the smurfs over gambling, only to get drawn into it himself (and lose everything very quickly!). After Papa Smurf bans the activity and discovers that the smurfs secretly continued with it, he is shocked to find Smurfette part of the group, exclaiming that Brainy “seems to be the only serious smurf in the village!”…
...Only to find that Brainy had also continued gambling behind his back after it was banned.
This scene of course indicates that Papa takes it as a given that Brainy wouldn’t be involved in this and wouldn’t have been going against his orders – Papa Smurf trusts Brainy and expects him to be better behaved compared to the others. This can be contrasted against the Brainy of the 80s cartoon show: I have already touched on how cartoon Brainy skewers more towards “troublemaker” than the comic versions’ “responsible one”. We can compare this comic moment in Gambler Smurfs (Papa trusting and expecting Brainy to be obedient) to the cartoon moment in the 80s show’s “The Master Smurf” episode, where Papa is desperate to keep the crown out of Brainy’s hands (not trusting Brainy, having an (accurate) expectation of Brainy recklessly wanting to don the powerful crown if given the opportunity).
Papa: Does, uh, Brainy know you found this crown?
Miner: Aye, Papa Smurf
Baby: [“Uh oh” noise]
Papa: Then we are in trouble!
It is certainly seen as more surprising, more of a deviation from the norm for comic Brainy to misbehave!
The Smurfs and the Book that Tells Everything in 2008 is very on theme for the decades worth of appearances we now have in the comics for Brainy, wherein he is all about following what the titular book says. It is notable that his story here culminates in needing to finally reject the book’s words and throw it away when it blatantly crosses the line in expecting him to sacrifice Baby Smurf. It goes to show how wrapped up he is in doing things in an “orderly” way and following instructions(/rules) for the story to make such a point of him needing to break away from doing so. This installment also features Brainy being a bit cunning and manipulative in how he gains a monopoly over the book and gets other smurfs to do his bidding – intentionally choosing a smurf he deems to have lesser intelligence to assist him so he can be more easily and readily ordered about and not clue in to the extent of the situation’s inequality.
Speaking of intelligence, in La Grande Schtroumpfette, in light of Papa Smurf declaring that he would be selecting a stand-in leader for the duration of his temporary absence, Brainy remarks to himself that he would/should be chosen because he is the most intelligent:
While this manages to slot in neatly enough with everything that’s come prior to this point so as to be readily believable, this particular emphasis on intelligence specifically had not actually been the case with comics Brainy at all previously – this seems to mark the very first instance, in this comic released in 2010. He could have easily, and very believably, been thinking instead that he would be the best leader and would be chosen due to something like “I am the most well-organised” or “I am the most morally upstanding (and therefore the best influence)”! It seems to be a bit of a new angle, a new direction, and I have no doubt it’s influenced by the 80s cartoon’s legacy and the representation(s)/associations of the character in the English-speaking world. The timing also coincides with when the 2011 smurfs movie would have been in production. Which brings us to…
The (2011) Movie
The movie is very clearly its own, separate canon apart from everything else. The Brainy that we get here does, on the surface, share some things in common with the character’s other iterations – he is verbose, pedantic about words, and even similarly enough has a shade of spouting Papa’s words and emphasising etiquette: “I’ve got a message! Always chew with your mouth closed. Papa taught us that!”. But he distinctly lacks the overly-bossy, arrogant and self-imposing demeanour we have come to expect, instead coming across as far more meek and peaceable – more “toned down” and… dare I say, generic? He whips out stock-standard Nerd Phrases like “My calculations indicate…” which don’t ring true for a resemblance to other versions of Brainy’s speech prior to this point. The character is not given much chance in the movie to have spotlight or be distinctive, and in the absence of much space to signpost to the contrary, it appears we are potentially meant to simply accept at face value the name of “Brainy” is supposed to be accurate in this particular case, when it had always been a misnomer before. That being said, because of how little room the character is given to manoeuvre within the film, we also aren’t given any concrete demonstration of smarts either, so it remains somewhat ambiguous. But we have, of course, shifted back once more into the English-speaking realm where the English-anointed name of “Brainy” is paramount, where he is no longer distinguished by namesake only as being a glasses-wearing smurf. Audiences exposed only to this film and no other media would likely take the name at face value, and this is once again its own novel direction for the character, distinct to what had come before. Brainy’s arguable lack of distinctiveness in the film in and of itself also betrays something of a break from what had come before, as he is typically a smurf who demands attention and spotlight, so his relative lack of it in the movie is notable.
I’m going to end this here for now, and pick up next time from where we’ve left off! Thanks for reading. I plan to continue exploring the chronological evolution of the character in future posts, and please feel free to check out the previous installments of this overview if you haven’t already <3
