Smurfs- -Bombed and Destroyed by UNICEF

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A first adult-only episode of the Smurfs, in which the blue-skinned cartoon characters' village is annihilated by warplanes:
The film is the work of Unicef, the United Nations Children's Fund, and is to be broadcast on national television next week as a campaign advertisement...

The short film pulls no punches. It opens with the Smurfs dancing, hand-in-hand, around a campfire and singing the Smurf song. Bluebirds flutter past and rabbits gambol around their familiar village of mushroom- shaped houses until, without warning, bombs begin to rain from the sky.

Tiny Smurfs scatter and run in vain from the whistling bombs, before being felled by blast waves and fiery explosions. The final scene shows a scorched and tattered Baby Smurf sobbing inconsolably, surrounded by prone Smurfs.

The final frame bears the message: "Don't let war affect the lives of children." It is intended as the keystone of a fund-raising drive by Unicef's Belgian arm, to raise £70,000 for the rehabilitation of former child soldiers in Burundi.

UNICEF and IMPS, the family company that controls all rights to the Smurfs, have stipulated that it is not to be broadcast before 9 p.m.

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http://67.18.37.15/2276/188/upload/p4075010.gif

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I used to watch the series with my youngest daughter. I actually became quite fond of them. That looks like Smurfette's body to the left in the pic. I'm not sure this film was a good idea.

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Might have some damn impact, though.

Real bodies don't seem to.

IF you get to see them, through the nice clean images we see.

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http://media.putfile.com/end_of_smurfs
This link may enable us to view the commercial. Let's see.

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I bet the Smurfs could have kicked the mini humans from Indonesia's asses.

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This is just weird. Let's face it, we see the real thing everytime we turn on the news. Of course, maybe they are just trying to appeal to the intellectual level of George Bush.

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Edgar, don't mean to be a bitch ,,, but what I got out of your commercial is that, in 50 years, paris hilton will look like the female (generic) european at the end of the cartoon. Right on. What I still want to know is ... what/where is burundi?

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As one of the Africa's most densely populated nations, Burundi is landlocked, and situated a few miles south of the equator. The capital city is Bujumbura, the currency is the Burundi Franc and the official languages are French and Kirundi. The population approaches 6 million.

The climate is moderate and very humid. The terrain is dotted with numerous hills and valleys.

Tribal warfare has ravaged the country for decades, leaving the fertile land mostly underdeveloped. Economic strengths include coffee and nickel exports

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Oh - so it's in africa? <winks>

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arji--

Welcome to A2K.

Quote:

Oh - so it's in africa? <winks>

I don't understand your "winks".

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it's a sort of artificial conversation gesture. <smiles> means I'm pretending I'm with people.

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Ever seen a real person suffering from unemployment? Just ,,, by the way?

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I don't understand why you want to wink about Africa or why you assume that unemployed people are a rare and endangered species, but the world is a complex place filled with complex people and much of life will always be a mystery to me.

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not my style, but hey, if smurfs adult cartoon bring the message home more then life footage, then i am all for smurfs cartoon. i guess it just highlights the absurdity of war. whatever works, says i.

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I know and sympathize with UNICEF's aims, but why not just show actual footage from a war? That way they wouldn't have to squash a child's fantasy. I've watched the Smurf thing several times, and even as an anti war activist I find it unsettling.

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I think the Smurf's commercial is more effective than war footage would be. War footage deals with strangers, but Smurfs have been invited, welcomed guests in houses all over the world.

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edgarblythe wrote:

I know and sympathize with UNICEF's aims, but why not just show actual footage from a war? That way they wouldn't have to squash a child's fantasy. I've watched the Smurf thing several times, and even as an anti war activist I find it unsettling.

I would suggest that:

a. They would be hunted down and crucified (especially by the right) if they dared to show real children...(look at the people who still moan and gibber that the footage allowed of actual war and its results in Vietnam ought never to have been shown, it put the stupid masses off the glorious and necessary war; America, at least, has never allowed such reality to be shown of its wars again) too unsettling and it would be considered ghoulish and probably just turn people off.

b. I actually think we are inured to pictures of human suffering, unless it is gut churning (for which see a.).

Interesting it is focused on Burundi.

Child soldiers are in many places in Africa.

Perhaps one, contained, place to start?

Or perhaps it is worst in Burundi?

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I don't know why that particular nation for sure. It was my impression they have gotten child soldiers out of harms way there and are looking to settle them.

Reporters reporting acual news, as they did in the Viet Nam War days, are what we need now. Instead, what we mostly have are brow beaten pseudo news organizations cheering on the Bush regime.

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The smurf thing is an intersting choice for a UN agency.

I understand their soldiers got called "smurfs" in the Balkans! heehee.

I really do think that cartoon characters are likely to b emor earresting than real people...I truly think we have learned to shut off when we see pictures of the reality of suffering, in wars, and in the general toll of poverty etc.

What is the betting that the outcry against daring to use cartoon characters this way will drown out any outcry about the horrors in Burundi?

Do you think that might be part of the tactic, to be able to raise this very discussion?

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Smurfs- -Bombed and Destroyed by UNICEF

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