A Hug for Grouchy (The Smurfs, 1981)

A Hug for Grouchy (The Smurfs, 1981)

"A Hug for Grouchy" is an episode of The Smurfs.

Summary

Chlorhydris indirectly removes emotions from the Smurfs and the only way to overcome this by sunset is for Grouchy to hug a fairy.

To start off, Grouchy is tortured throughout the episode, to the point where we sympathize with him instead of the other Smurfs themselves.
Papa Smurf is fairly out of character, where he encourages Grouchy to hug his fellow Smurfs instead of having respect for his personal space.
Grouchy is being forced against the idea of not sharing his feelings by hugging a fairy. Why couldn't the other Smurfs do it instead?
- Granted, the spell can only be broken by a confirmed grouch, but still.
Hefty and Painter break into Grouchy's house to take him outside for an announcement, going against the idea of knocking first before entering.
Poet makes a poem about Grouchy not wanting to have a hug. Also, the other Smurfs want to tackle poor Grouchy. Why can't they just drop it and accept the fact that some Smurfs just don't want to be touched?
- Overall, this episode questions if the Smurfs do care about Grouchy or only care about what he should learn about.
This episode also teaches people to share their feelings with other people... by violating others' feeling when it comes to being touched.
Bad Ending: Even after Grouchy saved his fellow Smurfs, they still violate his personal space by hugging him and Papa Smurf is happy to see them do it. Neither the other Smurfs nor Papa get comeuppance for their actions.
This episode was considered acceptable in the 1980s, but now outdated by today's standards.

As mentioned above, this episode was considered acceptable in the 1980s to convince kids to hug one another. Nowadays, this episode has outdated references and its moral became misleading.

Loading comments...