28 Smurfs Later
I found 28 Days Later to be an utter thrill ride of a horror movie. It contained a simple, riveting plot involving an apocalyptic plague against which few could escape. Transmission was simple: by saliva or blood, most easily by the act of biting. Infection and manifestation of the Rage virus was swift and acute. The infected felt woozy, then pain in the extremities, then violent agitation, often vomiting blood.
Only after watching its sophomore slump of a sequel did I realize that the idea of 28 Days Later
was not all that innovative. It is not that it is reminiscent of zombie
movies, nor that it is in the tried and true, well worn genre of
apocalypticism. Rather, the movies hearken back to the 1980s Saturday
morning cartoon classic series, The Smurfs. Specifically, the episode
entitled "The Purple Smurfs".
The story opens up with the smurfs working on a large bridge, which eventually collapses due to typical smurf incompetence. Sent out into the forest by an irate Papa Smurf to cut logs, Lazy Smurf happens upon a large, cantankerous purple fly, which bites him on the tail. Feeling slightly woozy, Lazy Smurf turns from smurfy blue to an angry purple and violently shouts "GNAP! GNAP!" No longer able to walk, he now hops, his teeth in a permanent clench.
Brainy Smurf comes upon him and is scared shitless, barely
escaping the rage of Lazy. He tells the rest of the Smurfs about Lazy's
condition. Papa Smurf, encyclopedia of all things smurf, instantly
blames the Purple Fly, but can't remember the cure. The smurfs catch
Lazy, tie him up and toss him into an empty room.
Lazy, like those who have been infected with the Rage virus, acquires super-smurfy strength and breaks his bonds. He then bites Hefty Smurf on the tail and infects him. Eventually, almost all of the smurfs are infected and, enraged, hop like maddened rabbits at the smurfy survivors. In the end, Papa Smurf is the remaining uninfected smurf and, for a short while, he too becomes a purple smurf. The entire race of smurfs is infected with the purple Rage virus. HUZZAH!
Unfortunately, because of the serendipitous fire that causes a biological weapon to explode, all the smurfs are saved when they get gassed.
I could write a more witty and Lacanian analysis of this that involves lots of id-driven tail-biting anal sex, but I have to get back to work.
Here's the Smurf episode for those interested. It's about 10 minutes long and relatively smurfy.
