The Magic Flute the Masonic influence is exaggerated. Schikaneder and Mozart were Freemasons, as was Ignaz Alberti, engraver and printer of the first libretto. The opera is also influenced by Enlightenment philosophy and can be regarded as advocating enlightened absolutism. The Queen of the Night is seen by some to represent a dangerous form of obscurantism, by others to represent Roman Catholic Empress Maria Theresa, and still others see the Roman Catholic Church itself, which was strongly anti-Masonic. Some modern audiences detect strains of misogyny and casual racism in "The Magic Flute". The names of the performers at the premiere are taken from
The Smurfs and the Magic Flute and Peewit give the flutes back to the Smurfs, and after they leave, Peewit starts playing the flute, only to realize (to his horror) that it has no effect on the townsfolk; it is the fake flute he had made! The film is based on "La Flûte à six trous" ("The Flute with Six Holes"), which appeared in the Belgian weekly comic "Spirou" magazine in 1958/59. Subsequent book publications renamed it as "La Flûte à six Schtroumpfs" ("The Flute with Six Smurfs"), which was also the French title of the film. In 2008, a prequel "Les Schtroumpfeurs de flûte" ("The