By: Tarah M.
The three season Australian show Bluey, available on Disney+, is the perfect show for kids, adults, and everything in between. While entertaining children, it lets adults, teens, and parents relate heavily to the situations presented in the show. While subtly drawing attention to topics that parents can relate to, it keeps children focused on the fun of the episodes.
Bluey is centered around a family of red and blue heelers living in Australia. The Heeler family includes energetic six-year-old blue heeler Bluey, adorable four-year-old red heeler Bingo, and their parents Bandit and Chilli. Throughout the show, we are introduced to many of the children's friends, as well as the parents' friends and family. While the show is lighthearted and funny, it also deals with some serious topics.
This show is, as you would guess, perfect for children. It is filled with the perfect amount of comedy, lessons, and entertainment. In the episode “Seesaw” we meet one of Bluey’s friends, PomPom. PomPom is a small pomeranian breed, causing her to not be able to play like the rest of the kids. Later in the episode, Bluey’s dad sits at the bottom of the seesaw she is playing on. In order to get him up they have to all work together to outweigh him, but all of Bluey’s friends aren’t enough. However, they realize PomPom is still there and they call her over to finally outweigh Bandit. After all the work, PomPom says “Pomeranians are a small but hardy breed.” and demonstrates that even if some children are different they are still special in their own way.
While the episodes are fun for children to watch, they also have some underlying meanings. One episode that demonstrates this is “Army”. In this episode we follow seven year old Jack Russell Terrier, Jack, who has ADHD. In the car on the way to school, Jack can’t sit still and forgets all of his things. When he gets to school, he tells his teacher how he can’t remember things very well, he gets distracted easily, and he isn’t very good at following directions. He meets a red kelpie named Rusty, they play army. When Jack is playing army, he becomes very passionate about it and can remember things, do what he’s told, and stay focused on the task at hand. When he found something he really liked, he found that he could overcome his ADHD.
The show can also appeal to teens. An episode that hints at marital problems is “The Decider”. In this episode, Bluey’s neighbor Lucky has to decide whether he is going to stay at his moms house for the game or his dad’s house. At first it’s just for a soccer game, but the sadness is seen mostly by teens and adults. Lucky decides that he is going to stay on his dad’s side and runs to give his mom a hug goodbye. When he reaches her she hugs him and says, “Good luck, but not too much.” You can hear the sadness in her voice as her son runs to his dad. After the parents exchange sad looks, they part ways. It may not be obvious, but there is a hidden thought that it was about Lucky choosing to live with his dad after their divorce, rather than his mom. A lot of teens have divorced parents, so they can understand the effect of this episode.
Bluey is a show that often strikes parents as surprising for its content, and how they can relate to it. An example that touches a rough subject is “The Show”. On mothers day, Bluey and Bingo decide to do a Mothers Day Show for Chilli. In this episode, they go through Chilli’s life as her. When the kids are demonstrating Chilli being pregnant with Bluey, they put a blue balloon in Bingo’s shirt, which later pops. Bandit’s hand immediately goes to Chilli’s, as she has a scared and sad look on her face. Many people discussed and agreed that this points to a previous miscarriage that Chilli had. This episode let parents know they weren’t alone in their struggles.
In the episode “Squash”, Bandit and his brother play against each other in a tennis match. While the brothers play, Bluey and Bingo pretend to control them. But as they play, Bingo and her dad are losing every match. When Bingo is talking to Bluey, she says, “I just want us to win once.” As Bandit overhears this, he tears up and feels like he has failed to do the one thing his daughter wanted. So, in the final match he gives it his all. Him and Bingo get the win, and everybody is happy. So, even though he felt like he had failed, he knew that he could do it and win for his daughter.
There are plenty of kids shows that are funny and relatable, so why Bluey? Most children's shows only have child humor, while Bluey gets parents and teens to laugh along with it. It also lets us see that we aren’t alone, and teaches kids a lot of lessons that will be extremely helpful in the future. So while there are a lot of shows that you could choose to watch, Bluey is the best for kids, parents, and everything in between.