Bluey, popular Australian preschool show, under fire for lack of diversity

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Who could possible think that Bluey, a animated show about dogs aimed at preschool children, would be problematic because of its lack of diversity? Australian ‘pop culture parent’ and ABD journalist/podcast host Beverly Wang, that’s who.

Bluey, that show that now lacks diversity,  is an Australian animated television series for preschool children that premiered on ABC Kids on 1 October 2018. The program was created by Joe Brumm with Queensland production group Ludo Studio. But after the series made was released  internationally on Disney+ it started getting strange criticism,.

The show about Bluey, an anthropomorphic six-year-old Blue Heeler puppy who is characterised by her abundance of energy, imagination and curiosity of the world is now being slammed and called problematic by Trans Rights Activists.

Beverly Wang, a contributing author and podcast host at ABD Australia believes that the Australian children’s show Bluey needs more ‘disabled, queer, poor, gender diverse, dogs of colour and single-parent dog families’.

Dogs of colour?

Yep, an adult woman journalist who calls herself a “pop culture parent” just said that Bluey needs a lot more diversity in the form of queer, poor, gender diverse and “dogs of colour”.

“I understand that for the most part Bluey’s creators don’t view their show through a political lens,” Wang wrote in her opinion piece.”

She continued: “I’m aware this may come across as asking too much of a show that’s already so tender, nuanced and joyful. But it’s exactly because Bluey has demonstrated depth and range that I can’t help asking anyway. My question is this: Can Bluey be more representative?”

“We live in a world where the majority of main characters on children’s television are white; where there are more animals than people of colour protagonists populating the pages of children’s books. Where are the disabled, queer, poor, gender diverse, dogs of colour and single-parent dog families in Bluey’s Brisbane? If they’re in the background, let them come forward,” Beverly Wang asked.

Need more doggy diversity!

Her opinion piece later inspired LGBTQ pop-culture blog Pink News to cover the article and from the it ultimately became viral as many people shared their concerns about this animated show for preschool children.

While some appear to be siding with the author of the Bluey opinion piece, majority of people can’t help but believe that this take is completely idiotic.

While Beverly’s take on Bluey may be ridiculous, the fact that an adult woman is so drawn to an animated show for preschool children may not be as weird at is seems. A lot of parents admittedly love watching the show with their children.

“When I put it [Bluey] on for my son, I watch along excitedly. I think I may like the show a little more than he does. It is a bit of a secret shame of mine,” a South Brisbane mother admitted.

According to Steve Dow, the show’s creator added some real human and adult themes to his show: “When we met Joe, he said Bluey is about game play because game play is the first notion of a child’s experience of collaboration, co-operation, responsibility, plus jealousy, plus all the human stuff.”

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