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How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

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Re: How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

#451

Post by dustincoates »

earthboundkid wrote: post #323
wizerdrobe wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s virtually every sitcom and children’s cartoon, the father is a bumbling idiot. Talk about “toxic masculinity” … On the other had, I wonder if that is why I gravitated towards King of the Hill in my early years. Generally a positive male role model, competent, trying to do the right thing by his family and community.

KotH is almost unique in that the dad isn't the dumbest character. It's hard to name many other shows like this. Bob's Burgers, I guess, but that's about it.

The Middle is another good one.

Re: How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

#452

Post by dang »

geraldwhen wrote: post #442
dragonwriter wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the argument is no longer that presenting an intact heterosexual nuclear family is worthy of positive note, but that instead presenting exclusively intact monoracial nuclear families is worthy of positive note? With the former, I would agree, except that its so common that while it may be positive its hardly noteworthy; with the latter... just no.

[flagged]

Can you please stop posting flamewar comments to HN? You've done it repeatedly, not just in this thread and not just on this topic, and you've repeatedly broken HN's guidelines. (e.g. like you did with the swipe at the end of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38715161 - you went from making substantive points to a cheap putdown which was obvious flamebait.)

I'm sure you have substantive things to say, but when you toss in Molotov cocktails along the way, it becomes flamebait and you're breaking HN's rules—regardless of which position you're fighting for or against. You've been doing that repeatedly, it isn't cool, and it's also not in your interest because it makes your comments less persuasive. People will react to the provocations, lose your substantive points, and in the process the thread turns ugly. By doing this, you damage not only the thread but the community.

If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful. Note these:

"Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive."

"Please don't use Hacker News for political or ideological battle. It tramples curiosity."

Re: How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

#453

Post by lll-o-lll »

munificent wrote: post #345
kraquepype wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The blindside being the unique tone of the episode, compared to what came before it. It still has silliness and is a fun watch. Some things that I think make it hit differently: * The house and most scenes are dimly lit * You see the family in various stages of sleep * The musical score has some intense crescendo * The vulnerability it shows It's a small glimpse of night time in a house with a child that is still tra…

> Having had kids, that weight being lifted as they finally "get it" is a unique feeling of bittersweet relief. Every milestone your kid reaches marks the end of their previous self and we grieve never getting to see that little person again.

This. So much this.

Children open your heart to so much joy and so much grief.

Re: How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

#454

Post by imp0cat »

no-dr-onboard wrote: post #257
ursuscamp wrote: post #213

Bluey blew me away when I saw it with my daughter. It's sweet, positive, emotional, well written. It's not the slightest bit cynical, handles every issue with tact, doesn't contain heavy handed messaging and has traditional values. It also has a very positive two parent dynamic. This is an absolute unicorn of a show. Note: my usage of "traditional values" is not meant to evoke anything political or intended to be int…

Yeah I'll go further. - It doesn't display the dad as a bumbling idiot for a start, an unmistakably uncommon move in home set shows. - It doesn't synthetically force women to the center stage for the sake of scoring points with left leaning audiences. - It doesn't shoehorn in political messages that don't belong and largely harkens back to a time where childrens television didn't require scrutiny of the publisher jus…

You're doing great! ;)

Re: How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

#455

Post by fidelramos »

nagonago wrote: post #416
pylua wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also sets the bar very high for parents.

I recently listened to an interview with Joe Brumm, the creator of Bluey, on the podcast "How Other Dads Dad". He said this is a common criticism, and he thinks a fair one. The problem is his aim was never to be an educational show for parents, but to be an entertaining show. It wouldn't be as entertaining if Bandit didn't play with the kids all the time. So yeah, although it is a great kid's show and a much better e…

You are right, but some kids might compare their parents with Bluey's, and it's of course an unfair comparison, they being fictional characters, but children don't care about that.

Edit: typo.

Re: How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

#456

Post by a_bonobo »

charlangas wrote: post #230
a_bonobo wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Onesies' and 'Babyrace' are also highly emotional episodes. Onesies is, hidden for children, about the inability to conceive children, not being able to deal with your relatives' children; 'Babyrace' is about the doubt all parents have about their parenting ('You're doing great' is aimed directly at the audience)

It took me reading your comment to realize that Bella's "You're doing great" at the end is directed at us parents. Thanks for the unexpected tears :)

I also have the picture book and it's even meaner there. A whole page of the mom looking directly at you! It's hard to read for bed-time :)

Re: How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

#457

Post by 0xbadcafebee »

smusamashah wrote: post #441
0xbadcafebee wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because your kid is never going to see humans fighting in real life? Kids don't fight other kids until they see other people fighting first? Play fighting is normal human behavior. In the show they can see the characters resolve their differences and make up. Not so much with the lady in the checkout line screaming, or the dude fighting the other dude outside wal-mart for the last playstation 7. Bluey is probably the…

My argument against that is that it's too soon for a 2.5yo kid. Play fighting is natural, agreed, but i still believe doing it with the kid yourself or with siblings (no exp with that as of now) is OK, but seeing it on TV I don't expect my kid to understand that its normal play fighting and he can do everything that he is seeing on TV. Glorifying and actually showing bad behaviour in a bad light is already a problem…

> I don't expect my kid to understand that its normal play fighting

In Cartoons, characters do all kinds of things that aren't real. They don't watch fighting and then think "oh hey I should be fighting kids", any more than they think "oh hey I should be dropping an anvil on a coyote". Their brains are more complex than that.

You are projecting your fears on the kid, but fear isn't rational. I recommend finding out for certain how cartoons have an effect on the psyche of a child. Look up some general psychology and child psychology. Confirm whether these biases and assumptions are real or not. Use knowledge and facts, not fear, to dictate your choices.

Re: How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

#458

Post by rkuykendall-com »

konschubert wrote: post #162
dclowd9901 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree a bit with the sibling commenter. This episode falls into about the second season of the show midway through. So putting yourself into that context: you’re watching something like 35 episodes of this show and it’s cute and wholesome and the stories are great, some with some emotional impact, but then you get to this episode and it just absolutely blindsides you. So, I think it will _make sense_ on its own,…

I’ve seen the episode many times, but I don’t get what’s the blindside? Are you referring to how it references the fact that parents will eventually leave their kids when they die? That’s only mentioned indirectly by the mom, no? Is there a deeper story that I am missing?

> Is there a deeper story that I am missing?

This is how I felt about the episode before I had kids. I thought it was a fine episode but nothing special. Onesies was my favorite. Of course, we wanted kids, so that hit me where I was at the time. Now I have a two-year-old, and I "get" Sleepytime. There is nothing extra to explain except that it will just mean more to you.

Not saying you don't have kids, just my own experience with it.

Re: How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

#459

Post by imp0cat »

sspiff wrote: post #444
grepfru_it wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you like peppa pig, give wolfoo a chance. Also the animation for bluey and peppa pig use the same software, CelAction2D. There is an ending of bluey episode which shows the animators using the software to build the scene. My little one was amazed and asked me to get the software. She has an artistic side but this pushed her into learning about animation

If anyone is looking for this, it's at the end of episode 30 from season 3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL8lyivrghY

Re: How Australia’s ‘Bluey’ conquered children’s entertainment

#460

Post by nozzlegear »

tambour wrote: post #446
nozzlegear wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 3. I don’t have to expose my kids to American accents. They’ll have more than enough of that from regular programming when they grow up. What’s the concern here? I understand American media dominates everything, so I’m guessing you don’t want your kids to pick up small bits of American accent when they’re still developing?

I'm not the OP, but as a child growing up in an anglophone country but with a 'low-prestige' accent (think Indian English or Singaporean English), it was ingrained to me pretty early on that the only 'proper' ways to speak were RP or General American, and one of the reasons was because all the kid shows I watched had characters who talked almost exclusively in those accents. 'Exotic' accents were used mostly for come…

That's a really interesting perspective that I hadn't considered, thank you for answering! I have what anyone would call a General American accent, so your experience isn't one I'd ever been personally exposed to growing up. I remember a lot of older sitcoms and cartoons using "exotic" accents for comedic value though, like you said, and it's obvious that can be damaging to anyone's self-esteem.
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