A Different Shade of Blue

I am six years old. My baby sister wakes me up. She is frenetic, eager to get me out of bed and run downstairs. It’s TV time. 

My dad, an engineer from the Philippines, works the night shift at a factory. My mother takes the 5am bus from our north-western suburbs home everyday. They are hard workers - admirable, yet busy. When they are home, they are exhausted and struggle to keep up with the abundance of energy that is my sister and me. Fortunately, we have the television to keep us company. In a way, it is my babysitter. 

This was my childhood. My eyes were glued to the living room TV where my sister and I would dance to the latest Hi-5 song. I remember being aware early on that there wasn’t a family like mine on TV - sisters were hard to come by. Growing up a proud ‘Tom-boy’, unaware of what the world would impose upon me in the future, I was left longing to see my sister and myself in anything. Even the Bananas in Pyjamas would do. 

Now, I am an adult. Somewhat. Mothers refer to me as the “nice lady” to their kids in the street. It’s overwhelming. However, a perk of growing up is I get to pay it forward by babysitting my baby cousin, in awe of what she gets to see on TV - particularly Bluey. 

Bluey. I can’t get enough of her. The world can’t either. 

If you haven’t had the amazing excuse of babysitting to consumer children’s television recently, Bluey is an Australian animated series about a blue heeler called Bluey and her little sister, Bingo. 

Bluey has become a familiar face in Australian households, becoming ABC iView’s most watched program. Her global popularity has led this series to be picked up by Disney and win an International Emmy in 2019. 

What boggles me is that many viewers are surprised to discover that Bluey is actually a girl. We are progressive until we see a dog who is the same colour as her dad and assume, she is a boy whilst her sister, Bingo is the same brown colour as their mother. 

Growing up I played with Barbies. I also raced Hot Wheels. It didn’t matter. But even I fell for this outdated association of colour. 

Thankfully, Bluey challenges the outdated stereotype of ‘boy colours’ leaving viewers boggled. Bluey might just be the same colour as her dad because she’s inherited more traits from her father just like some daughters do in real life. In fact, I have my dad’s nose for one. Thanks for that Dad. 

The show presents the sisters in a way that doesn’t reinforce gendered notions of ‘girlhood’. Rather the show focuses on imagination and the way that this allows children to play unrestricted. Bingo and Bluey are allowed to just be kids and aren’t expected to be cute or sweet. Their parents are shown as being very patient with them, as well as being fun and imaginative. The father character has also been praised as a triumph for dismantling the ‘bumbling dad’ stereotype. 

Bluey is blue. But Bluey is also a girl. it shouldn’t be a surprise, nor should it be a big deal. 

But it is. Bluey should be celebrated as a role model for Aussie kids.