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I turned to Kathryn VanArendonk today tohelp me understand why nearly everyone is talking aboutBlueysuddenly.
Im so confused aboutBluey.
Can you explain for our non-parent readers whats going on here?
Heres everything I understand: Theres a … show about an Australian dog.
And every child is basically forced to watch it.
And its kind of good?
Not most-streamed childrens show.
Most viewed minutes ofanyshow.
If I were teaching narrative-theory classes right now, Id be teachingBluey.
And then yes: SOMETHING WEIRD HAPPENED.
Is the weird thing weird for parents or weird for children?
Are kids everywhere sobbing?Its weird for both!
Its arguably more weird for parents, I think.
The standardBlueyepisode is seven minutes long.
The Sign, which came out this weekend, isBlueys first special-length episode.
Its 28 minutes, and its a culmination of all ofBlueythat has come before.
Do not watch this first.
Starting with The Sign is like starting with Made in America.
Change has to happen in some form or another for everyone.
So a real live by the screen, die by the screen moment for parents here.
And theres been no messaging about what this episode means for the show?
They just did a thing.The meta context!Which is, whats happening toBluey?
Its voiced by children, who are aging and whose voices are starting to sound older.
Maybe its time to end it?
Or make it into a different kind of show with new, younger protagonists?
Because endings are hard and everyone will want to remember this family in their home forever!
But if instead it just … goes back to normal.
Disney is saying nothing about this except that there will be moreBluey.
An interesting comms decision.They could mean, Wed like to make aBlueymovie as the real ending!
Which the creative team has also hinted theyd like to try.
They could meanBlueywill come back but now Socks and Muffin will be the main characters!
(Theyre Bluey and Bingos cousins.)
The episode feels very final and complete if you dont have all the backstory context.
But definitely kids who have moved or have feelings about moving have noticed that ending.
We had to have a whole conversation aboutRemember that we moved and it was totally fine?
We have more space in our house now?
You have swings?And she was like, but they were so SAD.
And I said, YES, but then they wouldve learned all the good things about their new house!
She was not convinced.
Even though she knows!!Yes!
Well, this has been equally informative and distressing.Excellent.
In exchange, I ask that you watch a single standard-length episode ofBluey,possibly the one called Camping.
