I Get Why Adults Like the Kids Show ‘Bluey’ Now
Image; KONTRA.PKC
The first time I knew I would love the children’s animated cartoon Bluey (2018-present) was watching the season one episode, Hospital. The two anthropomorphic dogs, Bingo and the titular Bluey, were play-acting as a doctor and nurse with their father, who was pretending to be a patient needing care. What followed was a heartwrenching episode of Bluey pretending to be an insensitive doctor who does not care about the emotional needs of her patient and Bingo playing a nurse who was fighting for said patient's care.
It is an episode that works on many levels. For children, it’s a lesson in empathy that teaches them that they are not meant to be callous to other people’s wants and needs.
For adults, and really anyone who has had to navigate the painful realities of the modern medical system, it mirrors the cold indifference patients receive when interacting with many medical professionals. Throughout the episode, Bluey says the line “I’m very busy,” undoubtedly mimicking what he has heard a “real” doctor say.
Right then and there, age difference or not, I knew Bluey was a good show—one that appealed to adults while simultaneously not dismissing the children in its audience.
Parents love it
It’s not rare for adults to like shows meant for younger audiences—Adventure Time (2010–2018), Steven Universe (2013–2019), She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018–2020), Owl House (2020–2023), Centaur World (2021), and more all had sizeable adult audiences during their run times.
Yet, these shows usually target a tween or teenager demographic that can cover more adult themes and/or have unique worlds set apart from our reality.
Adventure Time was set in a fantastical world that satirized traditional fantasy and science fiction tropes—something such fans loved—and also dealt with heavy existential themes as the series progressed.
Steven Universe and Owl House not only include interpersonal conflicts that younger viewers can relate to but have characters fighting against authoritarian or fascist leaders (themes that might resonate with adult audiences).
Bluey is a show for preschoolers about preschoolers. Bluey and Bingo are not chosen heroes from a far-off land endowed with magical or supernatural gifts. The show is the opposite of a power fantasy. They are normal people — at least as normal as anthropomorphic dogs can be, anyway.
And so, why do adults love it so much?
There are many reasons. The most talked about is that it validates the experiences of parents. Caretakers Bandit (David McCormack) and Chilli (Melanie Zanetti) are people (or dogs) who are routinely overcome by the emotional realities of being parents to Bluey and Bingo, and that’s something that many parents can undoubtedly relate to. As Bluey creator Joe Brumm told The Wrap earlier this year:
“Kids love it because it’s silly and it reminds them of themselves — whereas I think it makes parents get emotional because having kids is emotional and it’s just a mirror to you. You’re not crying because of Bandit’s love for his kid, you’re crying because of how much you love your kid and he just reminds you of that.”
As that article documents, many parents were emotionally moved by the episode Sleepytime, where Bingo is trying to have a “big girl sleep” and not go into her parent’s bed. We, as viewers, watch her traverse through a dreamscape of the solar system, subconsciously processing her feelings of growing up, ending with the voice of her mother, Chilli, remarking that no matter how far they grow apart, she will always love her.
It’s a statement that brought many parents to tears.
Yet it also brought me to tears, and I am not a parent. What is the appeal for me and the many other childless adults I have talked to and read about who love this show?
Childless adults love it, too
I think it has to do with the fact that the show is teaching not only its children viewers to approach the world with compassion, creativity, and empathy but also its adult viewers.
Take the episode Daddy Dropoff, where Bandit rushes to get his children to school. His morning is overcome with setbacks, but he never stops playing with his children. Bandit and his wife Chilli value fostering a sense of creativity and imagination among their children above all else, and in this episode, the viewer realizes that play is not just for his kids but for him, too. When Bluey asks why her father played a game with Bingo, even though it made them all late, Bandit responds: “That it wouldn’t be as fun.”
It’s so rare to see a show acknowledge that adults are also people who need connection and play — a point made several times throughout the series (see also Stumpfest). Bandit and Chilli are not just adults moralizing to their children about blindly following their rules.
They treat their children as people who they want to understand them.
As such, that same empathy is lent to the adults in the series, too. The show recognizes that adults are not alien entities from their children but also people who need to practice empathy and compassion. From Nana Heeler (Chris Brumm) learning to be more confident (see episode Granny Mobile) to Chilli learning to relax (see episode Relax), there are entire episodes where the main lesson being learned is for the adults.
In the episode Squash, Bluey and Bingo pretend to control their father, Bandit, and his brother, Uncle Stripe Heeler (Dan Brumm), during a squash match. Bandit has an unhealthy relationship with his brother when it comes to play. Whenever he wins, he brags that “Big brothers always beat little brothers,” and that mentality starts to rub off on Bluey when she interacts with her younger sister, saying, “Big sisters always beat little sisters.”
Bandit realizes that he is wrong after his brother wins a match—thanks to motivation from Bingo—forcing him to admit that little brothers can beat bigger brothers.
If there is an unusual element of escapism to Bluey, it is that, unlike our world, the show is set on an Earth where all our characters are emotionally intelligent and solve their problems through kindness and communication. Bluey has earned a lot of adult fans from all sorts of communities, ranging from queer fans to neurodiverse ones, for how it makes these communities feel safe. As someone posted on the Autism subreddit: “I recommend all people on the spectrum [watch] Bluey.”
A Blue conclusion
On a meta-level, the show’s thesis is that we need to interact with one another empathetically. There is a scene in the episode Promises where Bluey wonders why she has to keep her promises, and her mother, Chilli, makes it clear that trust is what binds our society together. “The whole point of promises is to build trust. If there’s no trust, none of this,” she says, gesturing to all of society, “is possible…No libraries, no roads, no power lines.”
The idea that we all have to look after one another is a simple message, but one that is frankly not said enough in a world of Chosen One narratives and atomization. It resonates with many adults who look at the chaos of our society and wish our problem solvers looked a little more like Chilli and Bandit.