Yahoo Finance 'Missing one thing': Journalist criticises popular Aussie kids' show
An ABC journalist has criticised producers of a popular Australian children's program after growing frustrated over it "missing one thing".
ABC Kids animation Bluey, which won the Most Outstanding Children's Program Logie in 2019, has come under fire from journalist Beverley Wang in an article published to ABC Everyday on Wednesday.
"My question is this: Can Bluey be more representative? (And yes, I'm aware that Bluey's Border Collie pal Mackenzie is from New Zealand)," Wang wrote.
While acknowledging politics was likely not at the forefront of the minds of creators, Wang suggested the diversity of characters could be improved.
"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," she wrote.
"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. (Maynard, voiced by Sean Choolburra, I'm looking at you.)".
Wang proposed that while the program had addressed other matters with "depth and range", it could do the same when it came to diversity.
"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," she wrote.
The piece received a mixed reaction after a link was shared to Twitter, with some agreeing that cartoons were important in representation and others labelling it an "overreaction".
"This seems like a massive overreaction," one person replied.
"What is a 'dog of colour'? Isn't the show called Bluey?" a confuser Twitter user expressed.
Someone else appeared to side with Wang, sharing an article about "queer performativity among our four-legged friends".
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