Beloved animated children’s show Bluey has just dropped an episode revealing that one of the minor recurring characters has two moms. We never see the moms, however, and the rest of the episode actually dwells on a different-sex wedding. Here’s my look at the episode and how the show handles things.
The Episode
The series, about a young, anthropomorphic Australian blue heeler and her family (Disney+; ABC Kids (Australia)), makes the introduction in a special 28-minute episode—far longer than the usual eight- to nine-minute ones—but it’s not the LGBTQ mention that makes the episode special. Instead, as the show’s official website notes, the episode focuses on “the wedding of the year” between Bluey’s Uncle Rad and her godmother Frisky. The episode also deals with the news that Bluey’s family will have to sell their house and move to a new city, where her dad has a new job. Bluey isn’t happy about this, not wanting to leave her home and friends.
The revelation of the character with two moms comes as Bluey sits at school, sad about the upcoming move, and wonders why stories always have happy endings. The teacher opines that it’s because “life will give us enough sad ones.” Classmate Pretzel then offers the example of when his guinea pig ran away. “My mums told me he might come back. But he didn’t.” The class gives a sympathetic “Awww.”
That’s the extent of the reference. I love that no big deal was made of it, and clearly the class isn’t surprised by the fact that Pretzel has two mums. This is the kind of incidental queer inclusion that I’ve long encouraged (and track in my Database of LGBTQ Family Books).
Most of the rest of the episode revolves around what the website calls “arguably the greatest cartoon dog wedding of all time”—and it’s a very straight affair (since there have been no indications that Frisky or Rad is queer). We see the wedding preparations in Bluey’s backyard, then a threat to the engagement when Frisky gets mad at Rad for making a major decision that affects her without consulting her (which feels like a self-centered, sexist move). Frisky then takes off, and Bluey’s mom goes after her, taking along Bluey and the other flower girls (all wearing their floral headpieces). Ultimately (slight spoiler) Frisky and Rad make up, the wedding is back on, and we see the ceremony and reception.
The episode also deals thoughtfully with Bluey’s feelings around her family’s pending move, with a lovely throughline about luck, though I’ll say no more about that for fear of spoilers. The LGBTQ reference takes up about one second of the entire thing, a rainbow flicker in a sea of straight wedding hullabaloo. (Indeed, some coverage of the episode, like that at The Conversation, has focused entirely on the wedding and not mentioned Pretzel and his mums at all.) Disney didn’t even make a still of Pretzel available to the press.
Despite that, at least one anti-LGBTQ journalist is already casting aspersions at the show. I won’t link to that here, but you can see the coverage at PinkNews if you’re really interested. They’re basically saying that it’s wrong to even acknowledge that some kids have LGBTQ parents.
The show should instead be commended for taking this step. Nevertheless, the producers seem to be playing it safe, tossing out an in-passing mention that LGBTQ people exist but never showing them, and doing so in an episode that centers a straight wedding, a hefty counterbalance to the speck of queerness. Additionally, Pretzel is only an occasional character, having appeared in just 13 of the series’ more than 150 episodes, according to the Bluey Wiki. Whether he will appear again soon is an open question, as is whether we will ever see his moms.
On the other hand, this episode was a larger-than-usual, season-ending extravaganza with screenings around the world. To include a mention of a kid with two moms in such an episode feels like a significant statement of LGBTQ inclusion in the Blueyverse—as long as it’s not the only one ever.
The Larger Landscape
Although there have been rumors that the extra-long episode heralded the end of the series, Bluey producer Sam Moor has told BBC Radio 4 that the show will be returning. That’s good, because I wouldn’t like Bluey to fall back into the pattern of many older kids’ shows, which introduced LGBTQ representation right before cancellation.
Bluey now joins a growing number of shows for younger (preschool) children that have included representation of LGBTQ people and families. A partial list includes Peppa Pig (Netflix), Rubble & Crew, (Nickelodeon), Cocomelon Lane (Netflix), Ada Twist, Scientist (Netflix); Princess Power (Netflix), Ridley Jones (Netflix), We Baby Bears (Cartoon Network), Firebuds (Disney Junior), Dino Ranch (Disney Junior), Eureka! (Disney Junior), Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City (Netflix), Pinecone & Pony (Apple TV+), Chip and Potato (Netflix), Pete the Cat (Amazon), Bug Diaries (Amazon), the reboot of Clifford the Big Red Dog (Amazon and PBS Kids), Rugrats (Paramount), T.O.T.S. (Disney Junior), Doc McStuffins (Disney Channel), Arthur (PBS), The Bravest Knight (Hulu), Muppet Babies (Disney Junior), Madagascar: A Little Wild (Hulu/Peacock), the venerable Sesame Street, and Postcards from Buster (PBS, way back in 2005). (See my posts tagged “Children’s Television” for more, and thanks to GLAAD for all it does to track these shows.) But many of the shows only gave us one-off episodes with LGBTQ characters (or those with LGBTQ parents), not ongoing inclusion, and only The Bravest Knight has starred an LGBTQ-parented family. (Shows for slightly older children have happily become somewhat better in this regard.) Children’s television as a whole still has a long way to go towards LGBTQ representation that feels truly representational.
I wrote last year about some ideas for the LGBTQ representation and storylines I’d like to see in kids’ shows (and suggested some books that would make great starting points for new shows). I still stand by that. I hope that the moment of representation in Bluey is only a start for the series, and it goes on to depict Pretzel and his two moms in many future episodes, along with other LGBTQ characters. And while I hope these episodes include a wide variety of plotlines, not all of which should be “about” LGBTQ identities, I will note that the show is set in Brisbane, which has a long-running Pride Festival. Would a Pride-themed episode, with Bluey joining Pretzel and his moms at the city’s Pride Fair Day, be too much to ask?