20. Daddy Pig — that’s you. Occasionally you’ll be upgraded to Wise Old Elf but most of the time you’ll be Daddy Pig

Until you meet Bandit Heeler

Have you seen Peppa Pig?

Peppa Pig (Photo courtesy of Peppa Pig)

Two years ago, when I wrote this list, I was going to write affectionately about how every dad eventually turns into Daddy Pig — the paunchy hubris that sometimes backfires. And, don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy Peppa, and Daddy Pig is one of my favourite characters.

But then I watched Bluey.

Peppa Pig falls into the old trope of casting Daddy as a buffoon, especially against essentially sensible Mummy Pig, and Grandpa Pig is ever fallible against delightful, warm and wise Grandma Pig.

I’m also the first to admit that daddies can be a bit Daddy Pig from time to time.

But, underlying the whole daddy-as-a-buffoon thing is old-fashioned sexism. If we’re going to try to even up the childrearing burden in families by getting dads to shoulder more of their responsibilities, then popular culture has to stop portraying us as affable buffoons and start portraying us as capable. After all, “You can’t be what you can’t see.”

I have the great privilege of knowing some great dads who take their child rearing responsibilities pretty seriously and none of them is a buffoon. (On the flipside, those that don’t, frequently are.)

And Wise Old Elf, from Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom — voiced by many of the same voice actors as Peppa — is also a loveable buffoon. So let’s move on.

Bluey is an Australian Blue Heeler dog who lives in Brisbane with her sister Bingo (a red heeler), mum Chilli (another red heeler) and her dad, Bandit, a blue heeler. In their dog based world, different families are different dog breeds. They live as normal a Brisbane lifestyle as can translate into a dog based narrative. (Locations like New Farm Park are instantly recognisable in the animation.)

In Bluey’s family, her dad, Bandit, is an archaeologist who works from home and many episodes feature mum heading out to her part-time job in airport security, or returning at the end of the day. Sometimes we even see her at work.

Bluey and Bingo (Photo courtesy of ABC TV)

We love the show in our house, and every other parent I know who has seen it loves it too.

Especially the fathers.

Because, although we all have our Daddy Pig moments, we look at Bluey’s dad, Bandit Heeler, and see our lives — not just moments, but our lives. The episode Takeaway is a great example — in the few minutes that Bluey, Bingo and their dad are waiting for their takeaway food, Bandit has to stop the girls from playing under the tap, take Bingo for a wee behind a bush (“Are you finished yet?”… “No, it’s a long one!”), protect their food from marauding birds, negotiate with the takeaway store which is having issues with their order and explain to Chilli, on the phone, why they are taking so long.

And he does what dads never do on children’s TV, and we always do in real life — he gets exasperated and annoyed. It starts with the girls wanting to play under the tap, “No. No wet dogs in the car!”, and deteriorates from there. He displays impatience and frustration, and through the story arc also shows great love and a sense of fun. He’s is us.

So we may sometimes be Daddy Pig. But we’re always Bandit Heeler.

Update, 12 September 2019: I meant to mention that Bluey has been picked up for distribution by the BBC and Disney Junior and will be rebroadcast with the original Australian accents — not re dubbed with British or American actors — so you’ll be able to watch it in non-Australian markets with all its Australian charm intact. Who knows, it could be our next Home and Away!

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Copyright © Damian Clarke, 2019.