What’s your favourite cartoon?
Cartoons have changed a lot since I was a kid. Back then, my favourites lived in a prehistoric suburb called Bedrock. The Flintstones felt clever to me in ways I couldn’t have named at the time — the stone-age gadgets, the dinosaur appliances, the playful send-ups of adult life.
But cartoons today are a different world. The pace is slower. The humour is gentler. The emotional landscape is richer. I must admit that I like Bluey. There’s a quiet brilliance in its simplicity. It is less about outsmarting the neighbour and more about navigating the complexity of growing up — and sometimes the complexity of parenting.
At the start of the year, we were in Santiago, Chile, and I wandered past a children’s activity station with a giant Bluey cut-out. I was surprised by the reach of this little Australian program, so far from home. There’s something striking about seeing a character that feels so local, so rooted in backyard play and everyday family life, appearing in a city on the other side of the world.
And perhaps that’s the contrast. The Flintstones took the modern world and dressed it in leopard print. It nudged adults with a wink, asking children to laugh along. Bluey takes the everyday world of childhood and holds it up carefully, thoughtfully, in a way that both children and adults recognise as true.
What draws me most now isn’t the cleverness but the character. Bluey is carried by gentleness, humour, and a surprising emotional intelligence. It offers kids (and adults) a vision of family life that is playful and attentive, where feelings matter, and where imagination becomes a bridge between people. In a world that can often feel hurried and hard-edged, it’s refreshing to see a cartoon remind us that kindness and connection still have a global reach — even all the way to Santiago.
The Afterword 
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