The article, written by University of Southern Queensland lecturers David Burton and Kate Cantrell, suggests there is “a darker side” to Bandit’s character where they give examples of him “bullying” his children.
While the academics do praise Bandit as an entertaining and engaged father who is heavily involved in his children’s lives, they note how his playful teasing of his family across the series can get mean.
In one episode Bandit offers to open Bingo’s ice block, before upsetting her by repeatedly licking it in front of her.
In another, he physically holds Bluey back from the finish line so he can win in an obstacle course and taunts his younger brother, Stripe, in another saying: “big brothers always beat little brothers” – a gibe Bluey imitates when she teases Bingo the same way.
The article also calls Bandit “conservative when it comes to gender values” using the example of him reluctantly wearing make-up for his daughters until he is mocked by his mates and often censoring himself from “full imaginative play” when under the gaze of other males.
He also teased his wife Chilli’s pain during childbirth and refers to her as the “boring” parent when she calls him out for things like forgetting to put sunscreen on the girls and prioritising work over spending time with the family.
Education consultant Dr Mark Lopez called the article an example of post-modernism being “destructive” and an “unquenchable desire to politicise everything”.
“They are pretending they’re trying to understand and enlighten, but actually it’s all about bringing things down,” Lopez told Today.
“It’s destructive, it’s motivated by a hatred of Western civilisation and culture and it just spreads misery and discontent, and this is a perfect example.”
The controversial article was shared by ABC, the network Bluey airs on, and has since copped a lot of backlash.
Karl suggested an easy solution: “I have a very simple solution – I’m happy for the production of Bluey to just move away from the ABC, we will do a deal with Channel Nine and we will run Bluey on this show every morning at 8.00 for the next 10 years,” he said.
“It is just easy, if they don’t like their own product, then we will have it. You know we are generous here at the Nine Network.
Image: Today
This article first appeared on OverSixty.