Joe Brumm. Photo supplied
If you have a child under about 10, chances are you are very, very familiar with Bluey. Even if you don’t have children, you likely know about this very, very Australian global phenomenon. And if you come to the ANMF Australian Nurses and Midwives Conference in May, you’ll have a front-row seat to hearing from Bluey creator Joe Brumm in person.
Asked how his presentation relates to nurses and midwives, Joe explains that his primary focus will be the story of how Bluey came about. And while Joe is often singularly associated with the show, he emphasises that it wouldn’t exist without teamwork.
‘I know nurses and midwives rely on being part of really well-functioning team,’ Joe says, ‘so teamwork is definitely a key part of the talk. But I’m not a leadership talker or anything. I just tell the story of Bluey. Whatever message people take from that is up to them.’
As any fan knows, Bluey’s message is often remarkably mature, and widely translatable across many spheres of life. In between the joy and importance of play and imagination – the face-value focus of Bluey – the show is peppered with little lessons about the importance of caring for others, problem-solving and partnership (aka teamwork). Not to mention life as working parents, gender politics and late-stage capitalism.
All are lessons that can be as equally relevant to children as they are to nurses and midwives, professionally and personally.
There are, of course, episodes that are informed more directly by our professional lives. Episodes such as Hospital, Early Baby, Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolfhound or Dad Baby.
‘Hospital features my observations of the relationship between doctors and nurses during my various hospital stays with kids. I’ve heard it’s very accurate!’
Joe describes himself as ‘very un-cavalier, if that’s a word, about what kids should be exposed to. That’s why there’s no monsters. There’s no scary things under the bed. But with episodes such as Hospital or Bumpy,’ he notes, ‘kids can get very scared – especially sensitive kids. They can get a bit freaked out by medical settings and hospitals and people with drips. So I’m careful to not go literal with anything. When Bingo was in the hospital bed, for instance, we had to go easy on what she would be hooked up to.
‘But in terms of the subtext and the adult story,’ he adds, ‘I always try to go for it. Hospital features my observations of the relationship between doctors and nurses during my various hospital stays with kids. I’ve heard it’s very accurate!’
Asked about the biggest lesson he’s learned making Bluey, Joe says there have been a few. ‘But without Bluey I don’t think I would have learned how much a good story – a story that’s really positive – can mean to audiences, especially when they’re going through hard times. That’s been the biggest surprise: just how much a little bit of escapism and a bit of joy through entertainment can provide people when they’re at a low ebb.’
Joe has admitted that at one point in the development of Bluey, he toyed with the idea of the show being far more targeted to adults; he produced a pilot short that included jokes about mastitis, for instance. But in making Bluey the show that it is – a poignant, surreal, emotional, hilarious children’s show about play and parenting – he has achieved something universal.
And now, as fans will be aware, he’s upscaling that universal message to a feature-length Bluey film, due in cinemas in 2027. It’s keeping him pretty busy, he says, but while ‘intense and full on, it’s weirdly more relaxed than being in the middle of the 52-episode run. There’s more time to refine, there’s more time to get it right.’
Based on the existing 154 episodes of Bluey, getting it right is something Joe is pretty good at.
