Are you and your family obsessed with Bluey? We want to hear your stories about connecting with the popular kid's show
The animated kids show from Australia, about the adventures of a loveable puppy who lives with her parents and little sister, Bingo, is hugely popular with both children and parents for its relatable themes about family, growing up, working together and resolving conflict.
The series was created by Australian animator Joe Brumm in 2018, and has since grown into a worldwide sensation. It was the most-watched series globally on Disney+ in 2024, and has also won a Peabody Award.
The Globe and Mail's James Griffiths will be reporting from the home of Bluey – Brisbane, Australia – for a future story, and wants to hear from parents about their connection to the popular cartoon character: What does Bluey mean to you? What have you learned from the show? Are your kids Bluey mad? Did you panic when it seemed like the show was ending? How does Bluey compare to other children's TV offerings like Cocomelon or YouTube Kids shows?
Tell us your experience in the form below or email James Griffiths at jgriffiths@globeandmail.com for potential inclusion in a future article.
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CBC
2 days ago
- CBC
In the TV adaptation of this Canadian novel, Sterling K. Brown wanted to tell a different story about freedom
Social Sharing The highly anticipated TV series Washington Black, adapted from the acclaimed novel by Canadian author Esi Edugyan, is set to captivate audiences with its unique exploration of freedom, imagination and the power of human connection. Shot in the picturesque landscapes of Nova Scotia, the series stars Emmy-winning actor Sterling K. Brown and emerging talent Ernest Kingsley Jr. Arriving today on Disney+, Washington Black follows the extraordinary journey of George Washington Black, an 11-year-old enslaved boy on a Barbados sugar plantation in the 1830s. His life is irrevocably changed when a tragic death forces him to flee. He embarks on a thrilling and perilous escape across continents in a fantastical flying machine, seeking freedom, self-discovery and his true place in the world. For Brown, the decision to join the Disney+ series, which he also executive produced, was deeply personal and rooted in a desire to tell a different kind of story about the Black experience. "There've been a lot of stories about the institution of slavery," Brown acknowledged. "A lot of them understandably focus on the pain and the trauma. But I think I've been hearing from my community for a long time ... I need stories that are different." Brown emphasized the importance of showcasing resilience, imagination and the pursuit of dreams, even in the most challenging circumstances. "I don't need stories that are just painful and traumatic to put out there into the world, as if that is the totality of our experience. Our experience is bigger than that." He was particularly drawn to the character of Washington (Wash) Black, who's played by Kingsley Jr. Wash is a young boy who "transcends those circumstances through the power of his imagination," said Brown. "He dares to say that even though these are the circumstances that I am in right now, there's something bigger and better for me in this life." Although the series is historical fiction set in the 1800s, it carries a potent message for today's world. Brown believes it will resonate with anyone facing less-than-ideal circumstances, reminding them: "Do not allow your dreams to dampen. Your dreams can transcend your world." Edugyan felt she was in good hands when it came to adapting her Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning novel. "I was so delighted when Sterling K. Brown's company wanted to option the book, because I really admire his work, and I just think he's one of the best actors of his generation," she said. "For me, one of the most important parts of the novel to write was the sections that are in Nova Scotia and this is because I really wanted to explore some of our own slave histories. During my research, you're reading about Canada as the terminus for the Underground Railroad and how incredible that was, but you're also reading about how difficult it was for so many of those formerly enslaved people to establish real lives free of conflict." She also wanted to be able to show the sense of community that was established, the connections made by people who came from different places and were able to find friendship. Brown acknowledged the African community in Nova Scotia. "I think meeting the community, first of all, in Halifax was a really telling experience for me, because they sound like people from South Carolina in the States. I was like, 'Oh, wow. This Underground Railroad really happened, because I can hear the evidence of it thousands of miles away from where Black people entered into the United States through the port of Sullivan's Island in Charleston, South Carolina." For his part, Kingsley Jr. identified with Wash's unwavering faith and ambition. "He kinda operates in that way and kinda sees more for himself," Kingsley Jr. shared, adding that he sees similar traits within himself. "I definitely see more for myself and I'm spurred on by the things I believe I can achieve and the things I wanna achieve in this lifetime." He also highlighted Washington's remarkable ability to maintain his resolve in the face of adversity. He reflected on his own struggles with fear when confronted with problems, contrasting it with Washington's steadfast choice of love over fear. "I feel like sometimes I can be ambitious. I can be faithful. But when I see my problems, sometimes the view of them can be distracting, and it can bring me into a place of fear," he said. "I feel like [Washington] looks into the eyes of fear, and he's like, 'No, I choose love,' and I feel like I definitely wanna make that choice more boldly in my life." The on-screen relationship between Medwin, played by Brown, and Washington is one of protection and reciprocal growth. Medwin, a self-made leader in the Black community in Nova Scotia, initially prioritizes survival. However, his interactions with the idealistic Washington challenges his worldview. Brown eloquently described the dynamic: "Medwin's not allowing him the full degree of freeness that Wash yearns for. So I think there's something that he learned from being in proximity to this young man.... He makes Medwin ask the question, 'What is there more for me in my life?' And the answer to that is love." Brown sees Medwin's journey as a realization that though protecting his community is vital, embracing love can lead to a richer, more fulfilling existence. "It's a very reciprocal, beautiful relationship where I think I may be able to give him something, but he gives me way more in return," Brown said. This nurturing on-screen mentorship mirrored a genuine connection between the two actors. Kingsley Jr. shared how Brown became an invaluable confidant to him during production. "I felt like I kinda just made him my mentor," Kingsley Jr. said, acknowledging Brown's openness and grace. He described the bond as natural, with Brown providing support and guidance as Kingsley Jr. navigated his biggest role to date. "Here you have someone who's so supportive and so caring and just willing to be a listening ear," Kingsley Jr. said, calling the experience "nothing short of a blessing." Washington Black is a journey of self-discovery for its protagonist, as he sheds imposed identities. When asked about the moments that profoundly shaped his own identity as an actor and an individual, Brown reflected on the ongoing process of personal evolution. He emphasized the foundational role of family in shaping identity. However, he also highlighted the critical point in life where one must discern between inherited beliefs and personal truths. "You have to say for yourself, 'Is this something that I take on because it's what I authentically want for my own life, or are there things that I need to shed because I see something else for my life as well?'" he said. "I've taken many of the things that my mother and father have given me in terms of a belief system, in terms of morality, in terms of priorities and values. And then I say, 'You know what? There are certain things I can leave behind, and there are certain things that I hope to evolve or help to grow and to pass along to my children.' So you can't help but be shaped from where you come from."
CBC
3 days ago
- CBC
The TV adaptation of Esi Edugyan's novel Washington Black will surprise fans of the books
Esi Edugyan says Disney Plus's take on her acclaimed historical novel Washington Black will surprise anyone familiar with the sprawling coming-of-age tale. There are significant changes to the hero and his relationships, wholly invented scenes and entirely new characters inserted by showrunners and executive producers Selwyn Seyfu Hinds and Kimberly Ann Harrison. Edugyan says she accepted early on that transforming her Giller Prize-winning saga into an eight-part streaming show would mean surrendering her hold on the story, noting she "very much took a back seat" in the process. "It's probably never a favourable thing to have the writer of the book kind of lurking in the background, looking over your shoulder, saying, 'Why have you done this and not that?'" Edugyan says in a recent video call from her home office in Victoria. "I just kind of understood that this was somebody else's art." Like the book, which was championed by Olympic swimmer Mark Tewksbury on Canada Reads 2022, the TV series recounts the fantastical life of a boy born into slavery on a Barbados sugar plantation in the 19th century. Actor Eddie Karanja plays the young hero and Ernest Kingsley Jr. portrays the older Washington Black. At age 11, Wash is taken under the wing of his master's younger abolitionist brother Titch, played by Tom Ellis, who uses the boy as ballast for an experimental flying machine but soon recognizes his aptitude for art and science. Amid this burgeoning friendship, Wash is disfigured in a trial run and then implicated in a crime, forcing him and Titch to flee the plantation. Edugyan's tale is a first-person account by an 18-year-old Wash who looks back on a lifelong search for freedom and meaning that sends him to extreme corners of the world. The Disney version is narrated by Sterling K. Brown's Medwin, a mere side character in the book who runs Wash's boarding house in Halifax. Onscreen, Medwin is a mentor to Wash and gets his own backstory and love interest, all part of what Hinds explains as "the journey of adaptation." As such, Halifax features more prominently in the Disney story, which filmed in and around the Atlantic capital, as well as in Mexico and Iceland to capture scenes set in Virginia, the Arctic, London and Morocco. Hinds says Nova Scotia was home for about six months, with shooting locations including Peggy's Cove, Lunenburg, Uniacke Estate Museum Park in Mount Uniacke and the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site in Cape Breton. He says Halifax in particular "really adopted us as a crew" as they learned the local history of Black settlements in Canada. "There was a young man who used to cut my hair in Halifax and one day we were talking — he told me his family had been there, I think, 400 years. Which for an American immigrant like myself, who's first-generation American, this was just completely mind-blowing," he says in joint a video call from Los Angeles with Harrison. "A big part of what we're doing is trying to bake ourselves in the nooks and crannies and the history of the place. And I did as best as I could to let that infuse the actual storytelling itself." Among the biggest changes is the removal of Wash's facial scars, notes Edugyan, who became the first Black woman to win the Giller in 2011 for Half-Blood Blues and only the third author to win twice when Washington Black claimed the title in 2018. In the Disney version, the scar is on Wash's chest, where it's hidden from view. "That is quite a departure from the novel," says Edugyan. "That was a very deliberate choice on my part to have that be part of how Washington confronts the world — that he's not only an enslaved person but that he also carries with him this disfigurement, which gives him this sort of double estrangement." Edugyan describes the series as "a kind of translation or interpretation of the novel" to satisfy a visual medium and the demands of episodic storytelling. Her jazz-infused Half-Blood Blues was also optioned for the screen, by Toronto's Clement Virgo, which Edugyan says is still in the works. Hinds says he regards the screen version of Washington Black as "the same house" but bigger, with an expanded world that adds a romantic rival for Wash and a deeper backstory for the white-passing love interest Tanna, born to a Black mother in the Solomon Islands. "Because the TV medium just gives you room to explore things that Esi kind of laid out that were really great opportunities — really delving into Tanna's background or really seeing what the Solomon Islands meant (to Tanna)," he says. "With any adaptation, or at least the ones that I've written, the first thing is to find the emotional DNA of the story, right? And once I realized that the story that Esi was telling about finding hope and finding agency and finding freedom, once you sort of lock into the emotional core of what the characters' journey is, everything else makes sense. Both in terms of what you keep in and what you leave out." "It's quite different from the novel," Edugyan adds. "Anybody who's familiar with the source work will be surprised. But I think it's its own piece of art and I'm looking forward to having people watch it and to hearing reactions."
Toronto Star
3 days ago
- Toronto Star
Disney version of ‘Washington Black' roots tale in Nova Scotia, expands world of side characters
TORONTO - Esi Edugyan says Disney Plus's take on her acclaimed historical novel 'Washington Black' will surprise anyone familiar with the sprawling coming-of-age tale. There are significant changes to the hero and his relationships, wholly invented scenes and entirely new characters inserted by showrunners and executive producers Selwyn Seyfu Hinds and Kimberly Ann Harrison.
