Carolyne Rivera: The Hero's Journey In Children's Shows

Every week, I babysit a little girl and her favorite thing in the world is the popular children's show Bluey. Usually I will let it play in the background for her while I work on something else, but a few weeks ago, the same week we were discussing the Hero's Journey in class, I had been babysitting that morning and there was an episode that was on that specifically discussed the concept of the Hero's Journey. I was shocked, as something I had never heard of before this class was actually something that was closely focused on in a tv show designed for little kids. 

In the episode, one of the characters (Bluey's mom) compared the hero's journey, or a quest, to an errand her dad and little sister were on and the episode displayed it with an overlap of her voice. This was absolutely fascinating to me because this situation was portrayed as something so simple and common in our everyday lives and it aligned so well with something that is usually reserved for fantastic feats in history and mythology. The episode included the call to adventure, when the family discovered there was an errand to complete, and the help of someone along the way that warned the family that there a bird in the park that was threatening anyone coming near her nest. The family faces the ordeal and reaches their "reward," in this case being delivering food to their friends. The episode also included the "journey back" where the family takes the lessons they learned and use it to face their obstacle (the angry momma bird) once again in order to return home.

In my experience, people tend to disregard children's shows and view them to be surface level entertainment, but I have always disagreed, believing that there is actually a great deal of depth and thought in them. In this instance, a very complex topic was introduced to small children in a very simple way they could understand and apply to themselves. If they can begin a basic understanding of it early, it may become easier for them to continue applying it to themselves as they go on their own personal journeys.

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