Bison Fred in Ridley Jones (Image: Netflix)
There’s a new animated preschool show coming to Netflix next week. Ridley Jones focuses on a 6-year-old girl who lives in a treehouse inside the Natural History Museum with her mother and grandmother. At night, the museum’s exhibits come to life. This includes a bison named Fred, which is not binary.
In the first episode, Fred’s gender is addressed when the main character Jones asks another character, Peaches the Monkey, if Fred is “a her or a he?”
“I don’t know. They’re just Fred’s,” Peaches replies. “Great,” Ridley said.
The character of Fred is voiced by Ezra Menas, who is also non-binary. Menas previously voiced a non-binary character in a recent episode of Pride of Madagascar: A Little Wild from DreamWorks Animation. Iara Nemirovsky voices Ridley, while among the rest of the cast is Glee’s Jane Lynch.
Ridley Jones was created by Chris Nee, who previously made Doc McStuffins. She told AP that she was inspired by her love of classic ’80s movies like Star Wars, The Goonies and Indiana Jones to create Ridley.
Nee said she was determined to “push the boundaries of representation” with the inclusion of Fred in the series.
“In many ways, Fred is playing a lot of the things I felt as a gay kid growing up in the ’70s and’ 80s.” She said the way trans and non-binary people are treated today reminds her of attitudes towards gay men when AIDS first arrived.
“You might be at a time when you find your real self which is a very happy thing, at a time when you watch the news and are very aware that there are factions in the country that really hate you. “
(Image: Netflix)
When asked if she thinks an audience of preschoolers maybe too young to understand Fred, Nee told AP, “That’s actually what’s happening in the world, and we reflect it. Sticking our heads in the sand won’t change that, and it will mean that we don’t support kids going through these things as much as we can. “
All six episodes of Ridley Jones debut on July 13. It’s unclear whether or not it’s a coincidence that it was on the eve of Non-Binary Awareness Day (July 14).
