As a parent of a Deaf child, Holly Karten says that families across Australia will benefit from Emma Watkins’ new children’s entertainment offering.
Image: Emma Watkins as Emma Memma
As if we all didn’t already love her enough, Emma Watkins, of former Wiggles fame, has done it again. With her unique combination of Auslan, dance, red hair and perkiness, Watkins has released her latest project, Emma Memma, with a full visual album of ear (and finger) worms.
Her upbeat championing of the beauty of Auslan will be played on repeat in Deaf and hearing households throughout Australia. Furthermore, she has channelled her cultural capital to introduce mainstream Australia to the voice of incredible ballet dancer, Elvin Lam, who is Deaf and communicates and teaches ballet through Auslan.
Image: Elvin Lam and Emma Watkins as Elvin Melvin and Emma Memma
During her Wiggle years, Watkins gave a generation of Deaf, hard of hearing and Auslan communicating families a sense of pride and cultural relevance. Her representation of Auslan in mainstream children’s content was welcomed by families that too often found themselves “othered” by most children’s content. It’s impossible to lip-read cartoon characters - and subtitles prove irrelevant to most of the early childhood viewership.
Within my own circle of mothers of Deaf children, we were grateful for her slow and repetitive inclusion of Auslan so that we could stretch our tired brains to learn a new language. Her love of large bows also proved useful, inspiring the decoration of headbands that allowed many of our children to keep their hearing devices attached.
Image: Lila, who uses Auslan when she's having a break from her cochlear implants, cuddles with her three Emma Wiggle dolls
Emma Memma is reminiscent of the Yellow Wiggle’s work, but is a slightly gentler offering. The colour palette is more muted and the songs slightly softer, and there are butterfly clips instead of bows. An adult audience might easily assume this is simply more of the same, but I have it on good authority from many parents of Emma Wiggle-obsessed kids that they don’t see her as the same character.
While this might not help Emma Memma’s commercial success, I’m grateful that Watkins has found a way to offer a similar service in a different manner. My daughter, one of the rare children who isn’t a great fan of The Wiggles, is much more taken with the peachy creams of Emma Memma and her blue-eyed vintage caricature that pops up between songs.
Image: Holly's daughter watches Emma Wiggle, but prefers Emma Memma
We know that people are more accommodating of difference when they’ve been exposed to it. The daily exposure of the general public to Auslan translations during COVID briefings resulted in a 400 percent increase in Auslan course enrolments. So the celebration of Auslan by a children’s entertainer of national prominence continues to be of immense significance.
Watkins has provided the official stamp of “cool” to Auslan in early childhood. Emma Memma will no doubt continue to break down barriers between children all over Australia and for that, I will be grateful. And forgive her for the repetitive refrain of “Emma, Memma, Emma, Emma, Memma, Memma…” that’s been bouncing around my brain for days on end.
Holly Karten
Holly Karten is an educator and artist living on Gadigal Land. She is the mother to two fierce daughters and delights in the privilege of raising strong, neuro and ability diverse children. She works with institutions and schools to create anti-ableist culture. Her illustrations and further musings can be seen on instagram @holly.draws.her.own.universe.