Jamil and jamila
So that what happens when Barbie and Ken moved to Saudi Arabia for Ken’s work?
Jamil and Jamila are the newest abomination in the series of knocking off the famous Matel’s dolls: Barbie and her hubby Ken, and if you have not seen Fulla yet, take a look now.
Fulla
Now, let’s all calm down and take a slow deep breath and try to figure out what the hell went wrong with these “dolls”.
Basically, these are not dolls to start with… this is a pure religious-political propaganda being forced on the Arab kids in all stores, and if you’ve puked few times watching the absurdity of the Arab Cartoon Chanel: Space Toon you would have instantly realized two things: first, how right wing this channel is and it is not a joke, and secondly, how they advertise everything in all ways.
Speaking of Space Toon advertising, “Fulla” cereals, bed sheets, notebooks and other things are available in shops near you now!
So back to the subject of why this is so wrong.
When were we little and our sisters (or we) played with Barbie dolls, have you ever stopped to question what religion or faith she followed or belonged to? have we thought if she was a bad person or not? or has the idea of Barbie being “infidel” even crossed our minds? the typical answer would be NO, provided you lived in a sane healthy environment which explained to you why Ken has no penis when you asked.
Fulla and her new friends (Jamil and Jamila) are the worst example of religious brainwash for the children.
Let’s speak facts!
Q. Who watches Space Toon?
A. Middle class families and below, why? upper class kids have Disney, CN and Nick channels, and it is not only a matter of wealth, there is a free-to-air kids’ channel on the Nilesat Satellite namely MBC3 (part of the MBC group) which is still moderate in content but less conservative in presentation (and no apparent brainwash, luckily), at least the presenter girl in MBC3 is not covered up.
Q. Who buys Fulla? Who buys Barbie?
A. Same answer above. Barbie dolls are considered expensive in the Arab world, at least for below-middle-class families, they simply can not afford an original Barbie doll made my Matel, the kids would not really tell the difference of the high quality material and even the hygienic aspects considered manufacturing the doll, let alone the whole aestheticism of it all, they are blindfoldedly substituted with a cheaper fragile knock off made with no cosideration to any standards and overall contains loads of toxic material in their material; “Fulla” and her faithful friends come to the rescue, not as an original solution to the problem of poverty but as a cunning advertising trick to take advantage of those who are disadvantaged.
Q. Are below-middle-class section large?
A. relatively speaking, yes. According to the CIA Fact book most of Arab countries have a troubling percentage of people living under the poverty line, Iraq alone has 25% of its population falling below that line, Egypt 20% (which I think is more than that, unless they lowered the bar), Jordan 14% (again, I doubt that), except gulf countries which are all marked as NA (none). Again, we are talking about the percentage of people falling below the poverty line which means that even “Fulla” can be a luxurious item for the kid. Excluding Gulf countries, all Arab countries must be considered “poor” which leads us again to the whole religious-socio-economical circle of con and deceit. Poverty is most likely to be associated with illiteracy and taboos of all kinds. Go figure!
Q. What are the prices of both dolls?
A. Barbie and Fulla both come in different shapes, collections and bundles, the prices are mostly to be set according to the value of the package itself. but according to a credible website like Amazon, you can shop for a Barbie doll starting from 20 USD up to 200 USD, and these are just the regular items, no collectibles. Fulla, on the other hand, is not found on Amazon, there must be an Amazonian rule forbidding the existence of religious toys, but Fulla has her own website which is a mediocre pink vomit annoying website, it does not show prices though, but leave that to me, as I see her on all the toy section shelves in all major supermarkets and toy stores in Amman, Fulla’s range is between 10 – 20 USD, bundles include: morning prayer or night prayer besides many others.
Q. Values?
A. Barbie was used in all societies to present the “good girl” value, being considered a “fashion” doll, it also reflected a certain importance for all girls on taking care of themselves, and we are not talking about empty vanity, I won’t go so far to ponder the idea that Paris Hilton is the way she is because she had too many Barbies, actually there is a Barbie that is Paris Hilton now! Barbie also helped little kids into many psychological and ethical aspects including discipline and manners, a girl who could take care of her doll house and throw the most perfect tea party would possibly grow up to be a girl with ambitions and goals, boys most of the time crashed cars ,and look at them boys now (Joke!), but Barbie is a liberal free-spirited gal who loves fashion, jewelries and good things in life, and that is not a bad thing at all, unless you are a Mormon or a Saudi. Speaking of which (Saudis), and read carefully: “The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stated “Jewish Barbie dolls, with their revealing clothes and shameful postures, accessories and tools are a symbol of decadence to the perverted West.” (Wikipedia). I’d still love to think of myself as an intelligent person who can read and analyze facts, but that statement is just an oxymora! or rather a spiteful hateful non-sense. The Saudi government had outlawed Barbie dolls in 2003, Barbies are an army of invading infidels, or were they? and here comes our hero to the rescue: FULLA, a full-fledged Muslim icon and idol to be kids’ sole option to be loved and taken care of even if you’d rather strip her down her ugly outfits that look like tents anyway. The Fulla fever emerged right after the Barbie outlaw, a well-studied advertising tactic that is, and later on became a Space Toon‘s favorite gal! According to Fulla’s makers NewBoy, Fulla is “A Girl’s Dream Doll”, Full is considered to be the savior of the tradition and culture (and it is the job of the Arab women only anyway), it is all about your family’s honor (Jamil would kill Jamila if she spoke with the Supermarket’s cashier).
So?
Let me conclude: You strip the population from free choice by outlawing a “doll”, you impose a new model that promotes your relatives sales and keep the naive in your grip, you make the prices incredibly cheap so it is accessible to lower classes those who are hungry enough to have nothing but “faith”, and in most cases, distorted perspective of it, You go further more to make a kids’ channel very right-winged that all the cartoons are dubbed in a certain religious way and the main aim of that channel is to promote a certain toy manufacturer… Sir, I think that’s a bingo!
The issue of Barbie Vs. Fulla is huge but not spoken of. In its simplest form, this feud shows how our societies are drifting towards what’s being forced on them without questioning, on how to implement religion in the wrong ways, and most importantly, that an Arab woman is still considered a cheap commodity with a price set by the society, she is the one who is going to cover herself up to save her country’s traditions and culture and she is the one who is going to be always silent and take the back seat.
Fulla is not capable of making love like Barbie, Fulla is an order taker, she has been, and alway will be.
Note on first photo of Jamil and Jamila: notice how Jamil’s Arabic name is still “Jamila” which also refers to Jamil’s secret identity, could Jamil be Jamila with Ken?
Related articles
- I’m a Barbie Girl (bollywoodfashionpolice.wordpress.com)
- What distinguishes Barbies from other dolls (wiki.answers.com)
- Alfred Hitchcock The Birds Barbie Doll (lostateminor.com)
