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3/29/97, Alameda, CA
by Sarah Jacobson
I, Doll (like idol, get it?) is a 57-minute comprehensive, witty documentary by Tula Asselanis on the history of Barbie. I saw the film at the Chicago Underground Film Festival last year and was totally impressed by Tula's hip, extensive outlook. Some of the film's highlights include the story of Barbie's origin (she's based on Lilli, an old German prostitute doll), Barbie's eye shapes (from slanted to doe-eyed), her careers (from the early Stewardess Barbie to Presidential Barbie in 1993), her group of friends (including a version of Growing Skipper who grows boobs at the press of a button), and Ken's sexy pubic bulge. The doc hits hard on issues like race, self-image, eating disorders, and the disturbing fact that there are more 2,000 Barbie clubs for adults, but it never loses its sense of humor. I met with Tula at her Alameda home where she had just given birth to her most fabulous creation yet — her 10-day-old son Peter.
 Sarah Jacobson: What is your background?
Tula Asselanis: I went to San Francisco State and got a degree in filmmaking. I was very young and had no idea where I wanted to go, so I went into advertising.
SJ: What made you interested in filmmaking in the first place?
TA: It just seemed as natural to me as breathing and walking. Some people need a pen and paper. I just have to have a camera and edit things together. There is nothing that could make me higher than just putting all the things together. It's not a career choice, it's a necessity. I went into advertising for money, but I still enjoyed it a lot and did it as an art director, working on commercials and print ads. In the meantime, I had this Barbie-ness in my head. I would always talk to people about Barbies. I just love to get people's take on Barbie and what their horror stories were, what their love stories were with Barbie. It is fascinating to me, that everybody knows who this little plastic thing is.
SJ: Did you have Barbies?
TA: Oh god, yeah. I loved them. It was an addiction. I had to have all the accoutrements.
SJ: Did you have the Dream House™?
TA: All the furniture, everything,
SJ: You definitely were in a Barbie universe?
TA: Yes, but I also remember looking at Barbie and looking at myself and seeing my dark features. That affected me, too. I still find it fascinating that people can blame things on this little piece of plastic, or worship her. It just strikes me as bizarre.
SJ: In your video you said there are more than two thousand Barbie fan clubs for adults...
TA: They get together. They exchange Barbie facts, where to buy Barbies at a discount, who's got coupons for Barbies.
SJ: How did you get to the point where you said "I'm going to make this documentary on Barbie"? Were you still doing videos on the side?
TA: Yeah, little personal films, experimentally done, like the hair on my bathroom floor — just silly things like that.
SJ: Did you ever show them?
TA: No. It was a girlfriend of mine that put it together for me and said, "Why don't you do a film about Barbie?" That's what I had to do. So I did it.
SJ: Did you have any money in place at first?
TA: I started saving. I didn't want to have any ties to anybody. I did write to Mattel many times telling them, warning them that I was going to do this documentary. They told me something really funny on the phone. They said, "Well, you can't do anything that is all favorable to us." And I said, "Don't worry." I guess they've been chided by the press for everything being so wonderful with Barbie.
SJ: Has Mattel seen the film?
TA: I don't know. They Women's Zoneote a letter to request a copy, but this lawyer friend of mine who's donated a lot of time said, "Let them buy a copy."
SJ: Were they helpful or open?
TA: Not at all. One time I disguised my voice calling them, because I wanted to find out what pollution would emit if you burned up a Barbie, and what allergic reactions are there to Barbie. They wouldn't answer my questions.
SJ: I thought the research of Ken's pelvic bulge was hysterical. What made you think of that?
TA: It just started to be uncovered — no pun intended — as I got deeper and deeper into this Barbie madness. I would clip any snippet in a newspaper about Barbie. Lots of friends started spreading the word. People from all over — work, relatives, friends — would send me clippings and Barbie crap. When I started this I had no idea there were Barbie clubs. The more research I did, the more I ran into these clubs — 2,000 of them. The Barbie fans are really great people. They will give you all the information you need and give more leads to other Barbie facts. But a lot of them said, "Okay I will tell you this information, but don't use my name because Mattel will get back at me. They won't let me buy certain Barbies at certain prices, or they will cut off my Barbie supply."
SJ: What are some other things you uncovered during your research?
TA: Definitely the prostitute doll. That was very revealing, and then to find out that, yes, Ruth Handler who invented Barbie finally admitted that she did go to Germany to buy the doll and patterned Barbie after it.
SJ: Where did you find that?
TA: I think it's in her autobiography.
SJ: How many years did you do research? The video was so well researched and wide-ranging.
TA: About five years. I was researching while I was working to make the money to make this. I didn't even touch a camera while I was researching. All these layers were being uncovered. You think, "Oh, Barbie research — one week." No way. It took years.
SJ: I really like how many elements, how many angles you bring to the film. What made you want to tackle the eating disorder angle with Barbie? A lot of people wouldn't put that into a documentary about a doll.
TA: I heard a lot of people blaming Barbie for eating disorders because she has an unnatural figure, which is true. She's a doll. G.I. Joe has an unnatural male figure, but I don't see a lot of guys blaming him for making them go to the gym and work out all the time.
SJ: What's your favorite Barbie, just the weirdest, that you've seen?
TA: Potty Training Kelly. It's Barbie's little sister. She has a little toilet. You squeeze her and she pees. She has her own roll of toilet paper.
SJ: How many hours of footage did you shoot?
TA: Twenty-one hours.
SJ: How do you go about organizing your footage?
TA: Sometimes I did it within Barbie periods. I'd do it in eating disorders or ethnic issues or Ken genitalia issues. It just started taking shape — the film sort of created its own organization.
SJ: How does being a real mom relate to the feeling of mothering a film?
TA: I guess working on a film, you love and hate it and it's never quite right. With Peter he's just great the way he is. I'm definitely madly in love with him.
SJ: He's absolutely adorable. Are you going to let him play with Barbies?
TA: He already has a Shave and Magic Ken that my friends gave him. Of course with all the Barbie friends I have, those are the presents he's going to get.
SJ: Lots of Barbies.
TA: My husband has no problem with him playing with Barbies. In fact, my husband used to play with Barbies.
SJ: Is that how you guys met?
TA: I'm not that deep into Barbie.
SJ: How are you getting I, Doll out there? You seem to be getting really good responses from it.
TA: I started entering film festivals and calling TV stations. It seems like the smaller towns' stations are far more receptive to looking at it then KQED. One thing that makes me angry is I submitted I, Doll to the Learning Channel. Two years later they had their little Barbie show. They organized their Barbie movie the same way as I did, including quotes before, but it was really bad. It was narrated by Marie Osmond. At first I was really pissed off, because it was obvious — but it was so badly done.
SJ: There have been a couple documentaries on Barbie, right?
TA: There have been — really bad ones, very pro-Barbie. You could put Mattel's logo at the end and never blink twice.
SJ: I, Doll is running at the Roxie for a couple days in San Francisco. Was that hard or did you just send them a tape?
TA: I sent them a tape. Actually, a friend of a friend said she knew the people at Roxie and to send it there. I did and they loved it. I remember as a film student at San Francisco State, the Roxie was so cool. I'd go there all the time and never in my wildest dreams did I think that something I made would be showing at the Roxie. I am totally blown away and honored.
SJ: What other cities has it shown in?
TA: Pacific Film Archives in Berkeley, Alternative Screen in L.A., Cornell Cinema, Dallas Video Fest.
SJ: Have you hooked up with the academic world, like women's classes and stuff like that?
TA: "Women Who Make Movies" is representing me.
SJ: Do you feel any connection to the independent film boom that is going on?
TA: I don't, because I see all these independent filmmakers that are like, Sandra Bullock making her independent film — please. Maybe the term is more "guerrilla filmmaking," where I will do anything to get my film done and I'm just a normal everyday person. I'm not some Hollywood starlet that can get millions of dollars backing. I have to make the money to make the film, and not because it's great for my ego or it might improve my career, but because it is something I have to do.
SJ: What's next? Do you think you are going to do something about being pregnant?
TA: I might. I would love to do a documentary on Trekkies. It's something I can't finance myself. My brother is a big Trekkie. In fact, at the rehearsal dinner for his wedding, his best man made this speech in Klingon. It's another world.
SJ: It seems like you have this connection to cult-like groups.
TA: I love freaky American things. You can go to El Salvador and do documentaries. Me, I'm here in suburbia looking at a bunch of weirdos. I'm fascinated by them.
SJ: What other kind of stuff do you get interested in?
TA: Those people who cut off their genitals and hitched a ride on the Hale-Bopp comet, they fascinated me.
SJ: Are there any struggles you have to deal with, being a women who's doing filmmaking?
TA: Just being a woman in America. It is such bullshit that we are equal. Even in advertising, working in San Francisco, I can't tell you the out-and-out chauvinism I had directed towards me. It's just another brick wall to get over, and once you start going over them — okay that's another one I'm getting over, another one, another one. The end of the thing was, this is something I have to do, I have to do this film on Barbie and if I have to jump your damn brick walls I'll do it. You can't stop me.
I, Doll is showing at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco on June 30th and July 1st. For more info contact TulaFilms, 238 Cheswick Court, Alameda, CA 94502, (510) 814-9223, [email protected].
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Sarah Jacobson, 25, has made two films with virtually no budget. Her infamous San Francisco Art Institute student film, the 1993 black-and-white short I Was a Teenage Serial Killer, makes boys squirm and girls churn as it wields a deadly lashing on sexist pigs. This year, Sarah made her first full-length feature, Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore. For more on Sarah, check out the Women's Zone interview with her from earlier this year and the Sarah Jane Web site. Or e-mail [email protected].
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