The new Hulu series, Pam and Tommy, is finally wrapped up and viewers have mixed feelings about the show. The eight-part series tells the story of the infamous 1990’s sex tape that caused an internet boom and pioneered the way we use the World Wide Web today. It also tells the love story of actress and model, Pamela Anderson, and Mötley Crüe Drummer, Tommy Lee. It also, tells the story of how Rand Gauthier, a carpenter hired by Tommy, became vengeful after being denied payment, stole the recently married couples safe, and released their most private possession. A story of new beginnings, love, pain, crime, hatred, sex and drugs, fear, scandal, loss, redemption, strength, etc. This story has it all, but like any “true story” TV series, you have to ask yourself… did they actually get it right?
According to the New York Times bestseller Tommyland, a book about Tommy Lees life co-written with author Anthony Bozza, the Hulu series was almost completely accurate. Going so far as to recreate a conversation between Tommy and his penis using prosthetics and CGI. A moment within the book that occurred directly after the couples marriage on the beach. Of course, added dramatics were included, like Pamela smashing the car window of a paparazzi and other minor details. Overall the show stayed true to the story because the team cared about it and wanted to do right by the two celebrities and their past.
Both Pamela and Tommy chose to stay uninvolved with the series. Pamela especially, wanted nothing to do with it and declined the producers overtures. She didn’t speak out publicly about the show directly, but sources have expressed her disappointment with it. With an experience as traumatizing as this one, it’s understandable why she didn’t want to live through it again. But, as show business goes, her story was still told without her consent.
The show clearly sympathizes with Pamela by showing how hellacious the fallout was from the tapes release. A disgusting scene within the sixth episode shows Pamela in a room full of old, white, male lawyers prodding her memories as if it was a sport. Asking her “Was that exciting for you and your husband” and showing the tape to everyone in the room as she is forced to sit there and say if she recognizes the two people on the screen. As a Playboy bunny and Baywatch star, she wasn’t taken seriously or respected by her peers because she was so objectified. Exploited in the most invasive way, marital intimacy was quickly turned into the top trending pop culture topic and a weapon against her pride.
This Hulu series puts a light on just how unfair the violation against the couple was, especially for Pamela. In the fourth episode she says, “I feel so violated,” after the tape has already spread like wildfire and it was completely out of anyone’s control. With this Hulu series, the person being affected who didn’t invite the public for their scrutiny is once again being exposed for public entertainment. Yes, TV is a collaborative project and shouldn’t rely on a the feelings of one person. However, can’t it be asked if the show is hypocritical of itself by exploiting the exploited?
After the Pam and Tommy Hulu series aired, Pamela posted to Instagram after scrubbing her content, a written note with NETFLIX at the heading and a lipstick mark stained at the bottom. It read, “My Life. A thousand imperfections. A million misperceptions. Wicked, wild and lost. Nothing to live up to – I can only surprise you – Not a victim, but a survivor and alive to tell the real story.” The announced documentary has been reported to have been in the works for years. It will be directed by Ryan White and co-produced by her son Brandon Thomas Lee.
Pam and Tommy has sparked a conversation about consent, consequences and how society detaches celebrities from a human person. With the incredible acting, directing and cinema magic of Hulu, one side of this 90’s catastrophe has been brought to life; and Pamela Anderson is ready to tell hers. This show is incredible, the transformation of actors Sebastian Stan (Tommy) and Lily James (Pamela) is staggering. The cinematography is so admirable and the storytelling is purposefully uncomfortable and prodigious. With how admirable the show is, the context cannot be forgotten. Look out for Pamelas NETFLIX documentary to come, because the Pam and Tommy story isn’t over yet.