Pam & Tommy-Series Profiting Off Pamela Anderson’s Trauma
Hulu’s new series “Pam and Tommy” aims to tell the inside story of the infamous Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee stolen sex tape. Actors Lily James and Sebastain Stan make a mesmerizing transformation into Anderson and Lee. Series producer Seth Rogen plays Rand Gauthier, the carpenter working on the stars’ Los Angeles estate who stole the tape from their home in 1995.
The show relives their whirlwind romance and wedding taking place after only four days of dating during a vacation in Cancun, Mexico. It all seemed like a fairytale: the rockstar and the actress living a fabulous lifestyle in their Malibu mansion. Their wedding couldn’t come at a more perfect time since Lee was just about to renovate his home.
Enter Rand Gauthier, hired to construct a new bedroom for the happy couple, the “Love Pad 2000.” The show then gives us the backstory of how Lee fired Gauthier and refused to pay him for any of the work he had done. When Gauthier came back to get his tools, Lee met him with a shotgun and told him to get off of his property. This was the birth of the revenge Gauthier wanted so badly on the Mötley Crüe drummer.
The revenge plan was simple: break into Lee’s mansion and steal the safe that held his most prized possessions. Gauthier was surprisingly successful employing the help of a fuzzy white rug to disguise himself as the dog. After walking through the front gate with the safe, he pawned off all the guns and jewelry. All that was left was an unnamed Hi-8 tape.
Gauthier then enlists the help of adult-film producer Milton Ingley – played by Nick Offerman – to watch the tape because no one plays Hi-8. After watching the “home video” Gauthier and Ingley devise an unethical business plan. When no producer wanted a part in selling a stolen celebrity sex tape, they took their idea to the recently created World Wide Web.
The show has its charm with 90’s nostalgia, an incredible soundtrack and some funny, witty moments. James and Stan deliver captivating performances, with wonders done by an amazing makeup department. There is an uncanny resemblance in every mannerism that feels like it's actually Anderson and Lee on screen. The story itself couldn’t be more entertaining – it has love, sex, fame, revenge, crime, scandals and a talking penis.
Despite the promise the show has, it still exploits Anderson’s story for profit as she had no involvement in the show or the desire to be. Lily James tells Net-a-Porter’s Porter, “I was really hopeful that she would be involved. I wish it had been different.” A source told Entertainment Tonight, "The upcoming Pam & Tommy Hulu series has been very painful for Pamela Anderson and for anyone that loves her." It was clear Anderson was not on board with the series being made as it depicts one of the most traumatizing moments in her life.
The series fails to take into account that Anderson and Lee were victims of a serious crime since much of the focus stays on the man who stole the tape. Gauthier is even given flashback sequences to his childhood and past relationship in some effort to make the audience emotionally sympathize with him.
This was a questionable approach by the series. It seems to focus too much on the awful men in the story rather than the compelling, strong woman at the center of it all.
The most admirable parts of the show were scenes where we got to know Anderson as more than a bikini-clad actress and Hollywood sex symbol. From this, we understand the struggles Anderson went through as no one saw her as a serious actor in the TV industry or even as a person.
The audience gets to know this ambitious, intelligent, kind, free-spirited woman. It makes it all so much more heart-breaking when we see how the tape being released led to a wave of misogynistic attacks that damaged her career and broke her down. No one seemed to understand her distraught situation, not even Lee.
This still doesn't justify the series telling her story without her consent. As depicted in the show the whole situation pushed Anderson to an emotional meltdown and she went through a miscarraige during the scandal. According to the Rolling Stone article the series is based on, Anderson and Lee signed over the copyright to the tape only because of how stressful the legal case was on the couple.
In the end no one was punished for this crime. Yet it seems the only one who is still suffering the consequences is Anderson.
Lizette Fuerte — February 21st, 2022
