Pamela Anderson was the ultimate sex symbol of the 1990s. When she appeared in a red bathing suit in the “Baywatch”, time seemed to stand still, and I doubt that there is a man who at that time did not dream of her.
What connects these two is the home porn and the fact that they originated in the early days of the Internet, and the video series that marked the lives of more Pamela than Tommy caused controversy even before it appeared. All the more so because Anderson herself did not allow anyone to take care of her life, but that did not stop the author of this eight-part series, Robert Siegel (screenwriter of “Wrestler” Darren Aronofsky), who can be described as continuing it also tells the story of the phenomenon of time. And stylistically it is performed a bit unevenly because this series starts almost as a comedy / parody in the footsteps of Adam McKay and then turned into a serious drama.
Along with the story of Pam (Lily James) and Tommy (Sebastian Stan), we follow the story of a guy who stole their famous videotape and decided to profit from it. We are actually following the first episode from the position of Rand (Seth Rogen), a carpenter engaged in the renovation of a villa in California that the couple recently moved into. After arrogant, arrogant Tommy who acts like he can do anything (and looks like he can since he just married the world’s most desirable woman!) Chases him away without paying him anything, Rand devises a revenge plan. He decided to break into the villa and steal Tommy’s safe, and it turns out that there is a famous video in the safe. How it happened 95/96. year, Rand didn’t really know what to do with the tape, but the ghost was released from the bottle.
However, very quickly the focus shifts to the relationship between Pamela and Tommy, from the moment they met, got married a few hours later and how the whole porn situation affected their relationship, careers and lives. And that first part, before the situation with the recording happened, was shot more in a humorous style, and Pamela and Tommy were almost portrayed as a couple of fools, stereotypical arrogant stars. However, as the story unfolds, the situation deepens and the characters develop and round off, so we realize that Pamela did not really accept the status of a stereotypical stupid and beautiful blonde who is exclusively a sexual object. The topic of this series is quite sensitive and we see how all this was extremely humiliating for Pamela who was aware that the recording would mark her for the rest of her life.
As much as about the recording and the lives of the two main protagonists, “Pam & Tommy” is a series about a cultural phenomenon, about a time period, but also a hint of what is yet to come. It was only the beginning of today’s celebrity culture in which every step of celebrities was followed and the beginning of a period in which such events almost completely supplanted some socially important contents from public discourse. So the home video of Pamela and Tommy actually marks an era, the end of pre-internet times and the entry into the technological age in which we live today and in which we are literally overwhelmed with content about the love woes and joys of celebrities. A time when people no longer need to steal intimacy from safes, but many consciously and voluntarily share their intimacy with everyone, literally terrorizing the planet with irrelevant and banal nonsense that no normal person should be interested in. Rating 7/10.
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