Pacific Views

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

When I was just a young fundamentalist Christian child, it was the thing to do to crack jokes about Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. They were widely reviled, uniformly and correctly loathed. Over the years, I haven't really given much thought to the subject, but I was sure on first hearing that a friend's suggestion of "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" for movie night would be awful. I couldn't have been more surprised, then, by being fascinated by it.

For starters, it's a RuPaul documentary. In the beginning, the idea was that it would be a joke, and that it would inevitably come off as mocking. But the story goes that over the course of filming, there was a complete change of attitude. Tammy Faye came across as likable, sympathetic, and deserving of respect. By the end of it, she'd even won me over, a sentiment shared among fellow movie night attendees.

In covering the Bakker's history through the piece, you get a retrospective of the rise of the entire Christian broadcasting phenomenon. They helped start the two biggest Christian networks, CBN and TBN, drawing viewers and getting them off the ground before getting pushed out of a job. Jim Bakker was the originator of the idea for the 700 Club, and its first host. It's a curious look at the nature of the electric church business, and for that alone it's worth watching.

From her own perch at the station they finally started together, PTL, Tammy Faye reached out to gays. She asked fellow Christians to accept them, and to be compassionate towards AIDS victims. This was in an era when a reprehensible 'joke' saying was being passed around among fundamentalist Christian groups went something like 'AIDS: God gave us a miracle that turns fruits into vegetables.' Even in a climate like that, she never seemed to have been worried what anyone thought about her stand.

While Jim didn't come out of it sounding entirely upright, the Bakkers came off to me as people who were genuine in their intentions, if naive, and not especially good at the balance sheet end of running a business. They were unprepared when at a time of crisis caused by mismanagement, they were set upon by professional Christian, Jerry Falwell, who publicly humiliated them and forced them out of a station they'd started for what was the third time.

If you're interested in the rise of the religious right as a large social force, curious about Tammy Faye, or want to see cute sock puppets read out the titles of each section of the story, watch the movie.