The Eyes of Tammy Faye

[Anonymous]

Just finished watching this on HBO. Jessica Chastain was so good!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for reminding me about this. I wish HBO Max did a better job of suggesting new things you would like!

[Anonymous]

We watched it too! I liked it, and I also liked the angle that shows people are not 100% good or bad. I was a child when all of that happened, and naturally my liberal parents vilified them, but she did actually seem like a sympathetic person who didn't deserve to be made fun of so badly.

[Anonymous]

I remember seeing her on some vh1 reality show in the early 2000s.

What was that? Where a bunch of c and d list celebrities did like a real world house together?

Anyhow, she was cool and nice and everyone loved her.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Yes I love that it was from Tammy Fay’s perspective and not Jim Bakker’s perspective.

[Anonymous]

OMG I wanted to start a thread but it was an old movie so I didn't. But I also watched it yesterday. Jessica Chastain was AMAZING!! Andrew Garfield was also good, but Jessica was so good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember seeing her on some vh1 reality show in the early 2000s.

What was that? Where a bunch of c and d list celebrities did like a real world house together?

Anyhow, she was cool and nice and everyone loved her.

here you go!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Surreal_Life#Season_2_(2004)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember seeing her on some vh1 reality show in the early 2000s.

What was that? Where a bunch of c and d list celebrities did like a real world house together?

Anyhow, she was cool and nice and everyone loved her.

here you go!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Surreal_Life#Season_2_(2004)

Yes! The surreal life. Thanks! Oddly enough, I only ever watched the Tammy Faye season.

[Anonymous]

Her singing was on point and the Christian disco was really something

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We watched it too! I liked it, and I also liked the angle that shows people are not 100% good or bad. I was a child when all of that happened, and naturally my liberal parents vilified them, but she did actually seem like a sympathetic person who didn't deserve to be made fun of so badly.

OMG. I lived through their crap and, no, I would have no sympathy for her. They were fake con artists. They preyed on ignorance and fear and made a fortune off of it while not being good Christians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We watched it too! I liked it, and I also liked the angle that shows people are not 100% good or bad. I was a child when all of that happened, and naturally my liberal parents vilified them, but she did actually seem like a sympathetic person who didn't deserve to be made fun of so badly.

I agree PP. I feel like she was truly good hearted, just got caught up in the money and fame. I certainly appreciated her acceptance of the LGBTQ community.

[Anonymous]

Ohhhh I saw a documentary of the same name like 15-20 years ago. It was really good, or at least, that's how I remember it. I remember her friendship with Jim J. Bullock.

The thing that I took with me (and it was such a tiny bit, but it stuck) was why some people do things to their appearance that they know, objectively, don't look good. That even THEY don't think look very good.

I mean-- there can be a lot of reasons for that.

But in Tammy Faye's case, I remember it being pretty clear that she knew all the lashes and mascara were over the top, goopy, clumpy, and didn't look all that good. But she would rather look like a cartoon, even a poorly-drawn one, than to risk her lashes appearing literally a single millimeter skimpier than they looked with all of the goop on them.

She was extremely insecure and it was like an obsession and a compulsion with her, and she seemed to understand that.

I often thought that was the same principle at work with Trump and his spray tan and odd hair transplant/combover situation. Now, HE would probably never admit, even to himself, that it doesn't look good. But the point is that he'd rather look like he had "weird, unnatural" hair or skin than have anyone see him bald/balding or "pale." A fate worse than death for his ego. Only losers are bald and pale (or whatever).

I think some of the people who insist on appearing this way are more self-aware than others about why, but I think about the psychology behind it, often.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We watched it too! I liked it, and I also liked the angle that shows people are not 100% good or bad. I was a child when all of that happened, and naturally my liberal parents vilified them, but she did actually seem like a sympathetic person who didn't deserve to be made fun of so badly.

I agree PP. I feel like she was truly good hearted, just got caught up in the money and fame. I certainly appreciated her acceptance of the LGBTQ community.

I agree with you that she was good hearted. Accepting the LGBTQ + community was a huge deal back then, especially gay men with AIDS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We watched it too! I liked it, and I also liked the angle that shows people are not 100% good or bad. I was a child when all of that happened, and naturally my liberal parents vilified them, but she did actually seem like a sympathetic person who didn't deserve to be made fun of so badly.

OMG. I lived through their crap and, no, I would have no sympathy for her. They were fake con artists. They preyed on ignorance and fear and made a fortune off of it while not being good Christians.

To be fair, she was never charged with any crime. I certainly think she knew they were taking money and spending it, but I think she didn’t know about everything, like Jim did. (He was just assessed a large fine in ‘21 for claiming a pill helped COVID).

I just finished this movie. I was sorry it didn’t show her end (remarriage, illness, divorce) or show Jim after prison (sentence reduced, remarriage, talk about doomsday food, etc.) It didn’t even show any detailed parts about things they touched on (where did the mom go after being thrown out of the ptl network, how was rehab for Tammy, etc).

[Anonymous]

Isn’t it crazy that both her husbands went to prison? They kind of glossed over her marriage to Messner.