Monday, July 7, 2008

Jay Bakker: A Punk Under God



I have found myself surprisingly involved in One Punk Under God, reruns of the Sundance Channel's reality show following Jay Bakker, He is an Atlanta (now New York) based punk rock appearing preacher whose church meets in a bar. He is the son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. Jay Bakker at the time of this program had been involved in the ministry for several years.

Jay Bakker partied hard before finding the Lord. He is covered with tattoos, and seems quite sincere about his ministerial work. His wife Amanda, also well adorned with body art works is a health/social care worker. Her support for her husband is also seems genuine and sincere, but she is not afraid to speak her misgivings or concerns, particularly where his attempts to connect with this infamous father are concerned.

I remember seeing the round faced son of the pastoral couple a year or two before the Jim and Tammy Fay Bakker scandals of the late eighties. (Isn't "Who is Jessica Hahn?" a great trivia question of the eighties--almost as good as "Who was on the good ship Monkey Business?) I was only watching because a friend was trying to explain the trauma he was going through after finding his family fully committed to televangelist driven Christianity after coming back from the service. Anyway, the episode of PTL we encountered was sans Tammy Fay. It was announced she was in "the hospital" and little Jamie was on the show with his Dad telling her to get well and come home soon. I'm sure I only remember this because I was overall dumbfounded and shocked by the shilling and conspicuous prosperity of Heritage USA. I also genuinely felt bad for this friend whose family had drank this KoolAid.

Twenty years later I'm watching footage of a thirty-something getting read from a bible and express his support of gays in the church and the institution of marriage. The congregation is not pleased, and he is struggling with his words and energy to explain how he came with this conclusion. Obviously Jay Bakker is not your routine Christian pastor. And his financial support for his ministry Revolution is greatly impacted because of the conclusion of his spiritual search regarding this issue.

I have seen three of the six episodes of One Punk Under God. All include some pretty engaging moments such as Jay's visit to an uncared for Heritage USA overgrown with weeds and structurally in decline. He also visits his ailing mother and father still back in the television ministry, this time broadcasting from Branson, Mo.

There are lots of little moments that carry a lot of heart. He is nervous during preparations for a trip to see his father trying to get his travel bags together. "I'm carrying way too many bibles" he exclaims worried that he will meet the carry on restrictions of the airline. Amanda also is featured in a sequence most of us will be able to relate to where she is waiting to the last possible moment to meet the deadline for completing an admission packet to NYU, even driving up to the Fed Ex station and handing it off to the driver within a minute or two of the 8pm cutoff.

My major beef with this series is that it contains all of the editing and conventions that have become standard with reality television series ever since Real World first became vogue. The cheesy music, the sometimes predictable talking head off camera interviews recapping how the participant felt at that moment etc. are less important here because this is not Anna Nicole Smith or Flava Fav. These people are genuinely interesting for the most part and a single ninety minute or two hour film would probably met the material better than two-three hours of episodic structure. Regardless, the series was an interesting and odd surprise and I look forward the remaining three episodes.
posted by well-executed buffet at 9:30 PM
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