ABSTRACT
Madonna's 1991 film, Truth or Dare, based on her 1990 "Blond Ambition" tour—itself a combination of pop music and performance art—defies easy categorization. Madonna and those representing her certainly play along, outside the film's bounds, in the game they have created for the film's revelatory nature. The formal devices and structure of the film establish two broad spaces that together make up Madonna's existence: the public world of performance, of audience and celebrity, and the backstage arena, a more personal, behind-the-scenes space. "Causing a Commotion," consisting of Madonna playfighting onstage with her two female backup singers, is only partially performed. Feminists' ambivalence toward Madonna derives from arguments of whether she works to destroy stereotypes or only confirms traditional roles and representations of women. Madonna's various appearances—her form of seduction—divert others from their path precisely because they search for her authenticity. Madonna is a complex of controlled performance mixed with total abandon.
