ABSTRACT
The media's appetite for Madonna items is insatiable, but Madonna fascination is potent enough to ensure that anything even loosely related to her will attract enough interest to make it a bankable product. Madonna's film career testifies that something other than her personality must be the source of her success. Film stars are generally required to project a three-dimensional humanity and certain unique individual characteristics on screen. The sex-object Madonna appears to have been merely one of a wardrobe of theatrical guises. Madonna has retooled her screen persona frequently, leaving no consistent point for fan attachment. In contrast to the image of woman as nurturer, the metatextual Madonna was plainly focused on success in her own career. She clearly articulated that she was out only for herself, that stardom and its perks of money, power, and respect were her goals.
