2/12/96-2/15/96
Finished 2/23/96, 2/27/96
Tonight, I watched Truth or Dare for the first time since I became utterly enfatuated with Madonna approximately a month and a half ago. I have to tell you, it was almost like being able to watch my own birth on videotape. The first time the experience was happening, I had no inkling of what was going on, and seeing it again with a sense of perspective was both refreshing and enlightening.
So what is it about this movie that turns so many people on? Is it the chance to see Madonna expose her tits, the beautiful music, the amazing theatrics both on and off stage, an inborn sense of empathy for the characters, or something else entirely?
And what is it about this movie that turns so many people (such as my parents) off? Is it Madonna's open and shameless flaunting of her sexuality, the repetative, grating racket she has the nerve to call music, the pretentious superficiality of the whole matter, a generalized dislike for Madonna and her rag-tag team of bandits, or, once again, something else entirely?
Well, of course it's something else entirely, what did you think it was going to be? You see, the way people percieve this movie is determined by the way in which they channel their thoughts. If, whenever you see a female taking off her top, you are trained to think perversion, you will think about perversion while Madonna undresses in her makeup room. If, when you think perversion, you are trained to get a sick stomach, a sick stomach you are bound to get while you watch this movie.
Such reactions are almost always instilled in people at such an early age that they don't remember learning them, hence they believe these reactions are a natural and ever-present part of human nature, and they are unable to comprehend people who watch the movie and are stimulated or brought joy by it. It IS, however, possible to unlearn these reactions and relearn new ones, although it is an EXTREMELY excruciating process, and as a general rule of thumb, the older the person is, the harder it will be.
Madonna has no doubt experienced this kind of relearning process repeatedly throughout her life due to multiple traumatic experiences in which she was forced to rethink the world, beginning at a very young age, continuing through adolescence, and going on all the way into adulthood. At this point in her life she is going through a perpetual cycle of relearning, as an automatic defense mechanism against the horrors which she has learned to believe are inevitable.
This constant morphing of her soul facilitates the miraculous changes she has been able to make throughout her career, and has allowed her to completely shift from one musical style to another, from imitating one historical figure, such as Marilyn Monroe, to forming the spitting image of another with a completely different nationality and personality, such as Eva Peron.
Back to the audience. For people whose sensitivities have been trained differently (in a more "modern" way), watching Madonna remove her top can be a joyful and fulfilling process, although such people are generally, within traditional society, thought of as disgusting and untouchable. This IS changing, and I believe a good deal of it is due both directly and indirectly to Madonna's influence.
The same concepts apply to an appreciation of music, drama, and people in general. When people have been taught that certain forms of music are "evil", their aesthetic tastes will take a back seat to morality. If "drama" is considered pretentiousness and pretentiousness "bad", the antics in Truth or Dare will be recieved negatively. If gay people are somehow subhuman and need to be changed, as many of our friends in the Religous Right would have us believe, watching them be accepted and loved by each other and others is bound to be disconcerting.
Before revealing the underlying reason Truth or Dare is so effective in reaching deep into people's hearts and minds, one more point must be made. People can be and are changed by their environments. Everyone is controlled by their surroundings. The way others treat them in their schools or jobs will affect their reasoning. News reports watched on a nightly basis will mold the world views of those who watch them. Movies condition the public's responses to violence, sexual interactions, and personal relationships.
This is especially true for the very young population. The way children are treated by their parents, teachers, siblings, and peers will mold them into who they are as adults. If they are made to believe that their world is a dump, their government a forever corrupt institution, and their lives interminably enslaved to an unmerciful system, they will unconsciously adapt to fit in any way that they can and perpetuate an untolerable situation. Unfortunately, much of the public school system encourages these beliefs and behaviors.
Don't dispair. There is hope yet. The messages propagated by the media, the schools, and the population do not have to be, nor are they, all negative. We are not ALL going die of air pollution, an overly intrusive government, AIDS (ouch! hope she can forgive me for that one), a failing school system, a media with seemlingly no integrity, predicted starvation because of Federal programs being limited, corporate layoffs, people we don't care for in congress or in the White House, wars here and elsewhere, or nuclear weapons. Yes, all these things have hurt and in some cases killed many people. Does it have to mean the end of happiness for the rest of humanity? No. Even my champion cause, Internet censorship, will not bring the world to a halt even if the worst happens.
One thing is needed. It can be the root of the solution for all of these problems. The necessary ingredient for the world's medicine: hope. With hope, and the emotions it spawns, all the world's problems are solvable. When people have hope for a long period of time and they are able to share this hope with one another, the seed of healing can sprout. This sprout is belief. When enough people get together and share a common dream, a desire of what the future can be, they can strengthen this belief in themselves and one another. If their message is appealing, others will be inspired by it and come to believe as well. It is a belief in what CAN happen, the possible.
Many of the modern problems mentioned above are perpetually self-inflicted. These are the ones that can be most easily healed. When those who are hurting others can acknowledge and listen to those they are hurting, they will work to find ways of solving problems which are less harmful. This is already happening. One major automobile manufacturer has announced that they will be marketing a car which emits virtually no pollution. The reason: No, it's not Federal or any other kind of government regulation. They are doing it because people want it. There has been enough demand expressed by consumers for non-polluting cars that manufacturers are trying new ways of making them which do not pollute nearly as heavily.
Each and every one of the items listed above that plague the world can be fixed if enough people develop a deep belief in the general goodness of humanity and all the individuals which comprise the human race.
This is where Truth or Dare comes in. This movie shows a group of people who genuinely care for each other. They, like everybody, have scuffles, conflicts, and bad times. Yet every time the adversities seem insurmountable, they are able to press on and remain united. Many of them are weak or "emotionally crippled." This is why they have a leader. Each person, at some point in their life, is weak and needs someone else to show them where to go. The leader in this movie, while having flaws characteristic of any human being, loves and cares for them the best way she knows how. This is the most you can ask of anyone.
Ultimately, Truth or Dare is far more than any ordinary drama. This is precisely because it is not a drama. There are no scripts, no retakes, and no stages. (no stages?... wait a sec... The reason all those people got together in the first place was for the purpose of performing a stage show. How's that for irony?) It is a slice out of real life, the experiences of real people. You could think of it as unrefutable testimony of what can happen when a group of underconfident drifters get together around one being who has experienced the pain of the world and knows how to deal with it. We, the audience, are left with the impression that everyone can be great if we accept and love one another. The world is whatever we the people turn it into. Madonna and her gang turned it into their own personal paradise. What the rest of us do with ours is up to each and every one of us. What are you gonna do?
Note: The concept behind Truth or Dare is NOT original. Sorry Madonna, but you are not the first to do this. It has been tried before. Turn the clock back to about 2000 years ago. Of course, Edison hadn't been born yet, so there weren't any movie cameras around. Fortunately, written language did exist as a medium for communication and transfer of information, so it was recorded. Even better, there are still copies of this pre-medieval Truth or Dare in existence. There are four versions. They are known as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Check 'em out. Then watch our Truth or Dare again. As they used to say in school, compare and contrast. Wouldn't that be an interesting assignment to see?