The treatment of the "queens" in TRUTH OR DARE (Core)

In Madonna's Truth or Dare, I was disturbed by the way the gay back up dancers were portrayed, and they way they were treated/ talked about/ talked to. Arguments can be made that this was a different time, earlier in the gay rights movement, but this is a film about a pop star who tapped into her gay icon status, and who is on one hand performing a show dedicated to raising support and awareness about the AIDS crisis, and in the same night treating her gay employees like they are less important or to be taken less seriously than other humans. She explains to Oliver that he should ignore them, saying: "Oliver, look. There are always going to be queens on the rag. You have to expect that of me." Not only does Madonna diminish them in this speech, she also implies a sense of possession over them. They are an element of the decor of her life. 

In fact, Madonna's superiority toward these men established as soon as she introduces them. She explains, "I think I have unconsciously chosen people that are emotionally crippled in some way. Or who need mothering in some way. Because I think it comes natural to me." She puts herself above them, and diminishes them en masse as incomplete, stunted. Hooks notes this moment and goes further, "Madonna describes them as "emotional cripples"....and of course in the contest of the film this description seems borne out by the way they allow her to dominate, exploit, and humiliate them."

The readings also point out the juxtaposition of Oliver's homophobic speech against the footage of the other dancers at the gay rights march. During images of these proud gay men trying to stand up for themselves and expressing their worth and their individuality, Oliver diminishes this exact kind of open self expression on Luis's part, saying:

"Oh, my God. You know what else I hate? Have you ever seen Luis walk in just underwear in front of a whole bunch of people? Just walk around in bikini, just underwear. Don't have no respect for these people. We know that he's a fag, or gay, or whatever you want to call it, but you don't have to show it to everybody."

But he does have to show it to everyone--not hiding is a major point of queer equality. To my mind and my experience of being a queer person pushing back against oppressive forces in the world, Luis's scanty clothes are akin to Cvetkovich's description of Divine's drag as "an aggressive reclamation of a body otherwise subject to freak status" and as such such be respected, not ridiculed. Still, the homophobia of the situation goes beyond Oliver's words. While Oliver's speech undermines the gay dancers' attempts to reclaim identity and power at that march, it's the actions of the rest of the tour that dismisses the dancers' bid for rights. Noticeably, every other person on tour--from Madonna to Sharon--is absent. These men are a small, vulnerable group. They have no allies. They and their cause are not considered seriously by the dozens of other characters we've met in this film. 

There is an argument to be made that it isn't about gay--or color, or money--but that Madonna simply only cares about herself. But this isn't true; Madonna doesn't dismiss EVERYONE around her. She treats Sandra Bernhard, Pedro Almodovar, and others as equals. And in fact, Warren Beatty, a white man and thus the only person who holds a privilege status higher than hers allowed in her life, is the only person put in a position to read Madonna.