Where is This Generation's John Lennon?
Shira
Ari and I finally got around to watching The U.S. vs. John Lennon, a documentary about John and Yoko’s peace activism and the lengths that the United States government went to silence them. The film was slick and entertaining and gave a really good overview of the political and social climate of the sixties and seventies.
I find this brand of activism — creative, funny, nonviolent — to be very compelling, and I wish there were more people like John and Yoko active today. One group that really inspires me is Visual Resistance, a Brooklyn-based collective that brings art and activism to the streets. Now if only one of them with a megastar celebrity, they might get some much-deserved media attention. I guess Kanye West and George Clooney have been doing a pretty good job of that — but until one of them grows out their hair and stages a bed-in, I won’t be satisfied. :)
Comments
I had similar feelings when I saw the film. Yet, I feel that both him and his super stardom were very unique to his times.
The most interesting aspect of his life to me was his process of politicization. From Love Me Do and gogo to the White Album and acid; to his awakening to marxism and disillusion of militancy, his process is a window into the mindset of Western youth of the times.
Along with the many things that make him a compelling character, I think the strongest aspect is that throughout his life, his art and song were loved by audiences from the extreme left to the extreme right. Talk about doing more than preaching to the choir!
Yet, there is also this issue of martydom. Who would John Lennon be if he would have survived the neo-liberal eighties, the transnationalism of the nineties and today’s globalization? Martyrs will always have history on their side. And maybe that is a great thing. Where would this already jaded generation be if we didn’t at least have the hope of breeding a person with power who truly contests in times of injustice.
Posted on May 25, 2007 11:59 PM by Anayansi Diaz-Cortes