How do you know about Ono Yoko? I think many students have just saw her name in the following these sentence;
“…..these jokes maintain the conflicting dynamic and expose the problematic script writing. In the pilot episode[Mom, Dad This is Kyle(1994)], the show features one scene where Mrs. Kim enters the kitchen and Margaret quips: “What’s with the [sun] glasses, Mom? You look like Yoko Ono!” (Cassinelli 133)
In “If we are asian, then are we funny?”, Cassinelli argues that comedian can draw a parson named Yoko Ono into the flow of comedy and laugh with just one sunglasses, so that sitcom might be sensitive.
I was born and raised in the same country as Yoko Ono, so this example was very easy to understand for me. However, I am not sure whether my classmates are familiar with her and that is why I want to write how she lives in US in this blog post.
Yoko Ono is 85 years-old artist who was born in the family of former nobility. As the author says, her marriage with John Lennon from Beatles made her famous. At that time, John Lennon was already married to a British woman and he broke up in order to marry Oriental artist who is older than him. In 1960s and 1970s, these was a bashing that “a woman of Orient attracted John and let the Beatles dissolve.” Among British fans, there was an idea that personality of John had changed by marriage in 1969, and it made conflict with other members resulting in the dissolution of 1970, the following year.
In fact, John took her to band meeting and she made suggestions about their songs despite she was not a member of Beatles. However, it was recorded that it was not only John who took the girlfriend to band’s session. She was particularly bashing because some of British people still had negative image of japan as well as image of Asian American women, such as “femme fatale.” In addition to these image as a villain to Japanese as a remnant of World War Ⅱ, highly economic development and following trade function, especially with US was not welcomed by western society in 1960s.
For example, Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Japan(MITI) was called as “Notorious MITI” by US. Ten years after the marriage between Yoko and Lennon, a book titled “Japan’s as Number One” became the best seller, and concerns for the astonishing success of the Japanese economy were rising in even among the general public.
And then, interestingly, according to the slang dictionary of the US posted by the reader, the girlfriend who come to band’s session is sometimes called as “You are like Ono Yoko!”
In Japan, she is sometimes treated as successful and independent woman who married to a famous band man and I was surprised that she became a part of slang.
However, for over 40 years since the dissolution of the Beatles, she asked the US weekly’s interviews “I am not involved in it.”
And then her art has been highly evaluated since the death of Lennon.
In June 2009, she was awarded the Golden Lion Award at the 53rd Venice Biennale as pioneer an and symbol of pop art. When I visited M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco on last Saturday, I realized her work book “Acorn(2013)” have been sold in the shop. I really respect her because she doesn’t stop her activity and keep fighting against society’s image of her.
Yoko Ono was born in a rich family and lives in art in times when women were harder to live freely than now, and she has selected and lived her life as she wants to do.
Despite her bad public image which related to Japanese and Asian women was created by media, she fought against it by continuing art activities.
Reference Yoko Ono: 25 Things You Don’t Know About Me (I Prefer Doing the Dougie to Krumping!)