The U.S. vx. John Lennon - Martine Schroeder
I found the John Lennon documentary “The U.S. vs. John Lennon,” extremely interesting and intriguing. I had seen this film before, but in watching it a second time I found it to be more interesting, and I picked up on things that I hadn’t really paid attention to the first time I watched it.
The amount of controversy that John Lennon started I find to be almost humorous. He was so peaceful and carried out his protests with such a great sense of humor. I never knew much about John Lennon, but this documentary really provided a good background of his life and provided answers as to why he was the way he was.
I think Lennon’s spirit of dissent was very admirable, but at the same time I do see why people could have gotten frustrated with him. Because he was not a U.S. resident, him protesting so much in America and about American policy was a little bit unnecessary. Definitely it is good to have an opinion and take a stand for ones beliefs, but I can see how him doing this in a country that wasn’t even his would be maddening. Because he was not a US citizen he had no way of showing his loyalty to America.
Although I can see the point of view that John Lennon was totally out of line, I tend to think Lennon’s protests and ideas did make people start to reconsider the war. He spoke his beliefs in a way in which he did not blatantly attack the U.S. government, but spoke about ideals of peace we should strive for. His celebrity status got many people to recognize that people were really upset about the war - even people who weren’t US citizens. And I think that’s why the U.S. government was so threatened by John Lennon. He was a huge celebrity that got a lot of attention and that a lot of people looked up to. So him being so outspoken and radical in showing how much he disapproved of the war made the U.S. government feel quite threatened.