Maria Yoon, 39 years old Korean-American female finally has her 50th wedding on May 22nd (today) at Times Square in New York City. She calls herself “the voice of the unmarried Asian-American woman,” because this is not an actual marriage but rather an art performance. She started this performance after she got upset by her parents wishing her to get married young. Since then, she got married in 50 different states and examined how getting married is seen in other cultures.
At first glance, it seems that she is not taking the institution of marriage too seriously, but she argues, "I take marriage so seriously, I needed to explore what it really means," and in ceremonies, “she never smiles, out of deference, she says, to her forebears. And some grooms have remarked that she's so intent on getting everything right, they're glad the marriage is over quickly.”
When I first read the title, I thought she is a reckless person who doesn’t have any sincerity on marriage. But after reading the article, I was impressed by her expression of art on marriage. I also think this could be an extreme sarcasm on today’s marriage culture. In many cultures, wedding ceremonies are seen as something to boast about. Especially in Korea, weddings have to be elaborate because “showing” is really important to them. Wedding ceremonies are becoming more institutionalized; the studio, dress, food, etc. have to be taken great care of. If you’ve ever been to the Korean wedding, you realize that guests are not so interested in the couple but rather on how much they spent on their wedding and how elaborate it is.
Also, it is surprising that a lot of females in Korea nowadays see marriage as a substitute on getting a job, which means females think marriage as a guarantee on money and stable life. I think Maria Yoon, the Korea Bride, gives us an issue to think about. Weddings are becoming more institutionalized than ever, and there is less sincerity on marriage.
Here is the article, on "Maria the Korean Bride"
I really agree about most of the comments that you made! Many people are more interested in the 'outlook' of the wedding.. I actually do want to have a big wedding too! But does marriage guarantee a stable life? Maybe sometimes not.. haha
ReplyDeleteAs soon as I saw the title of your writing, I doubted my eyesight. OMG 50th marriage?
ReplyDeleteI guess that there are a number of people who haven't got married once in their life.
While reading this, I was curious about whether she loved 50 each different men or because of a kind of protest against her parents, she just chose random guys to marry her.
Does she wrote any research paper on her experiences? etc.
I also thought that she might consider marrige as a kind of fun thing to do.I wonder how serious she feels about the marriage.
Because marriage is going to be only one time in your life-of course some people do more than once- people want everything to be perfect and to make it look great. I don't blame they do for themselves unless it is just showing off.
But, it is important to think about the meaning of marriage rather than to accept it as an institution as you said.
I agree with Iris that marriage is one time experience in life so people want to make it perfect. But I thought the budget Korean people spend on wedding is too much. Also, I don't think Maria considers marriage as a fun thing to do but as I said it's an art performance and she even made a movie called "Maria the Korean Bride" acting as herself. The purpose of this project is to "to explore contemporary American marital customs in the context of her traditional Asian upbringing." Her project can make others think about how people with different cultural background think differently about marriage. She is taking marriage seriously and therfore had to explore it more.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on how Korean wedding has changed these days.People are focusing on the outer appearance of the ceremony, not the wedding itself. The guests look at the decoration of the wedding hall and how nice the buffet is. They even criticize if the buffet is awful. Of course, there is the point of serving your guests with fine food since many come from far places to bless one's wedding-as a courtesy of expressing gratitude. But isn't the main intention of attending the marriage to bless the couple? If we think of this, whether the buffet is terrible or not would not be a factor to criticize the hosts.It's funny how some of the guests go to the wedding buffet after giving monetary gift to the host, and don't even see the ceremony itself -_-;
ReplyDeleteAlso, through marriage the two individuals complete oneself by meeting one another. Marriage should not be considered as a way for one(women)to rely oneself to another, to have an easy life.
Through her performance, Maria Yoon makes us think critically on our society's contemporary attitudes toward wedding.