"His image has been appropriated for political, economic, and even spiritual purposes. He is the symbol of communist destiny, and yet also beloved by anticommunist rebels; his face is used to sell beer and skis, yet an English church group recently issued posters of Jesus Christ himself recast as Che. The affluent youth of Europe and North America have resurrected Che as an easy emblem of meaningless and nonthreatening rebellion, a queer blending of educated violence and disheveled nobility, like Gandhi with a gun or John Lennon singing 'Give Peace a Chance.'"
— Patrick Symmes, Author of Chasing Che: A Motorcycle Journey in Search of the Guevara Legend
Walk through any major metropolis around the globe and it is likely that you will come across an image of Che Guevara, most commonly a stylized version of Korda's iconic Guerrillero Heroico. An archetype, capable of endless visual regeneration, which depending on your opinion, either helps tell the story of 20th century visual literacy or kitsch banality. According to Hannah Charlton, editor of Che Guevara: Revolutionary and Icon, "By the 1990s the global market saw the emergence of what Naomi Klein has called a "market marsala"—a bilingual mix of North and South, some Latin, some R&B, all couched in global party politics." By embodying corporate identities that appear radically individualistic and perpetually new, the brands attempt to inoculate themselves against accusations that they are selling sameness. The next stage is to present consumption as a code, where mega brands, supposedly reflecting the "indie" values of their purchasing audience, can do so with a knowing irony that of course the buyer can remain seemingly untouched by the corporate values underpinning the transaction.
Enter Che: the 60's symbol of student revolution, the all-pervasive ascetic gaze used to add allure and mystique to a product, because either a sophisticated audience is savvy enough to distinguish between revolution and commerce while enjoying the irony, or oblivious of who he is or what he represents. This began the metamorphosis from Che the martyred resistance fighter beloved by many, and Che the violent Marxist revolutionary despised by others, to his dual paradoxical position in the global corporate capitalist culture. The commodification of the image has been ongoing since his death, and since the late 1990s has seen a resurgence. UCLA art historian David Kunzle, has described the phenomenon by noting "if you go to Havana today, you will not see Che with a gun, you will see him with a rose or a dove. He's become the Gandhi of Cuba."
This abiding 'renaissance' of Che's visage, is chronicled by filmmaker and Guggenheim scholar Trisha Ziff, who explores the genesis, continuing adaptation, and history of Che Guevara's famous image in the 2008 documentary "Chevolution".
Hannah Charlton hypothesizes that "appropriating the aura of Che for brand building, has now given rise to a new resurgence of "Che-ness" that transcends branding in its global appeal. In the shifting complexities of intercultural values, in the search for universal images that can speak across borders and boundaries, today's global image of Che is the most successful." The Che face, more than any other icon according to Charlton, can keep accruing new application without relinquishing its essence – a generic and positive version of anti-status quo and liberation from any oppressive force, and a general, romantic, non-specific fantasy about change and revolution.
First of all, why would any self respecting anti-capitalist or anarchist admire someone who helped a country revolt from tyranny into tyranny? It was a non-revolution. All his image stands for now is how badly things can go when there’s no strategy for what to do if you actually succeed in overthrowing a government. His eyes burn with impatience because he must have known he sentenced an entire country to enslavement, and that he’s now used as propaganda and called a hero by those in power there to maintain their control.
Secondly, is image on a t-shirt worn by a naive, impressionable American teenager says about the same thing as wearing an Obama t-shirt: “I’m ruled by my unknowable emotions and everyone else seems to like this guy, so I do too!”
Lastly, I love how you think you can “honor” the “heroic Che” by wearing a t-shirt with his image, which you probably bought from a capitalist institution. He seriously would hate you.
I find it ironic that Che’s face is all over this crap, like your posters and t-shirts, when he was so opposed to capitalism. He would have hated the fact that his face was used to further a capitalist agenda.
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