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Revolution’s Commodification |
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You’ve noticed the frequency with which one encounters Che Guevara’s face these days. I’m sure of it. It’s emblazoned on t-shirts, backpacks, stickers, posters, stencil graf, and I’ve got my eyes peeled for the Che lunchbox. No doubt you’ve also noticed people ambiguously referring to “the revolution,” making all-knowing statements like “when the revolution comes….” or, less assuredly, “if the revolution happens…” It’s all the rage with the kids these days. Che Guevara and revolution have become a phenomenon, a significant cultural symbol, a social indicator.
To wear a Che shirt is to cultivate your image, effectively self-market, and immediately announce “I am down with the cause.” Forget the fact that the daily routine of the image bearer offers few clues as to what that cause may be. It’s implied; it’s the general, undefined “movement of the people” that reserves itself for future action, ready to spring like a tiger when called upon, dormant for the present.
All this has little to do with Che Ernesto Guevara the man. His face is no longer his own; since his death it’s become a vehicle behind which you advance whatever unrelated cause you’re keen on. It’s been co-opted by leftist culture, prostituted by Hollywood, clothing manufacturers, hip-hop artists, wealthy suburbanites; his image is the hammer and sickle, the stars and stripes, the crescent and star, the Mickey Mouse of revolutionary Disneyland©. He has become the hypothetical, undemanding revolution whose membership does not even require an understanding of his mixed legacy. Much the way some Christians profess faith in Jesus, slap a bumper sticker on the car, fill a pew every seventh day, and feel no obligation to mirror Jesus’ self-sacrifice, utter disdain for materiality, or devotion to his fellow man, YOU TOO can become revolutionary. Just slap the official symbol on your person, parade yourself in conspicuous places, and retire to watch [insert inane comedy here] when your feet get tired.
To those who do wear the shirt, to those who do know the life story, I understand the appeal. Revolution is romantic, revolution is rough and tumble; things are wrong with the world, ready to be wiped away by an uprising. Moreover, Che is to many the most compelling revolutionary out there. He is a mythic figure. To the populist, both committed and casual, he is Lancelot, Arthur, John Henry; only he is real, and his life was documented by his own pen.
As such, this current trend was inevitable; power can’t leave such a potent social idea untouched. Examples abound; in Cuba his image is ubiquitous, with Fidel rallying the Cuban folk round a patriotism pinned together by the language of the revolution; two of Mexico’s largest political parties are named the Institutional Revolutionary Party, and the Democratic Revolution; Chavez is having success rallying his people, and his continent, round the Bolivarian Revolution.
It’s no different in the U.S. Though many citizens believe revolution’s political utility was dead after 1776, revolution sells, and so Hollywood has embraced its culture. Adverts on television hint at the revolution; there are revolutions in Cola, revolutions in music, revolutions in every and any conceivable field, to the point where the term has lost any significance it once held. Revolution got so profitable that every time it pops up, it’s got a new sponsor, spinning it into a commodity (too often in the form of Che’s face). And everyone who wears a piece of the memorabilia is complicit in the act.
Now, I’ve heard many make the case that a legitimate revolution is taking place right now, under our noses; the communications revolution, the one that opens up space for dialogue, where honest expression is allowed and rewarded, where information, albeit of varied quality levels, is abundant, where the media’s hold, the government’s hold, the corporate hold over the information and opinions you are privy to, is minimal, where the people are given an uncensored soapbox, able to share their opinions with the world. Indeed, one might be tempted to call it a revolution, but let’s not degrade it like that. We might end up with folk wearing shirts hailing it, but doing little else about it.
–Here’s a classic picture brought to my attention by jackrascal, The Seminal in-house illustrator effective June 1st.
Very funny commentary and interesting analysis - I wholeheartedly concur.
Yes, and we would all do well to remember the scientific meaning of “revolution” - to begin at a point, go in circle, and return to the same point.
The branding of “independent” culture is a very interesting phenomenon, and I think you can see it in Che’s image, the adoption of grafitti as an advertising vehicle, and a myriad of other ways people turn independent culture into cash. Hey, if/when the real revolution comes, it will come from nowhere, where we least expect it. In my mind, revolutions are the kind of things you can only see coming in hindsight. So sure, the word is degraded, but that’s because most people haven’t seen a real revolution in a while. Hey, what’s going on in Iraq is a revolution, and it will have unintended consequences for years to come. The Internet and other mobile communications have indeed revolutionized political thought and social interaction. But all these things came out of nowhere. If revolutions are anything, they are hard to predict and even harder to control.
That picture is classic, by the way. Thanks for the update!
I remember Ish talking about a friend of his from back in the day, who believed that he’d be able to give a speech at one point, and the revolution would go from there.
I find the commercialization of revolution to be on the same order as the commercialization of punk rock and hip-hop - the destruction of everything an idea stands for in the pursuit of profit.
That said, J-Ro’s right. The revolution is in progress. Just because there’s no bullets flying or burning skyscrapers doesn’t mean that our generation (one friend calls us the “Beaten Generation”) isn’t changing the world. We’re just doing so through mass communication and an evolving world view that’s both sympathetic and iconoclastic. Maybe the day is nearing when the idea of a mentally united “Spaceship Earth” is no longer just some sci-fi writer’s dream.
The Borg ?
Now that would be scary. Except for Jeri Ryan
Ernesto Guevara de la Serna
I remember in the sixty’s it was cool to wear Mao T shirts , it was status to protest our country’s system. Unfortunatly it was a movement that had no clear definition of a goal other than to tear down the system in place with no real substantial replacement.
I did a little research on Che Guevara and the guy really accomplished very little.He’s been romanticized in the motorcycle diaries by Robert Redford and for the life of me I can’t see why. After educating myself on Guevaras past It’s pretty scary to think that anyone in this country would want to run around in a shirt with his picture on it.But we have that freedom.That freedom is something that Mao and Guevara would never afford to people who find revolution against there goverment a human right never mind one of Americas greatest liberty’s. I think we should be a little more careful about who we idolize ,it shows a great lack of respect for a country that affords us that free speech.
I never criticized the household my mother put together for all of us , but I had my problems with it and I had the right to say something about it if I wanted to. But out of respect I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. I would of been invited to leave if I didn’t like things at home.But I knew I always had a home that wouldn’t kill me if I spoke out against them. I suggest a lot of people should take a look at what Marxism , Totalitarians , Lenninist’s and Communism has done for the world before we start idolizing this shit
Che Guevara did accomplish something, and people in South America rightly praise him as a hero. But they know their history, and what he actually did, and what he didn’t do, and what he screwed up. The problem is, up here he is an icon, just an image with no understanding behind it.
Which is the biggest part of my beef. It’s scary when people market and glorify something they don’t understand. I’ve read enough to understand that although he may of accomplished what some would consider beneficial to a society that had little concept of real choice.He did more damage than good. I remember the Lennin and Mao T shirts and just said to my self ” are thes guys’really serious ” Do they know what kind of monsters they were ?
I think it was just a political tantrum looking for attention by using a shock factor. Honestly , I have to know who worships the leadership skills of these guys.
They are dangerous. Check it out. http://www.slate.com
Should we love Che Guevara ?
Then again , the Air Force reportedly asked the pentagon for millions in 1994 to develope a ” Gay Bomb ”
This bomb was supposed to be packed with chemicals in the neighborhood of super strong aphrodisiacs. And would render the enemy usless because they were all too busy screwing each other. Sometimes our own country has some explaining to do. It couldn’t be something that would get them stoned or just knock them out.” I got an idea !
Lets make them all fuck each other!”
I have to find out who brainstormed this one.
My point is that you can find extreme behavior anywhere and some people will call it revolutionary.
I want a T shirt with a big pink bomb on it shaped like a penis wrapped in a condom. And underneath it , it would say ” NOW IS THE TIME!” But I wouldn’t wear it.
I gotta say, I’m sure there are a bunch of people who would buy that pink bomb t-shirt. That story, though true, is just silly!
“we would all do well to remember the scientific meaning of “revolution†- to begin at a point, go in circle, and return to the same point.”
Exactly. J-Ro, what did Guevara accomplish? Turning Cuba into a repressive totalitarian state? He was a murderous thug — just another Orwellian Animal Farm pig, as the above quote suggests. And Latin Americans do NOT know their history. They are humans and therefore totally ignorant of their history just like us Americans. Which South Americans celebrate Guevara? All polls on the subject show that Latin Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to Cuban-style totalitarianism. Despite their unfortunate inclination toward caudillos, they still believe in democracy.
On a separate note, anyone know where I can get the shirt posted at the end of this article? That is brilliant.