Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Que Viva!


Michael Casey, the Buenos Aires bureau chief for Dow Jones Newswires, has a new book out, Che’s Afterlife, discussing the evolution of the infamous Korda image of Che, used to market products and ideology across the globe for decades:
It is a book about how ideas travel and mutate in this age of globalization, how concepts of political ideology have increasingly come to be trumped by notions of commerce and cool and chic, and how the historical Che Guevara gave way, post-mortem, to a host of other Ches: St. Che, said to possess the ability to perform miracles; Chesucristo, a Christ-like figure revered for his ideals, not his advocacy of violence; an entrepreneurial Che, promoting the lesson “that individuals should honestly strive to produce their utmost for the good of all”; and the Rock ’n’ Roll Che, more representative of youthful anti-authoritarianism than of any political dogma.

I'm going to start incorporating Chesucristo into my vocabulary immediately.

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