Che Guevara in popular culture

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Main article: Che Guevara

Appearances of Che Guevara in popular culture are common in the Western World. Che Guevara is a political figure, but also the focus of a pop culture following. As Che Guevara has become well known, he has achieved a cult status and is an icon of revolution. His image can be seen in many facets of media, including t-shirts, car-seat covers, clocks, wall art, tattoos, street art, and other clothing.

Contents 1 In theatre 2 In films 3 Reference in Film 4 In art 5 In TV 6 In games 7 In music 8 In books 9 On the Internet 10 See also

[edit] In theatre

• In the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Evita, the narrator and main protagonist is a revolutionary commonly held to be based on Che Guevera. While unnamed anywhere other than the title of one song -- "The Waltz for Eva and Che" -- he cynically tells the story of Eva Peron, and the two finally confront one another during the Waltz. This portrayal is entirely fictional; Che and Eva never actually met. Che's single interaction with Eva was writing a letter to her asking for a jeep.

[edit] In films

Movies and actors who have portrayed Che Guevara:

• El 'Che' Guevara at the Internet Movie Database – Francisco Rabal (1968)
• Che! at the Internet Movie Database – Omar Sharif (1969)
• Evita (based on the above musical) – Antonio Banderas (1996)
• "El Día Que Me Quieras" at the Internet Movie Database ("The Day You'll Love Me" is a song by Carlos Gardel) – dir. Leandro Katz (1997)
• Hasta la victoria siempre at the Internet Movie Database – Alfredo Vasco (1999)
• Fidel at the Internet Movie Database – Gael García Bernal (2002)
• The Motorcycle Diaries (Diarios de motocicleta) – Gael García Bernal (2004)
• Guerrilla – Benicio Del Toro (2007)

[edit] Reference in Film

• Eric Idle and Neil Innes' The Rutles, a parody of the rise and fall of The Beatles, stated that the fictional band played their final gig at "Che Stadium", a take on the baseball stadium Shea Stadium (home of the New York Mets), which is said to be named after the political activist, Che Stadium, an obvious allusion to Guevara.

[edit] In art

• Alberto Korda's famous image of Guevara was taken at the memorial service for the victims of the explosion of the ship La Coubre, on March 5, 1960. The Maryland Institute College of Art called Korda's photo, "The most famous photograph in the world and a symbol of the 20th century." [1]
• Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick converted Korda's picture into a high contrast bust drawing, with a slight modification to Guevara's stance and eyes. This drawing has become iconic, and is frequently seen in silkscreen and stencil art.
• Notably, Fitzpatrick's high contrast image appears in Andy Warhol's 1962 artwork Che Guevara, a montage of brightly coloured images in Warhol's stylised screenprint.
• Rage Against the Machine's 1992 debut single, Bombtrack, used Fitzpatrick's image on its cover.
• The Cuban Ministry for the Interior building features a large, stylised outline of Fitzpatrick's image.
• In 2005 an exhibition examining the Korda portrait entitled Revolution & Commerce: The Legacy of Korda’s Portrait of Che Guevara, was organized by Jonathan Green and Trisha Ziff for UCR/California Museum of Photography. This exhibition has traveled to International Center of Photography, New York; Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City; and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; with other venues planned for 2006-2008. The Victoria & Albert Museum published a catalog of the exhibition: Che Guevara: Revolutionary & Icon.
• The cover of the January 1972 edition of National Lampoon magazine features a parody of the Alberto Korda's iconic photo in which Che is hit in the face with a cream pie.
• The cover of Madonna's American Life album was inspired by the famous Che Guevara photograph.

[edit] In TV

• Che Guevara was the hero of Citizen Smith, the young Marxist urban revolutionary who was the main character of the 1970s successful British TV sitcom of the same name. Smith modelled himself on Guevara, often wore a T-shirt displaying his image, and had a large Guevara poster on his bedroom wall.[2]
• Guevara is also one of the characters portrayed in Monty Python's "World Forum" sketch, where Eric Idle hosts a game-show type program between Guevara, Mao Zedong, Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx.
• In a 2005 episode of South Park entitled Die Hippie, Die, Kyle sports a green Che t-shirt
• In The Boondocks, Huey, the main character, has posters of Che on his walls and is portrayed in red and black to resemble Guevara in the intro.
• In the UK TV series Absolutely Fabulous, an Andy Warhol-style picture of his face is hung on a wall.
• On Christmas Day 2006, RTE aired a short film which starred Karl Sheils as Che. The film was called 'Meeting Che Guevara'.
• The 1/2 Hour News Hour, in its debut episode on Fox News Channel (February 18, 2007), had a T-shirt salesman discussing sales of his shirts featuring Che Guevara and other dictators with the news anchors.

[edit] In games

• His exploits during the Cuban Revolution were very loosely dramatized in the 1987 video game Guevara, released by SNK in Japan and "converted" into Guerrilla War for Western audiences, removing all references to Guevara but keeping all the visuals and a game map that clearly resembles Cuba. Original copies of the "Guevara" edition of the Japanese Famicom edition go for high amounts on the collectors' market.
• In Counter-Strike: Source, the level "CS_Havana" features Che's photo on the walls of the village.
• In Grim Fandango, a computer game set in the land of the dead, a skeletal revolutionary leader resembling Guevara speaks with a Latino accent.
• In Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, a figure named Suhadi Sadono leading an Indonesian rebel force known as Darah Dan Doa bears a striking resemblance to Guevara. During a cut scene in the form of a news report, T-Shirts bearing the visage of Sadono sell like wildfire via the internet, while a newscaster quips the buyers have "no idea who he is", a reference to the popular Guevara shirts many teenagers buy despite not knowing the extent of Guevara's legacy.
• In Tropico, images of Che can be seen on a wall of the clinic and he is one of the real-life Latin American politicians that the player can use as a character.
• The Steve Jackson Games game Chez Gueverra is a pun off Che's name.
• In the PC version of the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Che Guevera is a downloadable skin for the character Tommy Vercetti.
• The cover art for the game Just Cause is based on a picture of Che.
• The game "Scarface : The world is yours" features posters of Che on walls in the training level. The training level is in Cuba.

[edit] In music

• In "Hasta siempre, Comandante," popular song written in 1965 by Carlos Puebla.
• "Hasta Siempre, Comandante" was versioned by numerous autors. Like Buena Vista Social Club, Tactikollectif (formed by members of Zebda), Luis Aute, and others
• In "Carta al Che," song written in 1969 by Carlos Puebla.
• Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine has a Peavey 4x12 cabinet with Che's face on the speaker.
• "Cliche Guevara," A song released by Against Me! in 2003, is an obvious reference to Che.
• "Comandante Che Guevara (Commander Che Guevara)," a song by Nueva Trova maestro Silvio Rodríguez
• "Indian Girl" by the The Rolling Stones off from Emotional Rescue has a lyric referring to Che. "Mr. Gringo, my father he ain't no Che Guevara, And he's fighting the war on the streets of Masaya"
• In rapper Nas's album, 'Stillmatic there is a controversial track named "My Country" that pays tribute to Che Guevara and others who were destroyed by their country.
• In singer David Bowie's 1973 song, "Panic In Detroit," the first lines are "Looked a lot like Che Guevara, drove a diesel van."
• In Immortal Technique's No Me Importa off of Revolutionary Vol. 1.
• In rapper Jay-Z's Black Album, the track "Public Service Announcement" contains the line "I'm like Che Guevara with bling on/ I'm complex."
• In the Manic Street Preachers song, "Revol", there is the lyric "Che Guevara, you're all target now".
• In the 2001 song "Last Train" from The Invisible Band (2001) by Scottish rock band Travis.
• The 1988 single "Left to My Own Devices" by synthpop duo Pet Shop Boys contains the lyrics "Che Guevara and Debussy to a disco beat" and "Che Guevara's drinking tea, He reads about a new device and takes to the stage in a secret life". This is often cited as an example of the group's combination of incongruous elements in their songs.
• In Richard Shindell's 2004 album Vuelta the track "Che Guevara t-Shirt" tells the story of an illegal immigrant imprisoned after 9/11 who may be kept in jail forever because he carries a photo of his girlfriend wearing an Che Guevara t-shirt.
• Gallo Rojo by Los Fabulosos Cadillacs.
• "McGuevara's o CheDonald's" by Kevin Johansen.
• The Ruta del Ché trilogy by Spanish punk band Boikot.
• Flynn Gower, from the Australian band Cog, has a sticker of Che Guevara on his guitar.
• American rock band Chagall Guevara, took their name from artist Marc Chagall and Che Guevara, to imply the meaning "revolutionary art."
• In two songs by Francesco Guccini: "Stagioni" (2000) and "Canzone per il Che" (2004)
• In the song "Transamerika" by Modena City Ramblers
• In Bandabardò's song "Tre Passi Avanti"

[edit] In books

• Guevara is on the cover of the book The Rebel Sell.
• In the book Second Fiddle, Che Guevara is the name of a car (obviously an element of dark allusion).
• In the novel I, Che Guevara by John Blackthorn (a pen name of former Senator Gary Hart), Guevara returns to Cuba under an alias during its first ever democratic election. Espousing an ideology of direct democracy and a government run exclusively via New England-style town meetings, he makes a grassroots run for President of Cuba, opposing both the Communist Party and a White House-backed, right-wing party.

[edit] On the Internet

• The logo for the popular website The Best Page in the Universe is a picture of the site creator, Maddox, done in Fitzpatrick's two-tone style, an obvious reference to Che.
• Fitzpatrick's famous picture is used very often as forum signatures and desktop wallpapers, and is equally as often seen as stock material for graphic designers. Personal usage of the image on the Internet gives off a slight air of political awareness or rebellion, along with an interest in art.
• The Penny Arcade store sells a t-shirt featuring Shigeru Miyamoto in the same manner as Che.

[edit] See also

• Che Guevara (photo)