Che: The Misunderstood Icon, continued
by Jannine Pizarro
The unique face that perhaps many readers of this paper have seen on T-shirts is the one photographed by Alberto Korda. According to Honor and Fleming (1992), the Cuban photographer took the photograph in 1960 at a public meeting in Cuba (p. 849). According to Castañeda (1998), the newspapers were jam-packed with pictures, and Korda's picture was ignored. It was not until 1967 that a publisher from Italy, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, visited Cuba in search of potential pictures of Che Guevara, because he wanted to be ready for the media in case Che died in Bolivia (p. 195). Feltrinelli chose Korda's picture, and ironically, it cost him nothing.
A few months later, Che died, and Feltrinelli came up with what became the most famous poster of Che Guevara. Korda's picture depicts Che with a black beret, disheveled hair, and a beard, wearing a jacket instead of his usual olive green uniform. In the picture, Che is staring toward the horizon with a valiant, firm, and hopeful look. The background of the picture is a beautiful, clear sky, making him seem to be a symbol of idealism. Honour and Fleming (1992) say that this famous photograph added to Che Guevara's fame, and he immediately gained "universal recognition as a potent icon" (p. 849). Moreover, they state that Che came to be a symbol of "many aspirations" among students (p. 850).
During the late sixties, young student protesters needed an icon to symbolize their feelings against the Vietnam War, and it was Che who filled that vacant space. In 1968, students around the world took part in mutinies, and Che was the best icon to identify with, due to the release of the poster and his recent death (Castañeda, 1998). Castañeda writes that just after a few weeks of Guevara's death, the Vietnam War continued to release rage everywhere, especially among college students. There were protests at New York's Columbia University; in Paris, students revolted in the Latin Quarter; in Mexico, marching students in the plaza of Tlatelolco were killed while protesting (Castañeda, 1998, p. 392).
All of these students had something in common. They were holding posters
of Alberto Korda's picture of Che. Castañeda says that "it was
Che Guevara's death at that particular time that allowed him to voice the
desires and dreams of the millions who bore his image" (p. 392). In
the seventies, the use of the image of Che continued, this time in the Universidad
Nacional de Colombia (one of the most important universities in the country).
According to Benavides-Vanegas (2005), for several years the students damaged
the statue of one known Colombian figure named Santander (an advocate for
the law), and painted a giant graffiti of Che Guevara's face. They also
replaced the plaza's name, "Plaza Santander," for "Plaza
Che Guevara" (p. 55). After ten years and several attempts to restore
the statue of Santander, the university finally gave up and the plaza became
"Plaza Che Guevara" (Benavides-Vanegas, 2005, p. 56). This is
an example of both the need for an icon and the premature misinterpretation
of Che Guevara. Students put somebody in their plaza that was not from their
country, did not obey laws, had a disorganized appearance (opposite to Santander)
and had little interest in their own country; yet they felt that Che was
their hero. Perhaps Che Guevara's image helped them to communicate their
rebelliousness, but the real meaning of his life was either misunderstood
or unknown.
During the sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, and in the present, Che
Guevara's image has endured among students. However, to rely on the sixties
as the cause of the icon's increased fame is not enough. Several other factors
contribute to the popularity of Che's image, such as the way Che died, and
his attractiveness, which led to the versatility of the icon.
The way Che died, after combat in the jungles of Bolivia, is an important factor in the popularity of the icon. His death evokes a feeling of compassion, with its similarities to the death of Jesus. According to Anderson (1997), Che weighed about 110 pounds when they found him, and he was almost unrecognizable because of the overgrown hair and the months spent starving in the jungle. When the Bolivian Army captured Che, he could barely walk; however, they made him walk all the way to an abandoned school called "La Higuera" (Anderson, 1997). People gathered at the side of the path to watch the unrecognizable Che struggle over to the school.
After Che spent the day enclosed in an old classroom (there were no prisons in the town), a lieutenant named Mario Teran shot him in the chest six times (Castañeda, 1998). According to Anderson, Teran was specifically instructed not to shoot him in the face so that people would recognize him (Anderson, 1997). Che was asked if he wanted to say his last words, and according to Castañeda, he said: "Tell Fidel that this failure does not mean the end of the revolution…tell Aleida to forget this, remarry and be happy, and keep the children studying. Ask the soldiers to aim well." (Castañeda, 1998, p. 401). Anderson (1997) describes this as well, but adds that the oral account throughout the years is that he said, "Shoot coward, you are only going to kill a man" (p. 739). Then, several members of the Bolivian army started debating whether to decapitate him or cut off his hands. They decided on the latter and buried his body secretly in the jungle (Castañeda, 1998).
His death became widely known, making headlines in newspapers all around the world with another powerful picture taken by Freddy Alborta. With this picture, Castañeda (1998) says, "The Christlike image prevailed" and Che's admirers reinforced their slogan "Che lives!" (xiv). In this picture, Che is dead, with wide-open eyes slightly smiling as if he were saying Jesus' words: "forgive them God, because they do not know what they are doing." The news media made a figure like Che Guevara into a martyr, and more susceptible to immortality. The more a person suffers in life, and the more tragic his or her death is, the more the consumers of their images sympathize with them. One example of this is Frida Kahlo, who, according to Mencimer (2002), because of her suffering and her commercialized image, she is "The female Che Guevara" (p. 26).
Apart from Che Guevara's death, there is another fact that makes him a widely likable icon: his attractiveness. According to O'Hagan (2004), Che Guevara would not be portrayed so widely if he were not good-looking (para. 12). O'Hagan (2004) explains that when Paul Webster, the film producer of "The Motorcycle Diaries," was asked why he did not choose to make a movie of Fidel Castro, he answered, "There is no myth around Castro. Che was young and beautiful, and that…is what underpins the myth" (as qtd. in O'Hagan, para. 12). Castañeda (1998) also mentions that Che was "good-looking, sure of himself, and, according to his friends, fairly forward with women" (p. 37).
The magic Che created around himself is evident in any biography of him. People who encountered Che Guevara were usually astounded by his charm and appearance. Daniels (2004) describes the reaction of a journalist from Britain who met Che in 1963. The journalist claims that, "with his trademark black beret, and with his shirt open to the waist. He was incredibly beautiful" (as qtd. in Daniels, p. 22). However, Daniels thinks he looked more like "a man distinctly unwashed" (p. 22). As always, beauty is a matter of opinion. Whether or not people consider him to be good-looking, Che is a romantic hero with a face that is attractive enough to exhibit for everybody, on anything, and for everything. Far from the real meaning of his life, Che is a nice-looking worldwide multipurpose icon.
There are two reasons why Che is appealing to people worldwide, regardless of race. One is his extensive traveling to other countries as a public figure from Cuba. He was widely recognized in China, the Soviet Union, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the United States (Castañeda, 1998). The populations of these countries embrace almost all races in the world. The other reason is that his physique itself was not stereotypical of "Hispanic," "Asiatic," or any other racial group. According to Harris (2000), "His eyes and mustache appear Asiatic, the darkness of his complexions seems Negroid, and the shape of his nose and cheeks are distinctively European" (p. 243). Thus, the image of Che's face does not comprise a single race, but rather embraces them all, making him a widely portrayed icon regardless of color or any particular features.