A semiotic history of one of the world's most widely reproduced,
ideologically fraught photographs.First-time author Casey revels in
the paradoxes behind the global dissemination of Alberto Korda's
famous 1960 snapshot of a defiant Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the
Argentine-born Cuban insurgent leader. This ubiquitous image has
exploited a communist stalwart as a brand to sell vodka and
condoms, turned an atheist into a patron saint of the downtrodden
and entangled an opponent of private property in an ongoing
worldwide copyright dispute. It adorns the T-shirts and dorm walls
of millions of college students who have no idea who Guevara was,
or that he stood for something more consequential than rebellious
cool. Casey offers a comprehensive tour of the icon's progress. In
the mountains of Latin America, a tourist industry retraces
Guevara's circuitous path, while leftist activists and
authoritarian governments both claim his legacy. In the streets of
Thailand, he shares bumper-sticker space with right-wing icon
Rambo, both of them shaggy jungle guerillas. In the galleries of
Europe and the United States, artists, conservatives, radicals,
gays, religious folk and entrepreneurs battle over what the photo
means. The author, Buenos Aires bureau chief for Dow Jones
Newswires, sometimes bogs down in the minutiae of Latin American
politics, but he maintains a clear focus on what the Korda photo
says to him. For all Guevara's failures as a revolutionary in the
Congo and in Bolivia (where he was captured and killed), and for
all the violent consequences of his idealism, Guevara remains to
Casey a symbol of underdog resilience. Now that the image has been
all but divorced from its initial context and meaning, he dreams
that it can transcend ideology as well and become an icon of
hope.Meandering but heady exploration of a focal point of politics
and popular culture. (Kirkus Reviews)
In 1960, Cuban photographer Alberto Korda captured fabled
revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara in what has become history's
most reproduced photo. Now Michael Casey tells the remarkable story
of this image, detailing its evolution from a casual snapshot to an
omnipresent graphic--plastered on everything from T-shirts to vodka
to condoms--and into a copyrighted brand. As Casey follows it
across the Americas and through cyberspace, he finds governments
exploiting it and their dissenters attacking it, merchants selling
it and tourists buying it. We see how this image is, ultimately, a
mercurial icon that still ignites passion--and a reflection of how
we view ourselves.
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