When I was visiting New York City a few weeks ago, I almost doubled over laughing when I passed by a t-shirt shop prominently featuring a shirt design that looked something like what you see at the right. I laugh because, as I'm sure you know, Che Guevara's image has been so commodified across the globe that it's clear most folks donning a Che shirt have little idea who he actually was. That is to say, he's become a distilled idea - a rough approximation. The particularities of his life and politics have been stripped away and all that is left is an image with no particular meaning. In the hands of the consumer, his image might be called on to symbolize general teenage angst, or a general cynical attitude towards government. When I was in Singapore, I was amazed at this phenomenon. You could find t-shirts, key chains, wallets, backpacks -- anything you can imagine with his image emblazoned on it.
So perhaps it's quite fitting that a lock of his hair just sold for $100,000. Yes, that's right - one hundred thousand dollars! It's reminiscent of an item I recently saw for sale at Bloomingdale's new store in San Francisco. Briskly walking through the store (since I clearly can't afford anything there), I noticed out of the corner of my eye a relatively small crystal statue of the Buddha. It couldn't have been more than a foot tall. It's price tag? $10,000. Wha-what?
Folks, capitalism is pretty amazing. It can chew up and commodify even the most radical elements within it. What's next? A Sotheby's auction of Marx's sock collection? Actually, that sounds totally feasible. And that kind of makes me a little sick!
i'm singaporean, and i must say that you're absolutely right about the phenomenon that is che guevara merchandise. when i first encountered it as prints on shirts--reckon slightly more than a decade ago, it seemed to me like a comical political stab at what is commonly deemed as our fascist government. but when it sprang overnight like a fashion trend, leading to your observation of matching bags, pendants, etc, i kinda realised otherwise.
up until today, i can safely say that while most people know of che guevara as a politically controversial character, the full range of political symbolism entailed in wearing his countenance is lost on most. also, the ironically funny thing is that most people's education of guevara is likely limited to their watching of the movie "The Motorcyle Diaries" (2004) featuring Gael García Bernal. seems like mass consumption is its own self-fulfilling prophecy.