Oct 21, 2008 12:30 PM
1531 Views
As it is said but to twist a little & aptly so. Che Guevara is all about market. Stupid & I guess therefore Swapna you are right. The Motorcycle Diaries, more than anything else is about 'travelling'.
The movie by 'igniting fake passions' in the youth is trying to market & make some solid money by doing 2 things:
Marketing Guevara & thereby taking the sting out of him/his ideology & channelising the raw youthful angst into the 'lanes & bylanes of the market' whereby that angts hits a cul-de-sac & meets the 'big fat man' with his gun totting buddies & directs you gently but firmly by the arm to the nearest 'call centre' (one just has to see 'Hello' to know what I mean)
promoting travel among the youth in a sweeping, revolutionary way... rounding up the leftovers during its routine 'giant sweep'.
Postscript:
It has been a mystery throughout for me, eversince, Che was promoted as an AD ICON, as to why India/Punjab has failed to promote Bhagat Singh as its own DESI AD ICON.
MY GUESS:
Bhagat Singh I guess is too immediate to our lives & the poverty & neo-colonialist times that we live in. & I guess AD GURUS realise this & in the pants at the mere thought... "what if Bhagat Singh from an AD ICON becomes a beacon of revolutionary 'red' light for the Indian/Punjabi youth?!!"
Speaking about Punjab reality bear in mind just 4 things
Female foeticide (genocidal proportions)
farmers suicide (ditto)
Legal & illegal emigration to the West & into the 'nether' world... Australia & New Zealand (again genocidal proportions)
Drug problem (ditto)
Ain't promoting Bhagat Singh as an AD ICON fraught with "DANGEROUS COLLATERAL DAMAGE TO THE STATUS QUO". Bhagat Singh deep down still is a 'bunker buster'.
& perhaps who knows
by defanging Che Guevara the AD GURUS (of the world of status quo) are also defanging 2 things
Che's & Bhagat's ideology
Marx's & Lenin's Socialism
& above all & ya bet (my apologies!), do we really think the PRESENT-DAY INDIAN YOUTH REQUIRES CHE GUEVARA FOR REVOLUTIONARY FERVOUR...
India had (if one ignores Bhagat Singh) & still has its own NAXALITES.
Che makes a good 'brand symbol' to impress one's g/f. Period!
More blah blah later....
Manu