El Che, not really el Che himself, but Korda's photo of him, has become the symbol of youthful rebellion.
Think of Mickey Mouse. People do not like mice, nor do they want to live in ghtr same house with mice, but Mickey Mouse is the symbol of juvenile merriment.
Hitler was too old to be a charismatic symbol, and people remember his defeat. Hitler has had an army of publicists portraying him as the Devil since the 1930's. Either you hate Hitler or you are Anti-Semetic.
Che was young when he died, and was much more photogenic. Mao is not the new Che, Mao is a less effective marketing symbol: he's too traditional to use his image to show any sort of youthful rebellion: he's on the PRC's money, fer Chrissake. I don;t see how Mao enters into the topic of Che, anyway.
"Motocycle diaries" was a great film. I am not particularly fond of Che, who was, after all, a rather incompetent and misguided revolutionary, but he did have an exciting life, and like Jesus, he was betrayed and ignominiously murdered by those he fought against. He was famous because he embodied the standard myth of youthful rebellion.
Mao also was a rebel in his youth, but he died as an old, annoying man with foul breath and yellow teeth. You have to be more like Gandalf to die old and still be an iconic symbol. Of course, Galdalf does not die, does he?
