Communist tyrants = 21st Kitsch??

I just saw this article on SMH and instantly I had a laugh thinking how Dave would react to this article. A quick reference in Wikipedia, A tyrant (from Greek τυραννος) is a usurper of rightful power, possessing absolute power and ruling by tyranny. And Kitsch is a term categorizing art that is considered an inferior copy of an existing style. That's what this article is all about, where young culture turning communist mass murderers into chic motifs of popular culture superheroes.

As being a designer myself, I couldn't agree more with Louis Nowra, the author who wrote this article. Sometimes I do see people in Sydney streets wearing the infamous mugshot of Che Guevera on a t-shirt as if it was a statement of "trend". And famous designer even created action figures based on him and fetched hundreds of US dollars on the market. I wondering does it make a different to wear a shirt with Hitler on it and a swastika sign at the back? Alot of Australian treating Ned Kelly as a superhero, where he was just a bandit who led a predatory life. But Australian definitely has a different point of view for his notorious bravey by putting his infamous signature piece of helmut on portrait, paintings, movies and even part of the Olympics open ceremony event. There are not just Ned and Che, there is even a shop in Surry Hills dedicated to the Chairman Mao, selling artefacts and gadgets with his image printed on it, where Mao himself, a communist leader who tarnished and wanted to take over Tibet as part of China as a result, Dalai Lama who doesn't believe in Communism was being forced to leave Lhasa and hid in India.

I personally do feel upset to see people portraiting the notorious mass murderers from the past as an icon of chic. Like in the article says, "If Che is regarded as chic, monstrous Mao is seen as kitsch and his image crops up on badges and as a beaming Buddha-like face in paintings and even on curtains. Again, imagine if Hitler or the swastika were used." However, I don't see there is a problem for having a movie about Che, or Ned and his past life. I watched Ned Kelly the movie several times, especially I like to tease Dave by bringing over the DVD to his place, he will hissed at me in disgust cuz he will never ever watch something about a notorious person turn into celebrity. And I do looking forward to watch Motorcycle Diaries about Che's past life before turning a violent cuban revolutionist. I appreciate the art form of films, the cinematography as whole instead of infamous character in the movie as part of the reason why I watched or will watch it.