"What's Your Take on Che Guavara?" & "Revolutionary Comic Books" Seminar

 God Forbid We should ever be Twenty years without a rebellion.” Thomas Jefferson 1787

The first duty of a revolutionary is to be educated. - Ernesto “Che” Guevara

Revolution definition

a forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favor of a new system.

Good day class, and welcome to Mr. Turnbull’s seminars.  If you are in this class on an “odd” day, you are taking “What’s your take on Che Guevara?” A class about the colossally significant, polarizing, controversial and notorious 20th century revolutionary figure Ernesto “Che” Guevara.  To quote his celebrated biographer, Jon Lee Anderson,  “Guevara’s dream was to end poverty and injustice in Latin America and the developing world through armed (guerrilla) revolution.”   He became an enemy of the United States and was eventually executed by Bolivian government forces backed by the CIA.

By studying Che, you are learning world history.  This is because Che was a world traveler, adventurer and diplomat who was born in Argentina, but traveled to and lived in Chile, Peru, Columbia, Uruguay, Bolivia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba, the United States, India, Japan, Egypt, Syria, Algeria, Mali, Burinka Faso, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Morocco, Spain, France, Ireland, Austria, (west) Germany, Italy, Romania, Pakistan, the Former USSR, (which included Hungary, Ukraine, Bulgaria and other former Soviet states), China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), Sumatra, Singapore, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Congo, Benin, Ghana, Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname and Guyana.   You can take this class in many different directions physically.

In this class you will produce artwork and write essays, leading up to your final assignment:  A 15+ work hour project of your choice where you give the class “your take on Che Guevara.”  

If you are on an even day, you are taking my class “Revolutionary Graphic Novels”.  This class will study famous world revolutions, revolutions from varying times in history that happened in Ancient Rome (Now Italy), Saxony (now Germany), the Pueblo of Zuni (inside New Mexico), the United States of America, France, Haiti, Russia, Cuba, Iran and the Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities (formerly Mexico).  Therefore, by studying Revolutions, you study the world.  You can take this class in many different directions.

In this class you will produce artwork and write essays, leading up to your final assignment: a 10+ hour project of your choice where you give the class an in-depth response to the question: “What is your take on Revolutions?”

Both classes talk and discuss Revolution.

Revolutions are often violent.

  Even Revolutionary changes in fashion style cause conflict and ridicule about what are the coolest cut of jeans.  

For example, the American Revolution wasn’t just people throwing tea in the Boston harbor and people in powdered wigs signing pieces of paper.  The American Revolutionary War was bloody and violent.  There was executions by firing squad, people getting shot in the streets, peoples houses were burnt down, families were displaced and there was sadistic, exploitative episodes of slavery that are unspeakable. 

Therefore, when we talk about Revolutions, we need to be respectful, because we are talking about events where people were hurt and people died.  

 If you consider more recent Revolutions, then we are talking about recent events where people are hurt and people died. It is important to be respectful and considerate of everyone in the classroom and their feelings and whom you may know who was or is effected by revolution.  

RULE #1:  NO INDOCTRINATION

As a teacher, it is not my job to tell you who is good and who is bad.  It is not my place to tell you what to believe religiously or politically.   That would be inappropriate. This is because I’d be running the risk of performing “Indoctrination”.  Indoctrination is the process of teaching a person to accept a set of beliefs uncritically.  My job is to do the opposite; to teach you to think critically.  Education is not forced upon our students from the top down.  

  But I must warn you, if you believe 1+1=3… well … you can believe what you want, but as a teacher it concerns me.  And I must mark your answer as wrong, for the same reasons why all artwork must meet requirement to activate engagement and persistence.  This 

My job IS to teach you vocabulary and verbal skills, mathematics, art history, history and visual art (which is my specialty).  Through art lessons I advocate and teach observation, reflection, expression, experimentation, community, craft, imagination, engagement and persistence.  Therefore, the first rule of this class is the “Indoctrination Button”.  You, as a student, can stop the class at any moment and make claim of feeling indoctrinated.  There is a red button in the front of the class.  If you feel like I am beginning to indoctrinate, you may push the button and make your claim.  Once the claim is made, the class will vote by blind raise of hand if the claim is valid indoctrination, at which point I must change the curriculum. It’s kind of like saying “Objection” in a court room and the judge “overruling” or “sustaining”.    

So if you want to believe 1+1 = 3, and I put a math equation on the board that says 1+1 = 2, you can hit the red button and claim “Indoctrination”.  We will then ask the class by vote of hand if I am indoctrinating the student for teaching “1+1 = 2”.  In this case, everyone raises their hand and agrees 1+1 =2 as this country runs by majority rule so you need to sit down because your claim has been “Overruled”.  

RULE #2: CHALLENGING THE CURRICULUM

The red button can also be hit and a claim can be made of “Challenging the Curriculum”.  This means you want to see my references to make sure I’m not just making stuff up.  This is important and don’t hesitate to challenge the curriculum.  This is because sometimes the “Truth is Stranger than Fiction”.  Sometimes I read from history and I don’t believe what I am reading!  I do it too and you should get in the habit of asking for sources.

Stories of revolutionary struggle are inspiration, shocking, against all odds.  It is one reason we are so drawn to them; many revolutionary figures are idolized.  But we should always attempt to separate the humans of history with mythology.  

The authors, artists, biographers and historians we will read have their own opinions and political leanings.  I promise to supply a large quantity of so you may hear all perspectives.  My opinions as the educator will be disclosed, as sharing them would make me run the risk of indoctrination.  

Our first lesson won’t even talk about revolution.

*  For our first exercise, I don’t want you to even read.  

Rather, we will debating Aesthetics.  

a set of principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty, especially in art.

*  Manga

*  Impressionism

*  Underground

*  Realism 

We have 4 graphic novels in front of us telling the real life story of Ernesto “Che” Guevara.  We are going to start by not even talking about the character of the man.  We are going to start our debate on how he is portrayed visually in 4 different art styles.  These 4 styles are Manga, Impressionism, DIY and Realistic Illustration.  

A little history of these 4 styles:  Manga is just Japanese for “comic book”.  The Japanese have a  long, beautiful history of book creation and illustration that has matured in the modern day into a distinctive aesthetic.

Impressionism developed in response to the invention of the Camera in the later 1800s and was less interested in depicting reality as it has and switched lenses to make art more poetic, expressive and to proverbially give the viewer the IMPRESSION of a place.

DIY stands for “Do-It-Yourself” - Spain Rodriguez’s style is empowering because his materials and budget for creating comics is super low, making his craft accessible.  

On the contrary to impressionism, realistic illustration attempts to portray reality as it really is, as if to mimic a photograph.  It is appropriate when the artists is attempting to portray reality as its really is, such as when one is on an archeological dig or is attempting to get an exact likeness of a person.  

View the 4 graphic novels, don’t even read them yet, just look at the pictures.  Decide which aesthetic is your favorite.  Find the group of people who agree with you.  Jointly write down as many credible reasons as possible why your aesthetic is the best.

The group who has the longest credible list of answers will receive an A, the rest of the class will Get a B+.   If you have less than 5 answers as to why your aesthetic is the best, you will get a C.  

As a bonus, please observe the old magic show flyers I have bought in.  Extra credit, answer if you prefer this magic show aesthetic to the 4 books presented.

Got it?  Good.  Good luck.