El Chicuelo/The Kid

Silkscreen, 29 15/16 x 20 1/16 inches. Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC). Courtesy of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics

Cubans so revere Charlie Chaplin that he literally and figuratively has represented ICAIC from its inception. Cubans continue to show Chaplin’s films, named the main movie theater in Havana after him, and have been featuring the image of The Little Tramp in film and festival posters for more than fifty years. The Little Tramp first appeared in 1914 and became Chaplin’s most memorable on-screen character. Always wearing baggy pants, a tight coat, a small bowler hat, and a large pair of shoes, The Little Tramp unsuccessfully attempts to imitate the style and mannerisms of the bourgeoisie. But as little as he had, his empathy for those even less fortunate elevated him to the status of everyman and endeared him to audiences around the world. Chaplin’s heroic depictions of the dispossessed, of workers who were victimized by capitalist industrialization, made him especially popular in Cuba. The iconic Little Tramp remains one of the most universally recognized fictional characters.