 Guevara remains both a revered and reviled historical figure , polarized in the collective imagination in a multitude of biographies , memoirs , essays , documentaries , songs , and films . As a result of his perceived martyrdom , poetic invocations for class struggle , and desire to create the consciousness of a " new man " driven by moral rather than material incentives , he has evolved into a quintessential icon of various leftist @-@ inspired movements . Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century , while an Alberto Korda photograph of him , titled Guerrillero Heroico ( shown ) , was cited by the Maryland Institute College of Art as " the most famous photograph in the world . " 
