Where are the icons of a movement now?

"Jean Genet in Chicago" was a thief's film in many ways, using stolen footage, stolen words and stolen identities. It explored the dichotomy of labels vs. persons; of power vs. sexuality; and of violence at war vs. violent protest. By the end of the film though, where a mask of Jean Genet leads you through the modern city and remembers the protests of the late 60's, one must wonder why the only icon of protest left must be the mask of a dead man.

"There will be no more Stalins, no more Hitlers. The rulers of this most insecure of all worlds are rulers by accident…"- William S. Burroghs, Dead City Radio 1990

I think this is the most interesting effect of the film. The icons of Burroughs, Genet, Ginsberg, and others are only representable by the masked phantoms that wander the city. They can find no contemporary equivalent. Just as there are no true archetypical heads of state left, there are no archetypical revolutionaries to oppose them. That opposition exposes the very core of today's conflicts.

I suppose it could be said that it is the government who holds all of the icons at the moment. The radicals of the conservative movement could easily replace Genet and his crew. In twenty years, this film could be remade with the masks of Ann Coulter, Oliver North, and Karl Rove, wandering empty streets reminiscing about their own crimes of revolution.

I think that this is why this film is appropriate now; as a plea for the rebirth of a resistance to conflict (as silly as that may sound). The mistakes of the past are clear in the film. The icons are outed as persons, with the most basic of human impulses. Yet the conflicts are still necessary, and the need to protest is part of the democratic process. I imagine the best question I arrive at due to this set of movies is, since we know now that our icons are human what will be the new model of successful protest? I think the piece is also the answer, in a world driven by media: media itself is the model.