Deshpande Summary

In the article, "The Confident Gaze" written by Shekhar Deshpande, he claims that National Geographic magazine "is quite sensitive to trouble spots and trouble contexts; it does not pretend to evade such situations. But while it covers or represents such issues or situations, it can sanitize and even the blood and gore of conflict." This very much describes how the images that you see in the magazine are posed and set up to be aesthetically pleasing to the eyes of the Western culture. Shekhar says, "It is as if the world needs to be posed in the appropriate way to the Western observer, he could not see bare essentials." Western civilization likes to think that anyone not living up to "their" standards or with the same lifestyles and technology as them, are below them and somehow their lives are not rich and fulfilling. Because of this, National Geographic magazine caters towards the needs of the Western observer and shows life in "third world" countries as poverty stricken and in need. Western observers are, in a sick way, entertained by this idea. The photographs are set up to make the people appear "lesser than" rather than their true life situations. Shekhar also states, "the photographs are rich in their content, but entirely dishonest in their relationship to the environment or the context." It sad how the truth comes out about such an amazing magazine that has won photography awards. We are introduced to National Geographic in elementary school to expose us to other countries and situations around the world. It is unfortunate that we were not told that the photos were set up therefore we grow up assuming that every country is "lower" than us and poverty stricken.