Deshpande

In Shekar Deshpande’s article “The Confident Gaze”, he speaks of National Geographic Magazine and the role they’ve played in exposing the world to western cultures. Deshpande pays particular attention to the fact that their pictures are very powerful and that we should be cautious with that power. He describes that “Middle class parents have regarded the investment in the subscription as necessary for the exposure that the magazine gives their children about the world” (par 2). Through this statement he shows us that the majority of Americans have come to trust and even rely on their pictures for information about the outside world. Making this even more clear, he goes on to say that their pictures “could appeal to the semi-literate as well as the literate by providing an entry into a field that needs to be taken with caution and respect for the ‘other’ world” (par 14). This power these pictures hold over people is something he is very clear about, and something he warns us about. Deshapnde cautions us that this influence can be misleading if not handled properly by providing us with a front cover picture National Geogrphic had on India’s 50th anniversary of independence. It held a dirty and small boy coated in red, looking at the screen in a longing and pitiful way. But despite this boys sad appearance, this occasion happens to be one that Indians hold much joy and happiness on. Deshapnde goes on to show us an extreme of a picture’s power by illustrating that they even have “the power to transform the most repulsive results of human actions around the world into images that are digestible” for average Americans (par 11). All in all, Deshpande teaches us two things: 1.) that pictures are wonderfully powerful tools, and 2.) that this power needs to be handled with caution and respect.