Deshpande Summary

In Deshpande' article "The Confident Gaze" he talks about the National Geographic's special issue "India Turning Fifty," on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of India's Independence. In his article he talks about the cover page of the issue how it shows an Indian boy who is painted in all red and his eyes are glaring straight in to the camera. The significance of showing this boy is what Deshpande describes saying that photographers that take pictures for National Geographic magazine try to get the "Innocent attractiveness" in there photographs. Explaining how photographs that are taken in different countries of different cultures are edited, "polished with gleaming lights and perfection of the position of the object to change the perspective of what he calls, "The Western World Viewers." So the sorroundings or areas that they photographer is in to get these photographs, are a lot different then images that are portrayed in a magazine photo. So the audience of National Geographic are not given the real aspect of what is actually happening where the photographer is and they change the actual photo to put the viewing world in a "happy place" so we become interested and hooked in to read the magazine and stay focused on the articles. He also goes on about how National Geographic magazine covers or represents all the troubling issues or situations around the world and how they, "can sanitize and even beautify the blood and the gore of the conflict. This power to transform the most repulsive results of the human actions around the world into images that are digestible is what makes for the culture of National Geographic." So the repulsive and gory images that the photographer is seeing in real life are nowhere compared to what is being portrayed to the western veiwer and we are not able to grasp the real concept or reality of what is happening. So we will never be able to see through the eyes of the photographer.