Shekhar Deshpande "The Confident Gaze"

Many Americans receive what they believe as valuable information through the visual and written texts of the magazine National Geographic. One may look into the article, dazzled by the lives of different cultures, often expressing curiosity. This is what draws the reader in, the different aspects of different cultures that Americans aren’t used to and want to familiarize themselves with other cultures without ever having to leave their own. An author by the name of Shekhar Deshpande explores this topic related to National Geographic. His viewpoint is that through the images that the editors are able to manipulate, the photography in National Geographic doesn’t tell the whole story of the culture. It tells the story that Americans want to hear. “While we admire the accomplishments of its photographers to bring us the rest of the world, we forget that the photographs and the contexts in which they are placed represent a very conscious effort by the editors to make the world a happy place and a happy place especially for the Western eye” (Par. 9). Even though the photography is quite amazing and admiring in National Geographic, it still doesn’t represent the whole truth of the culture such as; political conflicts, wars, religious conflicts, etc. Deshpande goes on to say that what the ‘Western eye’ desires to see is a sense of progress towards their own culture from other cultures. “The primitive, often a focus of the magazine, serves the same function by providing images of what ‘would have been’ if the West had not taken a march toward ‘civilization’” (Par. 15). This sense of ethnocentrism is blinding our perception of the reality of what is really happening in other cultures. National Geographic is informative, but only informative about the information they wish to teach.