Deshpande-summary

Jesse Conroy
English 100/0

In Shekhar Deshpande’s Article, The National Geographic’s misty lens, Deshpande claims that the National Geographic deploys us images that we as a western culture will find entertaining. The images show how unlike us the rest of the world is and often suggests this in a way that promotes “they” should be like us. Deshpande uses a National Geographic volume called India Turning Fifty to support his claim. Deshpande states, “The poverty in India, long a favorite and often the only reference for Western audiences is transformed in the pages of the magazine into an observable commodity.” The poverty that takes place in India, according to Deshpande is used by National Geographic’s photographers to develop scenes that will catch the American eye. Whether it be at home or on the table of a dentist office, the magazine pictures can be viewed without being introduced to the conditions the people in the pictures are subject to. Desphande says, “This power to transform the most repulsive results of human actions around the world into images that are digestible is what makes for the culture of National Geographic.” The gleaming pictures in the print of a National Geographic magazine are made to look beautiful even when their subject is not. National Geographic uses this style of photography to sell their magazines. Deshpande states, “It provides innocuous details of life in India, without any reference to the real troubles of the people or the global conditions in which the country is implicated in.” Deshpande is explaining how the pictures are showing us what life is like in India. The pictures cannot show the whole story however. They leave out the poverty and the pain and suffering that comes with it. Westerners often relate to these pictures by seeing how different these cultures are from theirs. Deshpande goes on to say, “The wars and the subsequent arms race since Independence are less important than the plight of urban poverty. The regional conflicts are more important than the difficult conditions of the people in keeping pace with their material wealth.” Most Americans enjoy their lives when they have obtained what we was westerners believe will make “one” happy. Examples of these things are jobs, cars, houses, jewelry and the list goes on. Our material dependency sometime leads us to believe that other people, even the ones in India are looking for the same happiness. When we pick up a volume of National Geographic and view its pictures we miss the importance of what is really going in the scene. We are entertained by the pictures beautiful print and its majestic images. We relate to the scene in the wrong way by comparing these people to ourselves.