The Confident Gaze - Emily M.

In our English 100 class on Tuesday afternoon we were asked to view a photograph from National Geographic. As students, we were just supposed to focus on the straight forward things that we noticed about the photograph. Things such as the colors being portrayed, basic things about the persons face, and shaping of the photo. Then we were asked to write down our thoughts about what each thing we noticed meant without reading the little excerpt about the photo. This was how we saw India for that day.
In Shakher Deshpande's article, "The Confident Gaze", this is sort of what he’s saying. That we put our own thoughts in a bowl and we pick out what we think, let’s say India, is about. We learn about their culture, and the people just from looking at a picture. We don’t see the pictures as hurt, pain, gore, or violence. We choose to see them as beautiful because that’s how the photographers from National Geographic pose them. Deshpande’s states, “We forget that photographs and the contexts in which they are placed represents a very conscious effort by the editors to make the world a happy place, and a happy place especially for the Western eye”(Deshpande- pg 2, paragraph 3). Here I believe that he’s saying we don’t want to think about the hardships that others are going through, when were millions of miles away from them to help. We look past the pain the picture is portraying and we focus on the beauty (India) is giving us.
I believe that Deshpande also leans on the idea that we, as the Western Culture, are the ones wanting to help everybody. We want to be able to view a people and say “wow”. That because a civilization is not like us, it is something to “Ah” over and view pictures of that we bring our own meaning to. National Geographic gives their readers what they want to see. But by this are they ignoring reality? National Geographic is meant to inform our culture of different societies, of different people. But are we really getting the whole picture through their photos, or are they simple covering up reality with beauty to allow us to continue living our lives without a care for those other civilizations?