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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 6 page discussion of the criticism that has been waged by some authors against "National Geographic". Analyzing those criticisms and evaluating them against one specific article in particular this paper concludes that "National Geographic" is not a political publication and it is not intended to be. The publication's "images are formed, selected and controlled, purveyed and read" (as one author has contended) all right but they are presented for the specific purpose of giving us a view of the exotic and the interesting not the political and controversial. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
6 pages (~225 words per page)
File: AM2_PPntlGeo.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
recognized in the world. The magazine has forged its reputation through its depiction of exotic lands and animals and interesting cultures and lifeways. It audience, largely middle class
suburbanite EuroAmericans, has always been eager for a glimpse into peoples that differ from them. "National Geographic" has excelled in filling this market niche. Like most publications, however,
"National Geographic" has received its share of criticism. In "Reading National Geographic", for example, authors Catherine Lutz and Jane Collins contend that the magazine has whitewashed the ills of
the world in favor of glorifying the exotic. These authors claim that a particular focus of "National Geographic" is gaining the American publics empathy for the cultures that the
magazine depicts (Lutz and Collins, 1993). That goal necessarily shapes the magazines textual and photographic presentation. Lutz and Collins (1993, pg. 11) write that this shaping can even
extend to the way that: "images are formed, selected and controlled, purveyed and read"
A prerequisite to American acceptance of the images that are found in "National Geographic", however, is
that these images be presented in a way that meets with our cultural expectations. This means that the issues surrounding race, gender, socioeconomic status, even the issues surrounding ecology
be presented in a light that is acceptable to the EuroAmerican readership of this magazine. Lutz and Collins (1993) suggest, in fact, that subject matter that does not allow
"National Geographics" readers to validate their own middle class values is most often omitted or changed in a way to make it more palatable. These authors equate this process,
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