Summary Of Catherine A. Lutz And Jane L. Collins Reading National Geographic

In Catherine A. Lutz and Jane L. Collins’ book Reading National Geographic, they claim that the National Geographic Magazines tend to portray third world cultures as exotic through photographs to make it easier for Westerners to dominate and marginalize them, even if this is unintentional. “We are pointing to the nature of its photographs as mass-produced images sold to a reading (viewing) public” (Lutz and Collins 1993: 5). This implies that National Geographic’s main focus is for readers to stay entertained, emphasizing more on entertainment content rather than the importance of the actual subject. Mass culture is both manipulating and degenerating where the people that participate in mass culture products are misled. According to Lutz and Collins, “…mass culture represented production for the masses by dominant class” (Lutz and Collins 1993: 6). The magazine is used in the Western …show more content…
In addition, they argue that National Geographic is a respected magazine that has popularized science. “First, it placed the Geographic in the powerful position of being both a broker and a maker of scientific knowledge” (Lutz and Collins 1993: 24). This permits the magazine to be flexible in determining which pictures will run, because the more shocking ones can be used in the name of science, while visually pleasing ones can be utilized for entertainment purposes in order to appeal to the American audience. In Jim Carrier’s article “Nepal’s Sherpa people