Comparing Lutz And Collins 'Analysis Of' Berber Bride's Fair

In the issue of January 1980, the article “Berber Brides Fair," by Carla Hunt puts forth some of the arguments portrayed by Lutz and Collins’ analysis of National Geographic Magazine. In their analysis, they show how in a way National Geographic is biased because it portrays a view of third world cultures as interesting but also as something Westerners could never imagine actually living through. The interesting key points in their photographs are idealizing but only in a way to interest the readers and capture their attention. Therefore I do agree with Lutz and Collins analysis, because to me National Geographic does seem very biased and unreliable.

In the article, women are shown to be the center of attention, but not as a dominant role.

Everything presented in the pictures seems to show a sense of kinship and respect for one another. The men at the wedding ritual seem to be very supportive of each other. It also seems to paint the pretty side of the picture but not the effects, in the article we briefly learn about how common it is for divorce for the Berbers, but never do we get an explanation of the reasons why the divorces occur. Indeed National Geographic idealizes people and shows all the happy parts of their culture rituals but never the downfalls. It is also shown that the social context presented in the article is very simple, they have camels and tents where tradesmen gather during the festival grounds to sell their products. Indeed we are unaware if the Berbers have actual homes or stores made of stone or wood rather than tents, because the way National Geographic depicts their living ways are very simple and close related to nature. Since it is the only way to portray other cultures around the world, National Geographic seems to only show the positive things, the things Westerners would be interested in. The idea of the magazine seems more of a self popular interest rather than an interest in captivating the truth of cultures. I agree with Lutz and Collins statement, “it presents an idealized and exotic world free of pain or conflict, a world stumbling or marching to on the path to modernity.” It is very clear that in order to actually learn about a culture we have to actually go live and be present in the moment; we cannot always believe what we