POPULARIZING THE CITY: URBAN IMAGERY IN THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE, 1950-1984.

摘要

This study aimed to examine American cultural values and assumptions by analyzing their articulation in popular urban imagery presented in city articles published in the National Geographic Magazine since 1950. The National Geographic was selected for this study because it is a popular and influential mass medium which has featured articles on cities throughout the world for many decades.;This study found that the Geographic presents the American city as the exemplification of the virtues of responsible capitalism, paternalistic democracy, and success achieved through personal initiative and hard work. Although Geographic articles on American cities which were published during the past fifteen years have been more likely to feature certain negative aspects of the city than have those published earlier, this study found no fundamental change in the Magazine's tendency to portray American cities in largely positive terms.;This study found that the Geographic tends to evaluate cities outside the United States against standards presumed to be set by American cities. The Magazine portrays cities in noncommunist countries more favorably than those in communist nations. It equates evidence of Western influence in Third World cities with modernity and progress, while it frames indigenous aspects of Third World culture as "exotic" tourist attractions.;In seeking to uncover the underlying values and assumptions which have shaped the National Geographic's framing of cities, we have argued that the importance of this exercise lies in its ability to help us to understand dominant American cultural values and beliefs which the Geographic, in its approach to the city, both reflects and reinforces. These values, we have maintained, are ones which support and reinforce the existing social, economic, and political structure.;This study used qualitative analysis to examine both pictures and text in order to uncover the recurring themes and assumptions which shape the Magazine's approach to the city. It compared the Geographic's coverage of American cities with its treatment of cities in other parts of the world over a thirty-five-year period. It drew upon scholarship in the fields of urban history, mass media studies, and tourist studies in its approach and methodology.