Examines how the notion of 'American' has changed from American cinema up to the 1950s.

Part I. Embodying a New Race for America: The Question of American Hope in Mississippi Masala and Lone Star: 1. Mississippi Masala: merging ethnic and racial images; 2. Lone Star: an archeology of American culture and the American psyche; Part II. Great Fights for the Century: 3. Raging Bull: revisioning the body, soul and cinema; 4. The black gladiator and the Spartacus syndrome: race, redemption, and the ring; Part III. The Image and the Word: Literature and Film: 5. 'Fresh starts': Bugsy, The Great Gatsby, and the American dream; 6. Imaging masochism and the politics of pain: 'facing' the word in the cinetext of Seize the Day; Part IV. Documentary and Fiction: 7. Documenting the body in Modern Times: Love, play, and repression in Chaplin's silent classic; 8. Spike Lee, Denzel Washington, and the rebirth of Malcolm X: cinetext for a black American dream.