This book is not about the representation of various groups of Americans, defined in terms of gender, ethnicity and sexuality. Instead, we are concerned with the uses of cinematic images of identity. With reference to representations of identity and identity politics, the production and consumption of Hollywood movies have undergone substantial developments since the presidency of Ronald Reagan. In terms of production, this period has seen considerable penetration of non-white, non-straight, and non-male filmmakers into the Hollywood mainstream, while increasing market segmentation and sectionalisation of audiences have problematised the very notions of ‘mainstream’ and its other, the margins. A measure of these shifts was indicated in 1992 by Spike Lee's appeal to prominent African Americans to fund the completion of Malcolm X. The issue and its context attracted controversy; but what would have been almost unthinkable even as recently as the 1980s was that a major studio was prepared to spend as much as $18 million (out of a total original budget of $26 million) on a biopic of a black separatist icon. Although Lee and others have complained rightly that African American directors find it difficult to obtain block- buster-level budgets, the early 1990s have seen films directed by African Americans and other non-whites distributed much more widely and in greater numbers than ever.