Hollywood has always functioned as a transnational institution, reflecting and promoting America’s international relationships with other countries. Many Hollywood films have focused on European settings—for example, The Bourne Ultimatum

(2007),Taken (2009), Bridge of Spies

(2015)—reflecting America’s close political and business ties with Europe. But other movies—Mao’s Last Dancer (2010), Battleship (2012), Bourne Legacy (2012), and Shanghai Calling

(2012) set in Asia and Blood Diamond (2006), Invictus (2009), and Timbuktu (2015) in Africa—reflect other business and political partners with America.

To what extent do you think this increase in Asian and African presence in American cinema reflects the increase in their presence in America’s business/political relations and vice versa? How do these Hollywood priorities shape U.S.

Americans’ views of other countries and cultures?