During the twentieth century, more than two hundred films about, set in, or dealing with Africa were made in the United States. Yet most Americans have never experienced Africa firsthand, and it could be argued that America has had stronger financial and ideological ties to the Middle East or Latin America. Despite this, Africa exists as a fascinating and well-defined place in the American imagination. Even those without personal experience of Africa can describe what it ought to be like: dark, lush jungles, broad grasslands, sweltering deserts, and, in the distance, drums and animal noises; a place of breathtaking beauty with shades of adventure and danger. Americans can confidently describe an Imagined Africa because they are steeped in the American discourse about Africa. “Africa,” for Americans, is a construct, an idea that encompasses the British imperial experience, ideas of race, America's position in the world, and concepts about the Other (conceived as the developing world in general, and also specifically Africa). American ideas about Africa, through the medium of film, have included racialized and gendered tropes that defined Africans as either faithful servants or dangerous savages, and presented Africa as a place of beauty and danger, and most importantly, as a place for white people to act in, fall in love in, change, and dominate. These notions, reflected and reinforced by popular culture, the media, the government, and, for a long time, experts on Africa, created a discourse, a pervasive language through which Africa was and is encountered.