Abstract:Students of intercultural communication have utilized almost exclusively the writings of social scientists. Literature (prose fiction, poetry and biography) and film have been little used except to illustrate what social scientists have discussed. The potential of literature and film for our understanding of intercultural relations is conisderable, however, and can be explored both through the analysis of cultural patterns expressed in the works, and in the analysis of intercultural themes, of conflicts and resolutions by the characters, in novels, biographies and films. A recent study of the latter kind identified several significant ‘coping mechanisms’ of ethnic minorities in the United States which distinguished those who prevailed in a world of cultural pressures from those who did not. Such attitudes and abilities had been overlooked in the methods and goals of most social‐science writings. Moreover, there is evidence that literature majors in college have performed better in some intercultural encounters—as US Peace Corps volunteers—than have graduates of programs in the social or physical sciences.There are many problems, however, in drawing upon literature and film. One problem is the possibility for gross distortion of a people by a writer or filmmaker whose audience has no means of checking against reality. These images, in fact, can receive such wide acceptance that future audiences expect to have this image confirmed in subsequent works (‘standardization of error’). Even very good works, when they achieve the status of ‘classics’, lead readers and audiences to want more books and films which reconfirm a simplified and outdated image. This works against smaller, poorer and non‐English‐speaking societies especially, as only those works which fit the expectations of English‐speaking readers or viewers elsewhere are likely to be translated and published or produced.Literature allows for a much more varied manner of story telling than does the conventional social‐science genre. It allows for more varied points of view, more emotional involvement, and the taking of a stand on issues; in addition, it can draw upon all of the resources thatevokean experience rather than beingaboutexperiences. We need to utilize more fully the power of the image and word in our understanding of in