This paper presents findings from a series interviews with Korean-American residents of Philadelphia. These interviews dealt with the informants pre-immigration experiences with images of the United States in movies, television programs, and magazines. The interviewees were asked to evaluate the role of these images in their decisions to immigrate and about their post-immigration responses to the relationship between these images and the reality of life in the United States. The analysis presented here focuses on ways in which reactions to the images might have been shaped by economic constraints and by values developed through formal education.