(www.imdb.com)
Hello everyone!! How's the year treating you so far? I can't believe it's March already. Black History Month may be over but I still have to post about a classic movie which stood the test of time and that is Coming to America! To me, it's one of those movies that put black people in a more positive light, instead of the usual slave and struggle movies concerning black people. It is one of the highest box office hits worldwide and it's still a gem till this day. It goes to show that romance comedy with black people can still be successful!! While it was a good film, I've noticed a lot of colourism, especially among the female casts. I'll get to that later.
Coming to America, is a romantic comedy based on an African prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy), who is from a fictional African country, Zamunda. Determined to escape an arranged marriage, Akeem and his best friend, Semmi (Arsenio Hall), traveled to the United States, Queens, New York to be exact, to find his bride. The prince and his friend have to hide their identities pretending to be poor international students, plus you don't really want to get robbed especially in those days. Along the way, they met a various group of zany characters but he finally got his bride, Lisa McDowell and they lived happily ever after, after a few hiccups along the way. The movie has a famous cast, which includes Eddie Murphy as Prince Akeem, James Earl Jones as King Joffer, the late Madge Sinclair as Queen Aoleon, John Amos as Cleo Mcdowell and Shari Headley as Akeem's girlfriend and future wife, Lisa McDowell. Erik La Salle, Vanessa Bell, Louise Anderson, and Samuel L. Jackson also starred in the movie.
Coming to America, was directed by John Landis and the story line was created by Eddie Murphy. Eddie and John worked together in another hilarious movie Trading Places, so it was natural that they worked together in Coming to America. Even though they bumped heads during filming, they managed to create a box-office hit and they collaborated again in another hit Beverly Hills Cop III, (Wikipedia). The movie was released on June 29, 1988 and it became a national and international hit!! The film made almost made $29, 000,000 in 5 days, $128, 152, 301 in the United States and worldwide, total $288,752, 301. It was third highest earning film and third highest grossing film that year (Wikipedia). Reviews were mixed but nonetheless, it became one of the highest grossing films and even a classic. See, black comedies can do very well with mainstream audiences. There was even a real restaurant in L.A called McDowells a few years ago in tribute to the movie.
Now onto a serious issue that have been plaguing the movie and the entertainment industry as a whole; colourism. Even though I enjoyed the film and had a good laugh, I've noticed something really interesting in the movie. Dark-skinned female characters in the film are portrayed as either comical, idiotic or promiscuous while the light-skinned female characters are portrayed as feminine and more worthy women. For example, Vanessa Bell's character Imani Izzi, Prince Akeem's former bride to be as simple minded, only raised to serve the prince. Lisa McDowell's dark-skinned sister, Patrice (Allison Dean) is portrayed as the promiscuous younger sister, as we say in Trinidad, jumping from man to man, e.g Semmi and Eric La Salle's Darryl Jenks with those damn jherri curls. Meanwhile, Shari Headley's character, a light-skinned Lisa McDowell is portrayed as a strong, compassionate and feminine woman. I would add though, that Queen Aoleon, played by Madge Sinclair (RIP), was dark-skinned yet a regal woman.
Still, colorism plays a major role in Hollyweird and I already posted this in my previous post. And it's also sad that some black directors are also caught in this trend. A You-tuber mentioned this in her channel, where dark-skinned black women are often portrayed as downtrodden, slaves and recently the stereotypical strong black woman warrior as in The Woman King, starring Viola Davis. Meanwhile, light skinned black women are portrayed as feminine as in the upcoming controversial Disney movie, The Little Mermaid, starring Halle Bailey. Thank goodness for shows like Issa Rae's Insecure and Girlfriends where dark-skinned black women are portrayed as feminine and they are allowed to be vulnerable and complex. I also started to look at more African movies and shows where dark-skinned people are portrayed in a positive light. I just wished that Hollywood would get it together but that's wishful thinking.
