Why there would have been no Wakanda without the Zamunda of ‘Coming to America’
When Coming to America was released in 1988, the film was a project made for Eddie Murphy. With his career riding high with backto-back box office hits 48 Hrs (1982), Trading Places (1983) and Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Murphy wanted to move away from fast-talking, streetwise characters and recast himself as a romantic leading man.
This is where Coming to America comes in. Set in the fictional African kingdom of Zamunda, Murphy stars as Prince Akeem Joffer. In order to evade an arranged marriage, he swaps the opulence of the palace for the gritty streets of New York City to find his true love.
The film was a commercial box office hit and a cultural breakthrough for Hollywood. At the time, rarely did a highbudget film feature an all-black leading cast playing roles that are accessible and against typecasting. That’s the secret to its success, Murphy said in a recent interview with African-American culture magazine Essence.
Promoting the anticipated sequel Coming 2 America, on Amazon Prime Video from Friday, Murphy hails the first instalment as groundbreaking because it challenged the industry’s and viewers’ perceptions with a light touch.
“Coming to America is an allblack cast, but the movie is not about race,” he said. “It’s about somebody who’s trying to find true love. It’s like a fantasy, like a fairy tale. And that’s the legacy of the movie, it’s one of the few romantic fairy tales with black people. I think that’s why we love it.”
There is no denying the impact of Coming to America. In addition to launching a bunch of celebrated film careers and cementing Murphy as a box office king, the film and its cultural significance is only beginning to be appreciated in recent years. Here are five reasons why it remains influential.
Zamunda is the original Wakanda
Its portrayal of dignified African royalty helped de-exotify Hollywood’s treatment of the continent, which at the time frequently served as an evocative backdrop for lush melodramas and adventure films such as 1985’s Out of Africa and 1988’s Gorillas in the Mist.
Coming to America allowed filmmakers, actors and writers to think bigger when it came to black representation on screen. To put it simply: there would have been no Wakanda without Zamunda. The sheer majesty of the former, the fictional African country setting for Black Panther, could not have been fully imagined without Zamunda’s royal grounds and serene society acting as a reference point.
An all-black cast does well at the box office
Coming to America showed Hollywood that an all-black cast was commercially feasible. This was further exemplified by the success of Ice Cube’s Friday and Barbershop film franchises, Tyler Perry’s films featuring Aunt Madea and both instalments of Kevin Hart’s Think Like A Man.
It was the first film in which Murphy played several roles
While Murphy often played several roles simultaneously as a cast member of television comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984, Coming to America was the first time he brought that approach to the big screen.
In what was hailed as a bravura performance, Murphy played no less than four characters in the film. In addition to the main role of Prince Akeem Joffer, he donned long hair for washed-up soul singer Randy Watson; went semi-bald and spoke with a scratchy high pitch for cantankerous barber Clarence; and played Saul, a friend of Clarence and the only white patron of his barber shop.
Murphy’s performances were a revelation, and he went on to perform several roles in films such as 1995’s Vampire In Brooklyn (three), 1996’s The Nutty Professor (six), 1999’s Bowfinger (two) and 2007’s Norbit (three).
It has memorable dialogue
A sure sign of a classic film is when it’s full of quotable lines. Coming to America is generous, in that nearly all of the main characters get a chance to shine with hilarious quips. A favourite scene finds Prince Akeem bemoaning to his father King Jaffe Joffer (played by James Earl Jones) that he is “a man who has never tied his own shoes before”.
In reply, the king chides him by stating: “Wrong! You are a Prince who has never tied his shoes. Believe me. I tied my own shoes once. It is an overrated experience.”
The film helped to launch several careers
Look closely in certain scenes and at the end credits, and you will recognise names in the early stages of their career. The film marked the debut screen appearance of Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr, who plays a customer in the barbershop. Eriq La Salle, who plays Murphy’s nemesis Daryl Jenkins, would go on to star in nine seasons of hit drama ER.
At the time struggling actor Samuel L Jackson’s career found more prominence after his particularly fiery scene in Coming to America, which he plays an unsuccessful bank robber. Meanwhile, American Idol judge and pop singer Paula Abdul choreographed the lavish Zamunda palace dance sequence performed in the early part of the film.