Coming 2 America is Problematic For All These Reasons

I wanted to get ahead of the circling woke sharks

I’ve just finished watching Coming 2 America on Amazon Prime. I wanted to get in early before the first drop of subjective-blood in the water sets off the woke sharks.

So in no particular order… here are all the problems with the movie.

The Xenophobia — Most of the film centres around Zamunda. A fictional African country. It seems that African-Americans think Africans live in a perpetual Safari. Never mind that African cities are developed and complex trading hub. There are cities with plenty of businesses and infrastructure but you’d never know it watching this film. Whack a few giraffes in there, everyone put on bright clothes and headdresses. Ta da. Africa.

The Cultural Appropriation — There’s a whole bunch of Ethiopian stuff scattered throughout the movie. Look for them and you’ll spot the flags symbols etc. They didn’t go to Ethiopia to film it, it didn’t benefit the African economy at all. It was all filmed at Rick Ross’ mansion in Georgia. Benefiting from the culture of another country? No longer acceptable. Even for Eddie.

No equality in casting — I understand that the film is based in a fictional African country, but no white people who played any of the main parts. Sure there were a few extras in there, but they were tokenistic at best. One of them was a stereotype that is offensive to white folks! Boo hiss.

Eddie Murphy Did White Face- Eddie Murphy played a whole bunch of characters in this movie… including an old Jewish guy in the barbershop. He not only played a part outside of his genetic race, he made fun of a marginalised group. Problematic or what?

Wesley Snipes — The man has been in prison for tax evasion. Murphy put him front and centre in the film and paid him handsomely despite his criminal record. And what about Halle Berry huh?

The Nepotism — Eddie Murphy managed to get his daughter Bella into the film front and centre. This is taking away a role from a more deserving actress, total unfair use of privilege.

Now here’s why none of that matters

It’s a film. It’s a fun film. The film has done very well in Africa and seems to be very popular. Great. No harm no foul.

White people don’t have to be visible in all films. But neither do black people. Casting should be fair and representative. No need for equality of outcome when there is equality of opportunity. The opportunities in this film were for black actors. That’s great. Makes perfect sense. Try not to flip out when ‘Pride and Prejudice’ doesn’t contain a minimum of 50% BIPOC actors.

Why care about Eddie Murphy doing white-face? Eddie Murphy is hilarious. Context is important. Nobody ever died of being offended. I’m not coming out in favour of spoofing other races as standard, but also I’m not going to condemn every iteration of it like a zealot. I’d have to go out of my way to be offended.

Wesley Snipes was found guilty of a crime. He was convicted. He did the time. He came out. What more do you want from him? That’s how the legal system works. I hope he’s got a better accountant now. With regards to the Halle Berry thing, I also don’t think society should form judgments on hearsay and gossip from the 1990s.

And the nepotism. This is the one thing that I do have a problem with. You can’t wave the flag for equal opportunity in society and then allow nepotism to flourish. However, Eddie Murphy is an exec producer and it’s his show, so there’s nothing I can do about it. I’ll let it slide.

One Actual Problem with the movie

It seemed like Zamunda and Queens were next door to each other. The characters could go from one to the other as if they were just popping to the local shops. I hated that about Game of Thrones final season. You can’t break geography to fix your poor plot holes.

Zamunda is in Africa, Queens is in North America. It’s a 12-hour flight. Minimum

Putting that aside for a second. Should ‘Coming 2 America’ be celebrated as progressive and an endorsement of the power of black cinema? Does it usher in a new era of black centred roles for black actors free from the constraints of white-washed Hollywood?

NO!

Dismantling a comedy film through the lens of woke is a pointless waste of time. I know because I did it.

Coming 2 America is a chance to see some excellent comedy performances and get slightly nostalgic about a 1980s classic. It’s a comedy film about a boy from Queens struggling to come to terms with his Zamundan heritage. Lesley Jones has endless sass and one-liners. Tracy Morgan is the comedy god that is Tracy Morgan. Three young girls beat fight Wesley Snipes and his goons with sticks. A Lion breaks wind.

Like most comedy films it’s not a treatise on race relations. Lighten up. (Can I still say that after what Eddie Murphy did!?)

Need to know why it’s best not to dismantle comedy films by your subjective utopian standards? Got you covered.