I was thinking about Eddie Murphy the other day, mainly because I had just finished talking to my friend about Boomerang, which is one of my favorite romantic comedies. If you haven’t ever seen it, please remedy that immediately. It’s not like you have anything else to do. Back to my point, thinking about Eddie Murphy reminded me of something I tweeted a couple months ago. 

My dad and I were watching Coming to America, specifically we were at the scene where Akeem meets his “Queen To-Be”, and he wants alone time with her. Now, I’ve seen Coming to America so many times I’ve lost count and that scene has always seemed really funny to me. Akeem realizes that his betrothed is basically a puppet that will do whatever he wants her to and in awe of how ridiculous that is, he decides to test out how far her lack of autonomy goes. I don’t know what it was about this particular viewing of Coming to America, but I realized that Akeem’s fiancee, Imani Izzi, whose name I had to look up because I don’t think anyone ever mentions it in the movie, deserved so much better.

Before you say it, I know that Coming To America is a comedy and probably shouldn’t be the subject of such a detailed analysis, but I’m also not wrong. We as the audience are supposed to sympathize with Akeem, a rich, spoiled prince because he feels unfulfilled in his rich spoiled life, and despite the fact that he is extremely privileged, he is a likable character so you understand his need for independence. My issue with Akeem is that this sympathy that we are supposed to feel for him, he doesn’t feel for the only other character who truly understands what he’s going through. Up until their first meeting, Imani had lived her entire life for him. She learned what he liked, and was taught to do everything he says (except for him telling her not to do what he says). She would have been the perfect person for Akeem to talk to about how he felt, and he might have found a kindred spirit in their shared experiences. But nope. Instead he takes this opportunity to test out just how far her training went. “Bark like a dog!” “Hop on one foot!” I’m sorry, but Akeem is definitely worse than Semmi. At least Semmi knows he’s self-centered. He embraces his privilege. Whereas Akeem’s nature has very self-righteous undertones.

Poor Imani. We watch as she is humiliated during what is supposed to be the most important meeting of her life, and then we never see her again. Akeem ultimately chooses Lisa and Imani most likely lives out the rest of her life in shame, being rejected by the Crown Prince. She is only mentioned once more before the end of the movie, in passing by the King to Lisa. I know that it is a long shot but, in the upcoming sequel,  it would be nice if there was any mention of her. If not, let’s all pretend that one of the palace guards was always in love with her and following the cancellation of her engagement, he was able to confess his love and they lived happily ever after.