The Cultural Politics of Eddie Murphy: Coming to America

Free admission. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event.
In person: Introduction by Artel Great, associate professor, San Francisco State University School of Cinema, and author of The Black Pack: Comedy, Race, and Resistance.

Coming to America

Year: 1988
Country: U.S.
Language: English
Runtime: 116 min.
Digital. Color.

Here Eddie Murphy stands at the center of the Black Pack as Prince Akeem, heir to the throne of Zamunda, who leaves royal luxury for Queens, New York, in search of love on his own terms. The most commercially successful Black comedy feature of its era, this blockbuster is also a case study in power and authorship, as Murphy gives a tour de force performance of multiple characters and earns a “story by” credit. Ultimately, the film shows how box office clout enabled Black cultural specificity while embedding sharp critiques of race, class and respectability within mainstream studio comedy.

Director: John Landis. Screenwriter: David Sheffield, Barry W. Blaustein. With: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, James Earl Jones.