Caps #4 Robert Edwards

Coming to America is one of my all- time favorite movies. I was pretty excited when I learned I get to watch it again and actually get a grade for it. Coming to America is about Prince Akeem, played by Eddie Murphy, who is heir to the throne of the fictitious African country Zamunda. On his 21st birthday his farther, the king, plans for him to marry a women who the Prince has never met. Akeem comes up with a plan to travel to the America and find his own wife, he decides to go to Queens, New York City.  According to Akeem "What better place to find a queen than the city of Queens?" He rents a apartment in a rough part of Queens. During his quest at crusing nightclubs and places, Akeem meets and falls in love with Lisa, the daughter of a local fast food owner. Trying to impress Lisa, Akeem gets a job working at the fast food place that Lisa's farther owns. The rest of the film centers on Akeem's attempts to win Lisa's hand in marriage, while adjusting to life in America and dodging his royal duties and prerogatives. Lisa, who has fallen for Akeem, becomes angry and confused as to why he lied to her about his identity. She refuses to marry Akeem and he returns to Zamunda with a broken heart. At the final scene's wedding procession, Akeem waits dejectedly at the altar as his bride-to-be makes her way down the aisle. But when he lifts the veil to kiss her, he finds Lisa instead of his arranged partner. They ride off happily in a carriage after the ceremony.

When watching this movie, one concept  comes to mind. Assimilation, which is defined as, A type of adaptation in which an in which an individual gives up his or her own cultural heritage and adopts the mainstream cultural identify (Martin and Nakayama, 2013). These groups of people decide to give up some of their own culture to blend or fit in with the mainstream. They don't lose touch of who they are, but to make it an easier transition into a new culture they decide to change of some of who they are.

In Coming to America Akeem decides to give up his royalty and become a regular person. This is a perfect example of the concept of assimilation. Akeem who has never had to work a day in his life decides to get a job like a regular person living in Queens. Instead of living in a five star hotel he decides to rent a room in a run- down apartment complex in a very rough part of town. There are more examples though out the movie of the concept of assimilation. The biggest one to me is the scene in which he gets his hair cut to look more like a regular person. All Akeem wants to do is fit in, and that is the main goal in assimilation.