Coming To America

The differences in culture for prince Akeem are so dreadfully apparent as soon as he lands in New York, as evidenced by his behavior and demeanor. Although Akeem seeks to completely fit in with Americans, it is undoubtedly clear that Akeem has not compensated for the culture change from being a prince to being treated as a regular individual because he addresses others as though they are meant to serve him like his royal staff at home; and he has carried an unusually large amount of baggage with him. He also steps into the road and tells a taxi to “halt” to which the taxi driver replies “you dumb fuck!” this obvious lack of understanding is related to Bourdieu’s concept of cultural knowledge in that Akeem; because of his home life and social status in Zamunda has grown up to think that he will receive pampering wherever he may go, and is unable to see that New York is not like home culturally speaking. Much like a person with no understanding for the objects in a painting has no appreciation for it.

For someone that has never been introduced to a culture in a foreign land, occurrences and expectations can be very unusual to an individual if that land is America. Akeem is no exception to this, and it is again clear that he is blissfully ignorant when he exclaims “America is great indeed, imagine a country so free one can throw glass on the streets.” That statement alone is enough to extricate the fact that Akeem is really out of the loop when it comes to American culture.