IFS and the film, Coming to America

My favorite movie of all time is Coming to America (followed closely by the Sound of Music). When I first saw it as a 12 year old, I adored the movie’s humor and raunchiness, and I could relate to Prince Akeem! He was an immigrant to America just like me?! Eddie Murphy’s comedic genius hit a chord that lives in me to this day. Hence I present to you, an IFS overview of Prince Akeem from Coming to America.

Assuming you know what IFS is, or read my long ass blog earlier, I’m going dive right in.

Akeem, as the crown prince of Zamunda, is so sweet and unassuming. His core authentic self is apparent in all the early scenes in the movie, he wakes up with a radiant smile on his face, unburdened, excited for his birthday. He is kind to his friend Semi, who everyone else seems to dislike. He is respectful and loving to his parents. He is creative in his athleticism, and courageous when he shows vulnerability as he shares his apprehension to be in an arranged marriage, a tradition for Zamundan royalty.

Now, I acknowledge that Prince Akeem has few if any exiles, but in this light exploration of IFS, I would venture to say that an exile was created for Akeem when his dad rejected his desire to find his own bride. This exile led him to create a firefighter part, that impulsively lied to his parents and agreed he is going on a vacation for thirty days before his wedding, to, as his father stated, “sow his royal oats.” In fact, his true goal is to find his own wife, “a woman who will arouse my intellect as well as my loins!”

Once he and Semi arrive in the city of Queens, NY, Prince Akeem wants to blend in. His firefighter parts tell people he meets he is just an average African student going to the university. He also develops a Manager part, that comes up with a scheme to get to know Lisa, a woman he instantly fell in love with when he was at a community rally to raise money for a local park. His manager part, a combination of highly organized, people pleaser, and taskmaster, comes up with a plan to get a job at Lisa’s dad’s fast-food restaurant, McDowell’s. Akeem and Semi now spend hours upon hours working, so that Akeem can get to know Lisa better. In the meantime, he also makes valiant efforts to curry favor with her father.

Akeem’s plan works, he allows his true authentic self to shine through amongst the small lies he told her about being a goat herder, and a student, and they fall in love. However toward the end of the film, when his parents show up in New York to check on him, he no longer wants to carry the burden of his lies, and once Lisa finds out his true identity, he admits to his scheme and asks her to marry him.

Now Lisa’s parts are activated, and block her from feeling compassion for Akeem, because ultimately he lied and wooed her under false pretenses. Prince Akeem returns to Zamunda broken hearted and resigned to marrying a beautiful but boring woman his father chose for him. At this point in the movie, we see Akeem’s core completely blocked and subdued by his sadness that he cannot marry the love of his life.

In the final two scenes of the movie, we see Akeem break free of the exiles his father created and cast off the protectors of sadness and resignation as Lisa surprises him at the marriage alter! He is finally completely unburdened, filled with compassion, connection to all his loved ones, courageous for taking the steps he needed to take to be happy, he had a clear idea of Lisa being the right partner for him, and showed compassion throughout the movie to anyone and everyone he came across.

In conclusion, unburdening our protectors and exiles will clear the path for our authentic and true self to lead us in our daily lives. We want to be lead by our confidence, our courage, compassion, and a calm sense of wisdom. IFS is a tough but very effective way to unburden ourselves and be “self led.”