‘What a man can do, a woman can do better’: Unmasking gender stereotypes and culture in ‘Coming 2 America’

Abstract

This study investigates how gender is constructed in Eddie Murphy’s 2021 film ‘Coming 2 America’, the purpose of which is to unearth whether or not characters are projected stereotypically by assigning ‘male roles’ only to male characters and ‘female roles’ only to female characters. ‘Coming 2 America’ is chosen for this study because of its popularity and its being a most current film released in a COVID-19 world of 2021. Four major female and three major male characters are purposively sampled for the study. These characters are among the most prominent whose presence is felt throughout the film. Employing the literary process of characterisation, explicit and implicit ways these characters project themselves are analysed with gender construction as the focus. Findings reveal that gender construction in ‘Coming 2 America’ does not project characters stereotypically by assigning only ‘masculine’ roles and traits to male characters nor ‘feminine’ roles and traits to female characters. The study has implications for film industries, drama groups and social media content producers such as YouTubers and TikTokers to be cognisant of their consciousness or lack thereof as their construction of gender can contribute to the gender equality struggle or defeat it.