Analysis Of The Movie Showboat

Showboat is a 1936 musical film inspired by the musical play by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. The film mostly focuses on two of the main characters, Magnolia Hawks and Julie LaVerne. Julie and Magnolia are traveling on Magnolia’s parents’ showboat, the Cotton Palace, which travels the Mississippi River performing shows. Julie and her husband are the leading acts in the shows. During the film, there are two parallel plots happening between Magnolia and Julie. Magnolia falls in love with a gambler, Gaylord Ravenal, who she eventually marries. However, after giving birth to her daughter, Gaylord leaves Magnolia under the pretense that he has ruined her life due to his losses in gambling. Nevertheless, their plot ends in a happy ending

She makes this statement because earlier in the film, Magnolia’s mother, Parthy, tells Julie to stay away from Magnolia. However, one can also infer that Parthy would not want Magnolia in the kitchen where she would be interacting with the black servants. Throughout history, the kitchen was always known as the “safe place”. This is where the help and high society occasionally met and, during that era, where black servants could exchange a few words with their white employers. Since Magnolia’s character is inquisitive, her mother wants to keep her sheltered and to stick to what she knows best, being an upper class white

In the 1951 version, they completely cut out the dancing black servants during the number, including Queenie and Joe who actually sing in the 1936 version. I feel that they cut out their segment of the song because Queenie’s lyrics could have been seen as offensive to the average black man. Her lyrics are making that assumption that black men are shiftless, lazy, and good-for-nothing. Her lyrics, “He can be happy with just a sip of gin”, also make the assumption that black men are alcoholics which is another exaggeration of African Americans. Overall, the scene was wonderful and the performers gave an amazing performance. The scene itself did not contain much offensive material; it actually brings a smile to your face that African Americans and Whites actually shared the stage and performed a song together. There is never a dull moment in this scene and it allowed Magnolia a chance to express herself without her mother judging