Showboat essays

Showboat essays Showboat is a musical production whose story takes place over fifty years. The movie deals with alcoholism, prejudice, and unhappy marriages. It was the very first musical to deal with issues such as those. The owner of the boat is Captain Hawks and he has a daughter, Magnolia. She falls in love with an actor, Gaylord Ravenal who gets a job on the Cotton Blossom (the name of the showboat). Magnolias parents are very strict and do not approve of him because he is a riverboat gambler. Magnolia and Gaylord end up getting married and this is a very unhappy marriage. Magnolia and Gaylord end up leaving the showboat because of her parents and they go live in Chicago. Their marriage is wrecked because Gaylord had an obsession with gambling and he loses all of their money. Magnolias closest friend on the boat Julie LaVerne is mulatto, which means she is half-black. Julie was married to a white man. When the sheriff discovers this they are forced to leave the showboat because the law in the south forbade that. This law, although not an actual law, is still upheld by numerous amounts of people. People frown upon it for many reasons such as they think it may cause problems for their kids, or because they are prejudice. They think that the mixing of races cant work in todays society. The marriage problem that Magnolia and Gaylord faced is a common problem among couples today. His obsession for gambling became so powerful that he let it take over his life. Fortunately this couples story had a happy ending, but in real life gambling problems be extremely harmful to marriages. ...