Segregation In Show Boat

The pressure Oscar Hammerstein II has to face is conceivable when writing the first interracial film. Segregation is still a factor during 1936, therefore, a interracial film is considered a risky step to take. The film commences with the presentation of the ShowBoat, large crowds are gathered and seek the arrival of the boat. Marching bands are prepared to play a song in its honor and reporters are eagerly trying to know more of the project. Shortly the audience is presented to Joe, Queenie, Magnolia and Gaylord. Show Boat is the first mixed-race-cast musical in which African American performers play three dimensional, sympathetic characters.
Segregation is seen as an easy way to keep citizens safe because the whites see the colored individuals as a threat. Even though the thought of segregation slowly begins to diminish, racial discrimination still continues to take place during the 1930’s. The Great Depression causes hard times for families
The scene takes place by the docks, while Joe has flashbacks of all the tiresome work he has to do. As Joe is singing, his facial expressions show extreme fatigue. The lyrics, “Tired of livin’ but scared of dying” from the song, “O’l Man River’s”, are applicable to all the colored workers who eventually join Joe and sing shoulder to shoulder on how tired they are of working and not having a bit freedom. The song remains steady and mentions the Mississippi River and its strong waters as a way of representing the difference between societal differences. The song is a brief representation of slavery and the struggles and injustice that has to be faced by the colored race. A little change in a human and they are to be ashamed, being of mixed race counts as being colored and are to be forbidden from all white