Racism
The main characters of the film – Joey and John, are representatives of different races – Joey is white, and John is African-American. But it does not prevent them from falling in love; it took them no more than 20 minutes to understand that they were made for each other, and want to life their lives together. But the difference in the skin color might really be a problem, John understands it perfectly, while Joey does not consider it a problem at all. Along with the approval or disapproval of their parents, there is society – and the society of the middle of the 20th century in the USA was really cruel towards such marriage, too many prejudices existed then. With time they seem to fade away, and today interracial marriage do not surprise anyone, but back then, more than 50 years ago, this would really stun people. So the film reveals the problem which was urgent at the time of its creation.
Love
Love can break boundaries – and it is what we see in the film. Joey and John have a rather considerable difference in ages – she is twenty-three, and he is thirty-seven, to say nothing about the difference in skin color. But none of these differences can stand against the great power of their love. The film shows that it is not the outer world that matters, it is inner one that is of significance. The feelings rule this world, and one should listen to one’s heart and only then to what society thinks.
Relationship between children and parents
Two pictures of relationships of children and their parents are presented in the film – Joey with her parents, and John with his. The situations are mostly the same – both fathers are against the marriage, while both mothers are happy for their children as they see that they love each other, and this love will help them to fight the problems that the marriage might bring up. Joey shows more resolution against her father, she says that even if he is against she would marry John in any case. John is less resolute, but when it comes to make the final decision he shows resistance not less then Joey, as he really loves her. Fortunately in the end Joey’s father shows that he is on their side, and supports them in the decision to get married. Both examples of this kind of relationships show that American youth always has been independent, and there are frequent cases when children do everything what their parents say them. In most countries in Europe even today this problem is more urgent than in the USA, children tend to follow their parents’ advice and sometimes sacrifice their own dreams.
