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Sundance From The Ground: The Order of Mardi Gras in Mobile, AL |
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The first thing we learn when watching The Order of Myths is that Mobile, Alabama has been holding a Mardi Gras celebration since 1703, fifteen years before New Orleans was founded. While the New Orleans version of Mardi Gras is larger and more famous, the rituals of the Mobile one are just as rooted in history and tradition, including the fact that it is basically a segregated celebration. There are two Mardi Gras organizations in Mobile — the oldest, the Mobile Carnival Association (MCA) organizes the white “mystic societies” that run their balls and parades, and the Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association (MAMGA) does the same for the black societies. Each society has their own royal court for the festivities, and each elects their own King and Queen of Mardi Gras.
While the issue of race is obviously central to this documentary, the film also follows the two Kings and two Queens, as well as their courts, as they go through all of the preparations for their roles in Mardi Gras. The MCA court has to go through more “society” training with classes on etiquette and wine tasting as the Mardi Gras events coincide with the debutante ball season. It is also an expensive proposition as each member must pay for their own outfits and accessories — as the MAMGA Queen explained, it is like purchasing a car without the car.
The rituals and pageantry are interesting in and of themselves but as we see the events of the weeks unfold, the other meanings begin to emerge. The MCA queen, Heather Meaher, follows in her grandmother’s footsteps as she had been Queen in 1935. The Meaher family history in Mobile goes back to just before the Civil War when one of them tried to smuggle the last slave ship, Clothilde, into Mobile. Instead the ship was destroyed and the Africans on that ship fled into the woods around Mobile, creating Africatown in Mobile where the story of Clothilde passes down to each generation.
The black societies formed when they were frustrated that their only roles in the Mardi Gras parades were as torch bearers, dancers and musicians. They were also frustrated that along the parade routes, while the white bystanders were thrown beads, toys and moon pies, the black children were generally ignored. The first integrated society was formed, but at present there is only one white member, though it does play its part in making certain the black community.
What the film does well is present the issues of race involved in Mobile both within and out of the Mardi Gras celebrations. The most moving piece may be when the MAMGA King and Queen, Joseph Roberson and Steffanie Lucas, attend the coronation of the MCA King and Queen — the first time that had occurred. They are not only welcomed, but applauded. We also see the joy and mutual affection that is created when the white Royalty visit the MAMGA party the next night. With the steps of these individuals we can see the beginnings of a new understanding.
The Order of Myths does not preach, probably in large part because the director, Margaret Brown, grew up in Mobile and experienced its Mardi Gras herself. While the racial undertones are apparent, there is no suggestion that some “solution is needed,” but rather that awareness of each other will eventually create a more positive atmosphere.
The Order of Myths is successful at giving us an inside view of a part of America that most of us do not know, but doesn’t try to explain what is happening, rather it lets us in as co-observers. By the end we appreciate the history behind the rituals, both positive and problematic.
Photo at Right: MAMGA Queen Steffanie Lucas and King Joseph Roberson after the Sundance Screening of “The Order of Myths“
Sounds like an interesting movie. Does it get into the effects of Katrina at all?
Katrina is not the do all and say all of the gulf coast. This is a piece on the 305 year French tradition of Mardi gras, not the effects of Hurricane Katrina. It amazaes me how such a culturally strong, beautiful tradition celebrated by both white and African American for centuries is twisted into a race fueled mockery of our beloved city.
No it doesn’t, although one of the docs here called “Trouble the Water” does follow one family through Katrina. It is getting a lot of buzz and reportedly gets standing ovations at each screening.
Still sounds interesting. When do typical Sundance movies make it to national screenings? I’m going to have to see a bunch of these.
What did you expect to happen when the royal courts of the two societies visited each other? People outside of Mobile get hung up on the race issue. People here just want to have fun.
I love in Mobile, Alabama and saw the film last night. There were lots of things left out and I think people are forgetting that this is a documentary. I am 26, white, middle class. I am white and I can’t even go to the MCA King and Queen’s parties. It’s not a white or black thing….it’s a money thing. Also, as far as black people only having the part in white parades as dancers, playing music, and torch carriers….they are paid to do this. They do not have to do it if they do not want to. I wish that someone would do a documentary of the middle class and how we enjoy Mardi Gras. And I am sorry, what happened here with the slaves has nothing to do with us living today. WE did not participate in this and you can not keep blaming people for something that their ancestors did. Get over it….it’s not like that anymore.
I graduated from Theodore High School, just south of Mobile, in 1966. The white Mardi Gras portrayed in this documentary was half a world away from those of us outside the social strata described, though not as far from us as it was from the African American community at that time. Traditions cannot be changed from the outside. They can only be made to evolve or disappear through the transcendence or neglect of those involved. Perhaps we have reached a point in our social evolution where that may be possible. We will know when the true story of the slave ship Clothilde is taught to white and black students alike in their history classes. Mobile culture, like any other southern culture is extremely complex. It is difficult to conceive that anyone not brought up in the south could grasp the many subtlties of this documentary. Who is the elderly African American women seated on the couch next to the debutante and across from the mother and why is she not introduced? I assume that she is the woman who actually raised the debutante while the debutante’s mother was busy with her social responsibilities. Why was this not made clear?