Film showcases legacy of racial divides among revelers
By Kenya Vaughn Of the St. Louis American
Even before the film begins, Margaret Brown’s The Order of Myths starts the dispelling process with a few captions.
When Mardi Gras comes to mind, the credit and glory often goes to New Orleans. But Mobile, Alabama’s Mardi Gras roots, beginning in 1703, extend past New Orleans’ establishment as a city – by nearly 15 years.
Another common misconception is that Mardi Gras in general serves as the standard for celebratory chaos – an intersection of gluttony, lust and overall sensory overload of sin.
In Mobile, society’s elite makes big business out of the formality of Mardi Gras with elaborate gowns, ultra-exclusive black tie dinners and luncheons held for centuries, and prestigious posts passed down through generations.
Order of Myths is more about exposing age-old traditions of the Mobile Mardi Gras, with the most obvious being segregation.
A two-in-one documentary of sorts, Order of Myths details the preparation activities for the citywide celebration on both sides of town as a part of PBS Independent Lens independent filmmakers’ series.
The Mobil Carnival Association (MCA) has been crowning queens and kings for nearly 150 years. The city’s most influential members of society keep a stronghold on the Mardi Gras experience and have rotated crowns and titles amongst themselves for generations.
And with each year’s celebration, including the 2007 Mardi Gras that served as the setting of the film, the role for the black population is consistent as well – the help. They have never been allowed to hold position in the court, nor have they attended any of the MCA Mardi Gras activities other than as the entertainment in the parade or service workers.
In 1938, the African Americans in Mobile created an organization of their own, the Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association (MAMGA). They have their own court with a king, queen, court, parade and coronation ball.
The scale of the MAMGA Mardi Gras pales in comparison to the unlimited budgets and resources of MCA, but it is a grand affair nonetheless.
The mayor of Mobile – a black man – attends the MCA civic ceremony, while a lower level councilman attends on the mayor’s behalf at the MAMGA.
The film effectively captures the disparities between Mobile’s tale of two Mardi Gras without losing the integrity and intentions for either event. The whites are blissfully ignorant and even declare that the segregation is maintained based on the request of the blacks. The blacks put on a strong face and make the best of their version of Mardi Gras, but the limits of their celebration are ever-present.
However, as both communities clamor to put the finishing touches on their Mardi Gras preparation and celebrate there is a glimmer of hope as two kings and queens work to massage the tightly clenched fist of segregation into understanding and integration.
Helen Meaher is the 2007 Queen of the Mobile Mardi Gras court. A true legacy, her grandmother was queen more than 70 years before. A less celebrated part of Meaher’s history was the fact that her ancestor smuggled slaves illegally into Mobile in 1859 – more than 50 years after the transcontinental slave trade had been abolished by the United States.
Among that group of Africans who escaped a burning ship into the woods of Mobile was the ancestor of Stefanie Lucas, the MAMGA Mardi Gras queen.
The two queens share an unfortunate historical connection, but they instead work towards healing as they become the first members of their respective royal courts to attend the festivities in honor of the other.
Each community welcomes both kings and queens with open arms. An especially pleasant surprise was the action of the MCA coronation organizer, who made a last minute rearrangement of the program to include an introduction and formal greeting for MAMGA King and queen.
In the midst of the hope there was an underlying sense that a racially and socio-economically collaborative celebration will likely be more slow than steady.
There was little talk of the creation of a united celebration. The ordinary people – both black and white – were victims of the Mobile Mardi Gras glass ceiling caste system of the city. The only integrated Mardi Gras group, a group created by blacks, only included one non-black member.
The roots of separation seemed to run as deep as the massive oaks that line the parade route. And while the film illustrates the potential for change, it is obvious from its beginning to the dramatic, intriguingly open ending that change will be a long time coming.
The Order of Myths will air as part of the PBS Series Independent Lens on Mardi Gras (February 24) at 9 p.m. on KETC. Check local listings for channel.
