Despite the cynicism of Brad Pitt\u2019s hitman in regard to Barack Obama\u2019s 2008 election victory speech, there truly was a sense of hope and change in the air during the junior Senator from Illinois\u2019s U.S. presidential campaign. The first Black man to be nominated for president by a major political party, the Democrat united progressive voters of all skin colors with \u201cYes, we can\u201d optimism and a sense that a broken country could repair old wounds and move forward together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buoyed by this wave of positivity and potential, open-hearted viewers craved stories of racial equity efforts that made one believe that better days lay ahead. They appreciated old, problematic behaviors and mindsets being challenged, even (especially?) if it made them and the institutions that enable white supremacy uncomfortable. Without that discomfort of confronting the nation\u2019s ugly, racist past, the change at the heart of Obama\u2019s rhetoric could not truly take root.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the films that most fully captured that spirit \u2014 and which could be just the balm many viewers need in these backasswards times \u2014 was Margaret Brown\u2019s The Order of Myths<\/em>. The documentary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2008 and played at several other film festivals while Obama was sweeping the Democratic primaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The film chronicles Mobile, Ala.\u2019s Mardi Gras celebrations, which began in 1703 \u2014 15 years before New Orleans was established as a city. A Mobile native and the daughter of the 1966 Mardi Gras queen, Brown was granted behind-the-scenes access to the 2007 festivities and is sly about the order in which she introduces that year\u2019s regal honorees. By first presenting white queen Helen Meaher and Black king Joseph Roberson, it appears that the royal couple is multiracial. But once Black queen Stefannie Lucas is identified, Brown drops the proverbial bomb: the city\u2019s celebrations are segregated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With that revelation in play, The Order of Myths<\/em> \u2014 which takes its name from the oldest continually parading mystic society in existence \u2014 becomes a fascinating look at a place that\u2019s emblematic of the nation\u2019s racial woes. In typical Southern fashion, no one says anything explicitly racist on camera. But similar to the silent oppression that Confederate monuments symbolize, those divisive sentiments are evident beneath the facade of gentility, and some residents hide it better than others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earning her subjects\u2019 trust, Brown captures candid conversations that convey lingering pain in the Black community and well-intentioned yet ignorant behavior among their white neighbors. During a post-screening Q&A at the film\u2019s Mobile premiere in summer 2008, Brown said that her goal for viewers was to \u201cget people talking about things we don’t talk about,\u201d and many of the individuals whom she and her skeleton crew follow do just that as well \u2014 often to their own cringe-inducing detriment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Documenting the opulence of festivities that one interviewee notes had a $227 million economic impact in 2004, Brown deftly combines photos of past Mardi Gras celebrations, footage of the extravagant 2007 celebrations, and insights from Black and white Mobile natives, presenting a vibrant portrait of traditions, secret societies, and Jim Crow separatism. Though numerous participants \u2014 including self-professed liberals \u2014 don\u2019t come off well, their follies provide terrific fodder for the types of discussions that the director hopes her film will spark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As more Mobile history is revealed, it becomes clear how necessary such dialogue is for the city\u2019s residents. Home to one of the nation\u2019s last reported lynchings in 1981, Mobile was also the site of the schooner Clotilda, the last known slave ship in the U.S. That vessel\u2019s owner, Timothy Meaher, is an ancestor of Mardi Gras queen Helen Meaher, and when a stunned Lucas learns (on camera, no less) that her own ancestors were on the Clotilda, it adds a disturbing new layer to the queens\u2019 subsequent mingling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But mingle they do, and while no blunt conversations occur to relieve the deep-seated tension, merely attending each other\u2019s celebrations and spending quality time together is viewed as significant progress. As Roberson notes in a post-Mardi Gras interview, he craves more genuine interaction with the white community, but thinks society has a ways to go before they can \u201cbreak bread\u201d and really get to know each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seventeen years after The Order of Myths<\/em>\u2019 release and Obama\u2019s ascension, Mobile Mardi Gras remains segregated and the nation feels as far from hope, change, and \u201cYes, we can\u201d as we\u2019ve been since the 44th U.S. President left office in 2017. The time couldn\u2019t be better to experience those 2008 discomforts again and celebrate a moment not that long ago when great things seemed possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “<\/em><\/strong>The Order of Myths” is streaming on Netflix<\/a> and Kanopy<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/order2-1024x551.jpg\")
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