The Order of Myths

The first Mardi Gras in America was celebrated in Mobile, Alabama in 1703. In 2007, it is still racially segregated. Filmmaker Margaret Brown, herself a daughter of Mobile, escorts us into the parallel hearts of the city’s two carnivals to explore the complex contours of this hallowed tradition and the elusive forces that keep it organized along enduring color lines. With unprecedented access, Brown traces the exotic world of secret mystic societies and centuries-old traditions and pageantry; diamond-encrusted crowns, voluminous, hand-sewn gowns and trains, surreal masks and enormous paper mache floats. Against this opulent backdrop, she uncovers a tangled web of historical violence, power dynamics and intertwined and interdependent race relations. (80 min.)