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“The Greatest Free Show on Earth” Intimations and Antinomies of Commodification and Carnival People now go to the parades not to see beautiful floats or interact with others but to see how much they can catch. It has moved from a spectacle to a mall operation. It is a consumer thing. It’s like Carnival has become a shopping binge. These longer and longer beads, all these novelties. The krewes are going to enormous lengths to outdo one another in the quantity and now the ingenuity of what is thrown. It used to be a great deal of effort that was put into art and skill to design the floats, now it is neither. All the beauty and uniqueness is gone. And the tourists just don’t get it, they don’t understand how Carnival has changed for the worse. All they care about is catching beads. —Carnival historian and float builder1 I think visitors help us realize what we have. It is like when someone comes into your house and says, “that is a beautiful picture you have on the wall,” and you say, “well, yea, I guess I am so accustomed to it that I had forgotten how beautiful, pretty, and valuable it is.” I think, perhaps, that is how residents of New Orleans view Mardi Gras. Not all of them participate in it, and not all of them realize how important it is all the time. But they do when visitors come to town. But we cannot depend on visitors to preserve Mardi Gras, that is our job, not the visitors’ job. They may make us realize that what we have is worth preserving, but it is not their job to preserve it. —Carnival historian2 Unfortunately, and in part due to the way the news media has focused on the activities of those who “visit” and go to the French Quarter “after” the parades, it now appears that what many think 8 169 about when they hear the words “Mardi Gras” are activities occurring in the French Quarter; i.e., flashing women (tourists who are drunk or need attention) and crowd surges (a spring break crowd trying to catch a glimpse)! This is not Mardi Gras. It has absolutely nothing to do with the “real” Mardi Gras celebration. Unfortunately, sex makes more news . . . so every news camera visiting our beautiful city for Mardi Gras heads for the spring break crowd on Bourbon Street . . . and does not give adequate coverage to those who spend thousands of dollars and months of time planning “The Greatest Free Show on Earth!” —A local resident3 This book ends where it began, with Carnival and the Mardi Gras celebration. As reflected in literary, film, and music sources, New Orleans is probably most often identified with Mardi Gras, a celebration that symbolizes the city’s joie de vivre while displaying submerged conflicts over race and class. In spite of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, more than fifty parades, walking groups, and other informal processions took to the streets of New Orleans during 2006 to celebrate Carnival. For local leaders, Mardi Gras 2006 was an important statement of the city’s strength and fast-paced rebuilding efforts. “Mardi Gras was a smoke signal to the rest of the world that New Orleans is on its way back,” proclaimed New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.4 For tribes of Mardi Gras Indians, black men who parade in neighborhoods dressed as Native American warriors, Mardi Gras 2006 revealed to the world that the back of the city’s black community was weary but not broken . “After all Katrina destroyed, she couldn’t destroy our spirit,” mentioned one member of the Red Hawk Hunters tribe. “Though so many of us lost so much, it means a lot to be able to continue this legacy. The black culture is a creative culture, and it’s here to stay,” according to creole Osceolas Big Chief Clarence Dalcour. “Everybody here needs us to be here, it’s what you call tradition.”5 While Hurricane Katrina dealt the city a major blow, local officials proclaimed Mardi Gras 2006 as a symbolic indicator of New Orleans’s rebirth. More than 300 news outlets from around the world—including every European country, Russia, Taiwan, Australia, and China—visited New Orleans to report and showcase the Carnival festivities to a global audience.6 170 | “The Greatest Free Show on Earth” [18.219.132.200] Project MUSE (2024-04-26 03...

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