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MEMBER of the CLUB is a documentary about New Orleans’ black aristocracy as seen through the eyes of an African-American teenage debutante and her matriarchic family. At the center of the film is seventeen-year-old Marisa Arianne Mitchell, a debutante who has been in training for her role as a Mardi Gras Queen ever since infancy. Surrounding Marisa are two strong women: Adrienne Mitchell, Marisa’s mother, and Lorraine Petit, Marisa’s grandmother. Their love for Marisa and deep sense of mission – that Marisa should ascend to royal status and gain her crown as Queen – provide a window into the heavily ritualized, largely unknown world of the black social clubs of the South. MEMBER OF THE CLUB is a dramatic coming-of-age story that sheds light on race, class and the powerful desire of an American family to belong.
Using an observational, cinema verité approach, the film follows the Mitchell family through the 2003-2004 debutante season. We, as viewers, become like one of the family, watching as the family experiences a flurry of interviews, dress fittings, rehearsals, academic challenges and ball practices. Each event brings with it excitement and anxiety. The Mitchell’s can taste royalty. They want so badly to belong.
 We learn that for Marisa’s mother, her daughter’s coronation would mark the fulfillment of a lifelong labor, the payoff for innumerable hours spent training her daughter for her intended role. She sees Marisa’s expected reign as her daughter’s pathway to university, success and the larger society beyond Mardi Gras. For Marisa’s grandmother who, having grown up in the repression of the old South, married young and bore children, which precluded any hope of joining the social ranks, Marisa’s blossoming is the materialization of what she had wished for herself. Marisa is both proud and nervous about the expectations placed upon her. She is a poised, thoughtful and articulate young woman, but she is also a teenager subject to the girlish hopes and frailties of any other teen. Filled with a deep sense of duty she takes her responsibilities as one of the chosen few with earnest dedication, but she is not without jealousy for the girls that spend their time just hanging out instead of learning to curtsey.
The film follows the arc of Marisa’s path to be Queen. But while on that path, we come to learn about the role that education played in the lives of African Americans struggling to break down the barriers of segregation in New Orleans, from the 1896 Plessy decision to the post-Katrina “experiment.”
MEMBER OF THE CLUB also tells the rich history of the black and white social clubs of the American South. Described through interviews, archival footage, photographs and music, the complex history of these segregated social institutions comes alive. The documentary explores the meaning of belonging to these clubs – higher education, attaining economic power, fostering civic virtues and cementing social status to rival the white establishment have always been key objectives. Although simply making one’s debut – elevation to an aristocratic status – is an end in itself. This is a fascinating, largely unknown past and present that gives greater meaning to Marisa’s personal journey by placing it in a social and historical context.
All of the families who participated in the 2004 Original Illinois Club Ball were affected by hurricane Katrina. The majority of middle class African American families live in East New Orleans or Gentilly, two of the areas devastated by the floods.
Marisa and her mom safely evacuated to Houston where they lived for four months before returning to New Orleans. Adrianne is once again working at Xavier University. Marisa is back in school at Southern University. Because the Mitchells had bought a two story house just before the storm in a neighborhood slightly higher, they suffered damage to only the first level of the house and are now rebuilding. Mr. Petit was rescued off of the roof of his house because he didn't leave with the family and their house was under 10 feet of water. Mrs. Petit evacuated with Adrianne and Marisa to Houston where they were able to rent a small house until they could safely return to New Orleans.
The Jacksons, Earl and Assunta, also were able to safely evacuate to Atlanta where they are currently living. They do not plan to move back to New Orleans due to lack of hospitals in New Orleans East.
All of the members lost their homes during the storm. Many have returned to rebuild them and also to rebuild the Original Illinois Club tradition of presenting young girls into society. They held their first ball in February 2008. |
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