Learning about the history of New Orleans, the city has had its peaks and valleys. From being a military fort full of undeveloped swamp land, to one of the most visited places in the United States. However, I believe that its prime has long since passed. It is evident walking along the Mississippi River starting in the oldest part of city, The French Quarter with its iconic iron railings and historic homes, through Canal Street buzzing with life, to the Central Business District full of tall (by historical standards) buildings with engravings that label a building as a cotton trade center for example, and passing to the Lower Garden District full of colorful Mansions. Yet, as you keep going forward in time, the neighborhoods become less recognizable and less important to the history of the world. New Orleans, in its prime, was a wealthy city, one of the most important cities geographically, as the end of the Mississippi, it was packed with steamboats and tradeships, and it exported indigo and later cotton. Yet, this peak was brought about by taking advantage of others, first the Native Americans, and lastly the enslaved people. The massive wealth from the indigo and cotton plantations built the French Quarter and the Garden District. The Central Business District was the epicenter of the Slave trade until the Civil War. Once Slavery was abolished, New Orleans faced a blow that it still hasn’t recovered from. Today, the city still doesn’t have a diverse economy, relying heavily on tourism and entertainment to keep the economy running. These older, wealthy areas are living in the shadow of what they used to be.
The city has felt like it has been searching for itself since the Civil War, with a desire to hold on to the past and what is familiar while also trying to make a new identity of progress and rebuilding. This is why so many novels of self-discovery and searching seem to take place in New Orleans. The Moviegoer follows the main character and narrator, Binx, who is on a mission of self-discovery. Binx is from the historic Garden District but chooses to live away in Gentilly to escape the “old atmosphere”. The search, as Binx calls it, is him having a kind of existential crisis where he is comfortable but doesn’t know how to deal with his life. He tries to break up the everyday mundanity of his life by going to the movies, talking to other people, and taking advantage of his female secretaries. Still, he connected to his past, the scar in his shoulder from the Korean War, his visits to his aunt, and the privilege that is given to him because of the historical importance of being high-class and white. He lives in the shadow of what the white, wealthy class should be: polite, stoic, and respectable. By the end of the novel, he decides to abandon his search slightly by settling down with his cousin (not blood related), Kate, but he still has some direction and ambition, deciding to go to medical school to help with Kate’s condition, which felt like bipolar disorder to me.
“Am I, in my search, a hundred miles ahead of my fellow Americans or a hundred miles behind them?... On my honor, I do not know the answer.”
Tulane University
In a way, Binx’s search is extremely intertwined with the search of New Orleans. The city started in the historic cities of the French Quarter but has grown outward in all directions to Lake Pontchartrain, Algiers, New Orleans East, etc. Always moving away from The Quarter but still connected to it as the city enters. New Orleans tries to be more than just the French Quarter with places like The Superdome, college campuses like LSU and Tulane, and industrial space where NASA and oil refineries are located. Like how Binx has failed relationships with his female secretaries, New Orleans has many failed ventures like Jazzland, rebuild attempts after Katrina, and Cancer Alley. Both lost their prime to war, Binx with the Korean War and New Orleans with the Civil War. New Orleans also has its own version of periliage, being one of the only US cities to have strong ties to France, Spain, and historic America, and full of rich culture and historical significance. It is also built on the back of taking advantage of enslaved people, similar to how Binx openly admits to interacting with people for purely selfish reasons. Today, New Orleans has settled down into its tourist image with tag lines like “Beinget, done that”, tourist traps lining Canal Street, people busking for money, and self-proclaimed psychics charging absurd prices near Jackson Square. But the scars of the past aren’t forgotten.
These two existential explorations connect to my own existential questions and search that I still struggle to tackle. My search is for what to do with myself after college. I have no idea. I know that I would like to try my hand at stand-up more professionally and audition for community theater, but you need a steady day job before that’s financially possible. Although I don’t watch movies or build concert venues to broaden my search, I bury myself in academics and extracurricular activities. I don’t believe normal people double major, practice Taekwondo, audition for plays, do open mics, choreograph dances, work a student office job, and work security over the summer. I think the reason I pack my schedule to the brim is that I don’t want to have time to think about the future because the next day requires my full attention. I don’t believe I passed my prime, but I am living in the privilege and shadow of my parents. My parents are the reason I don’t have to worry about paying tuition; they will make sure I always have a home to come back to. If I become a full-time comic and I fail miserably, I don’t have to worry about my next meal because I have the privilege of parents who are emotionally and financially supportive. Like Binx moving out of the Garden District and New Orleans expanding, I don’t want to live under the shadow of my family as someone who peaked in college. Also, if I do become successful as an artist, it will happen because I don’t have to worry about when my next paycheck is.
Pictures Taken in the Audubon Area, Where Part of The Moviegoer Takes Place
Binx and I both have the privilege of being comfortable in life, but we both struggle with ourselves and search for ourselves in other places, only for life to be the best option. New Orleans and I are both still searching and using what’s best of the past to move forward in the future.