Treme is a televised series that peers into the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. There are a plethora of disturbances in New Orleans’ societal norms that the series addresses, ranging from schools closing to dilapidated properties to increase in crime rate to racial policing. If the series has a villain, it is the faceless apparatus of governmental control over employees and citizens. The battle or issue that the world is presented with is not “Is New Orleans being rebuilt?” but “What is our approach and who are we rebuilding for?”
For example, in one of the scenes a reporter asks, “Why should U.S. taxpayers assist restore New Orleans if it’s such a backwater; if the food is provincial and the music is dated?” Whether he did so to play devil’s advocate or out of pure curiosity, it didn’t sit well with Creighton. Then Creighton, understandably, threw the microphone into a nearby river in response to such an insulting question. Throughout the two episodes we watched, there seems to be an unchanging connection between individuals and a feeling of camaraderie that they experience when returning to the city. The answer that viewers gain is more so an unspoken one — that the city should be rebuilt because it’s home to people. Even if the government and media portray the city’s residents negatively or fail to assist them, the performance demonstrates that these citizens are more than prepared to reconstruct their magnificent culture on their own. Rather than accept the help of tourists who want to “help” just to say they did, residents take it upon themselves to somewhat enforce a divide that the New Orleans you think you know is not the one they’re trying to preserve.
In a later scene, Sonny ( the individual playing piano on the streets) smirks at the Church group as they talk about their wish to “help save” the city’s damaged Ninth Ward. He says, “Let me ask you a question. Did you know anything about the Ninth Ward before the storm?” When the visitors ask for “something real,” Sonny (who has just finished playing an old-time blues song called “Careless Love”) sarcastically suggests “When the Saints Go Marching In,” remarking that “every cheesehead from chowder” enjoys hearing it. It’s in this moment that I realized the “for whom” they are trying to save the city for in this series: it is for those with roots in the land. The authenticity of music, cuisine, and culture that New Orleans families have make up what the city is. Keeping it authentic rather than allowing it to become the poster child of tourism right after Disneyworld is the core answer to the question.