The show Treme has the common theme of identity we’ve been discussing in this course. The difference between the characters in the books we’ve read and the characters in this show is, in the show people are clinging to their sense of identity that Hurricane Katrina stripped from them, but in the books they lack a sense of identity all together and are searching for it.
Seeing all of this awful aftermath throughout the show, the town of New Orleans destroyed, unlivable houses, no one getting their insurance coverage on time, people misplaced and lost and so much more was very unsettling. The characters have so much hope it seems and that hope is attached to their sense of identity. They don’t want to let go of New Orleans because it is not just their home but part of who they are. Each character in the show fighting to stay has their identity woven into the spirit of New Orleans. They don’t want to let go or leave.
Big Chief lives in a bar because his house is unlivable. His daughter doesn’t understand why he can’t simply let go and move on. The thing is, he’s a Mardi Gras Indian chief which we learn means so much to him – it’s a part of who he is, his identity.
Then there’s Ladonna, she’s living in New Orleans then traveling to Baton Rouge to see her kids. Her husband Larry moved to Baton Rouge to continue his dentistry profession after the hurricane and the kids stayed with him. The last episode we watch he’s telling her to sell the bar and come live in Baton Rouge full time. She is physically appalled by him even thinking that, let alone saying it. New Orleans is her home, it’s a part of who she is.
Tying the show to the documentary, the documentary showed in depth how the government did not care and did not react fast enough or even close enough in time and it cost lives, much more than just what the storm alone took. The show tells us these stories of all of these New Orleans residents, some who lived their whole lives there and others who moved there and embraced the culture as their own and now feel it is their culture. It shows how identity is different for everyone and also how even if the government didn’t care, the people of New Orleans did (and still do). New Orleans held each of their hearts and souls and they weren’t ready to let that go.
Who would want to lose their identity though? The single thing that gives people a meaning and purpose?