HBO's Treme and the Stories of the Storm

This book analyses the HBO program Treme from multiple perspectives and argues that the series’ depictions of music, culture, cuisine, and identity are innovative and represent unique televisual storytelling strategies. The location, themes, and characters create a compelling story arc, and highlight the city's culture and cuisine, jazz musicians and musical performances, and Mardi Gras Indians. The program challenges initial reporting of Hurricane Katrina and in doing so rewrites the disaster myth coverage through which the city has been framed. Recommended for scholars of communication, media studies, music studies, and cultural studies.

A hard, but important truth to tell. This book does it well while going up and down in and out and around the complexities of bewildering complications of forms of communication like New Orleans jazz., Robin Andersen brings her considerable expertise in social justice, media economics, and cultural analysis to this definitive treatment of HBO’s Treme. That fictional series dramatized the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina and institutionalized racism on the Black residents of New Orleans. It also celebrated Black families, Black social networks, Black art, Black cuisine, Black English, Black history, and Black music. For all of these reasons, Treme matters to American television, to the struggle for social justice, and to every American committed to “liberty and justice for all.” That’s why Andersen’s HBO's Treme and the Stories of the Storm truly matters., HBO’s Treme and the Stories of the Storm positions the show as an important counter-narrative to the Katrina-era mass-media demonization of New Orleanians that drew on ancient prejudices and stereotypes. Producer David Simon and his many collaborators offered a parade of ways to think about New Orleans, brilliantly exploring the city’s complicated spaces and making the case for it as the world-class cultural jewel it is—and above all, making the case for its humanity. As the period tracked by Treme fades into history and the show enters the canon, Robin Andersen offers a defense of its achievements, analyzing its complexities and unpacking its themes. Reading it made me want to watch the whole series again.

Robin Andersen is professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University.