I've now watched quite a few episodes of this show, and I though it would be fun to give you a Swede perspective of it. Oddly enough, my own home town of Gothenburg has some things in common with New Orleans. In Sweden, Gothenburg is known as the place that is more relaxed than the rest of the country, and the inhabitants are thought to be different - almost a breed apart.
Luckily we haven't had the misfortune of nearly getting our town flattened out by a hurricane flood. I really admire the people of New Orleans for surviving this and beginning to rebuild their great city. They have a lot of spirit - that's for certain.
Treme contains a lot of music. This is both a blessing and a curse, in my opinion. My grandfather has a huge (I really mean this - its HUGE!) collection of jazz records - a lot of it is trad jazz. So in my family we have a kind of tradition of listening to jazz records. There's a lot of other evolutions of Jazz in the show like soul, funk etc. but even if I'm used to all these genres from New Orleans I don't find all the performances in the show enjoyable. During some episodes it becomes a drag to sit through music you just don't like that much. But I have to say I especially enjoy almost all of the second line, soul/funk and bounce stuff. Actually, this show led to my discovery of bounce - a style I really enjoy.
The story of Treme feels a lot like The Wire - it focuses on different aspects of life in the recovering city. I thought the video-blogging professor and the struggling chef were the most engaging story lines. Especially the restaurant business, in fact; it made me really want to try New Orleans cuisine. I think HBO should push for exporting this show to many other countries to bring probably much needed food tourism to New Orleans.
The Mardi gras indians remain inexplicable to me as a Swede. Are they some kind of mock indians? According to Wikipedia, they are... But I feel the whole thing feels stupid somehow - like a Swede dressing up in a freaky Same costume for some special holidays. I just don't get it. One also wonders what the Big Chief is actually doing for a living when he is not sewing on his costume. This whole Indian thing is of course a depiction of a certain expression of culture in New Orleans - I know this. But it seems a little too odd. what's the point? Mostly the indians remind me of lion fish.
It's a little unfortunate that both Det. Lester Freamon of The Wire and the Big Chief are heavily into handicrafts because it makes you associate the two... which brings me to Antoine Batiste - the trombonist. He is too much like "The Bunk" from The Wire in both appearance and demeanor, sometimes. But as the show wears on this gets better, I feel.
Despite the few negative things I have to say about the show, I have thoroughly enjoyed watching it. Don't be surprised if I show up looking for a special Treme-based tour of the city and the New Orleans people end up ignoring/tiredly staring at my stupidly gawking and sun-baked Nordic face as I am herded about by some tired guide...
Luckily we haven't had the misfortune of nearly getting our town flattened out by a hurricane flood. I really admire the people of New Orleans for surviving this and beginning to rebuild their great city. They have a lot of spirit - that's for certain.
Treme contains a lot of music. This is both a blessing and a curse, in my opinion. My grandfather has a huge (I really mean this - its HUGE!) collection of jazz records - a lot of it is trad jazz. So in my family we have a kind of tradition of listening to jazz records. There's a lot of other evolutions of Jazz in the show like soul, funk etc. but even if I'm used to all these genres from New Orleans I don't find all the performances in the show enjoyable. During some episodes it becomes a drag to sit through music you just don't like that much. But I have to say I especially enjoy almost all of the second line, soul/funk and bounce stuff. Actually, this show led to my discovery of bounce - a style I really enjoy.
The story of Treme feels a lot like The Wire - it focuses on different aspects of life in the recovering city. I thought the video-blogging professor and the struggling chef were the most engaging story lines. Especially the restaurant business, in fact; it made me really want to try New Orleans cuisine. I think HBO should push for exporting this show to many other countries to bring probably much needed food tourism to New Orleans.
The Mardi gras indians remain inexplicable to me as a Swede. Are they some kind of mock indians? According to Wikipedia, they are... But I feel the whole thing feels stupid somehow - like a Swede dressing up in a freaky Same costume for some special holidays. I just don't get it. One also wonders what the Big Chief is actually doing for a living when he is not sewing on his costume. This whole Indian thing is of course a depiction of a certain expression of culture in New Orleans - I know this. But it seems a little too odd. what's the point? Mostly the indians remind me of lion fish.
It's a little unfortunate that both Det. Lester Freamon of The Wire and the Big Chief are heavily into handicrafts because it makes you associate the two... which brings me to Antoine Batiste - the trombonist. He is too much like "The Bunk" from The Wire in both appearance and demeanor, sometimes. But as the show wears on this gets better, I feel.
Despite the few negative things I have to say about the show, I have thoroughly enjoyed watching it. Don't be surprised if I show up looking for a special Treme-based tour of the city and the New Orleans people end up ignoring/tiredly staring at my stupidly gawking and sun-baked Nordic face as I am herded about by some tired guide...