
May 22, 2010
Watching Treme: we are not worthy

Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Politics, Pop, Books, Movies
“A master-class‑–immersive, detailed, meticulous, privileged inside-dope… Tom Shone is the king of critical cool.” — Craig Raine
“An up-close and personal look at one of Hollywood’s most successful directors…This erudite book is packed with extensive, expansive discussions about Nolan’s films… insights into what he was trying to accomplish with each film; and the movies, directors, books, art, architecture, and music that influenced him…. Fans of Nolan’s films will find this revealing book invaluable.” — Kirkus, starred review
"A sweet and savvy page-turner of a valentine to New York, the strange world of fiction, the pleasures of a tall, full glass and just about everything else that matters" — Gary Shteyngart, author of Super Sad True Love Story and Absurdistan
"A cocktail with bite. I downed it in one" — Helen Fielding, author of Bridget Jones's Diary
"A deft, witty satire which casts its sharp eye over the absurdities of addiction, recovery and contemporary New York" — Marcel Theroux, author of Far North
“Laugh-out-loud funny” — Toby Young, author of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
"Tom Shone's superb debut is a wise and witty examination of literary celebrity, Anglo-American mystification and the cult of recovery. Shone's prose sparkles: his humor detonates smart-bombs of truth" — Stephen Amidon, author of Human Capital
“A cutting comic debut” — The Sunday Times
“Clever, witty, acerbic, warm” — Geoff Nicholson, author of Footsucker
"A sharp, funny, and ultimately touching debut novel" — Library Journal Reviews
"One of the few novels set in Manhattan that gives you a true feel for the city” — James Wolcott, Vanity Fair
"A splash of cynicism, a dash of self-doubt, and a good measure of humour.... In the Rooms is an entertaining page-turner about humanity, with plenty of hilarity" — The Economist
Self-conscious and self-righteous--those bombastic, f-bomb tirades that John Goodman's retired prof delivers over YouTube are treated as rhetorical thunder, with guest star Roy Blount calling them "Shakespearean," rather extravagant praise for phrases such as "Lick my hairy balls" and "Fuck you, Atlanta," and Steve Zahn's hipster scold is equally indulged. Also, at the risk of sounding un-American, I find all the invocations to N.O. as "the cradle of jazz" a bore.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think everything was quite as one-sided as Tom made it out to be. Goodman's bombast was meant to appear desperate, ragged-edged and irrational; Blount's "Shakespearean" line struck me as an awkward attempt to compliment a friend. As for Zahn, he's portrayed as a flake, lovable at times, annoying at times....but an unreliable flake.
ReplyDelete1. Have you watched it all beyond the first episode?
ReplyDelete2. New Orleanians have always been concerned about their cultural identity. And definitely were more concerned then ever in the winter of 2005.
3. The obnoxious street busker is a recent transplant from Amsterdam, and has also been revealed to be an abusive brute in every way possible. (Again, you'd have to watch more than one episode to know this.)
4. You're thinking of "the Lower Ninth Ward." There is no "ninth quarter"
5. New Orleans was not decimated by a "level-five hurricane." Katrina's landfall in mississippi was Category Three. Its landfall in new orleans was mostly Category 1 winds; with some Category 2 winds in the eastern part of the city. New Orleans was decimated by the US Army's canal floodwalls which spontaneously crumbled in Category 1 winds; although they were supposed to withstand Category 3 winds. If you had paid attention to even the first episode (or say, any factual accounting or news report over the past five years), you would know this.
Is your ignorance real or feigned? Is this vitriol coming from a British hatred of the Francophile, or what?
At first I disliked the snotty superiority of Sonny, the street musician, at the expense of the Wisconsin church group. But later on, we see that they take the nightclub advice of Davis in his brief stint at the front desk of their hotel, and wind up having a mindblowing good time outside the French Quarter, blissfully unaware of the imminent arrival of parents, church elders, etc. convinced they've been kidnapped. The church goers were more open and appreciative than they appeared at first.
ReplyDeleteI dont think the author has a clue-from his rantings about the 9th quarter to the facts that he clearly doesnt understand. TREME is about the people, and Simon's story much like the wire pays tribute to their feelings, after the catastrophie as they attempt to rebuild their lives. Yes there is culture, yes there is plenty of Music, but its the people that truly makes New Orleans a great city, and watching this every week just reminds us of that.
ReplyDelete"...nobody can help unless they first understand New Orleans, and the only people who can understand are New Orleaners, and most of them only by constant self-purifying meditation on their irreducible New Orleanishness and its imperviousness to outsiders."
ReplyDeleteNews flash: Simon has this exactly, though accidentally, right. This was, is, and forever will be the New Orleans mentality. I grew up only 40 miles up the road, and lived in New Orleans for decades until displaced by Katrina. I lost my home, my insurance company went bankrupt without paying, and the Road Home was there only for the irreducibly New Orleanish. The cloying piety of these people is perfectly captured...again inadvertently...by the John Goodman character and wife.
Treme is a honking bore, for the very reasons Shone enumerates here.
ReplyDeleteI am baffled by Shone's misunderstanding of the obnoxious busker from Treme. Maybe the show is too subtle for a critic raised in a land of mushy peas, warm beer and Rick Astley, but the busker is portrayed an an ungrateful boor and, hoorah for Shone, he recognized that the character is an ungrateful boor. I commned you for your finely attuned critical apparatus.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, even if you don't accept the premise that New Orleans has a distinct culture, the people of New Orleans strongly believe that there is no place like that city, and that outsiders do not understand what was damaged and lost during the storm. In my view, Treme is pretty accurate in its portrayal of the seige mentality that many in that city had (and still have) after enduring the levee failure that devastated a great city.
Try watching more than one episode. David Simon is still smarter than you.
ReplyDelete