Rhizomatic Narrative and Intermediality in Treme

In this paper, I study the narrative structure and the layers of meaning in the Treme (2010–2013), using the concept of rhizome introduced in A Thousand Plateaus by Deleuze and Guattari (1987) and the Hannerzian “root metaphor” of creole culture. As for New Orleans in the Treme, music makes the narrative structure not just multilinear but rhizomatic. Moreover, spontaneity and hybridity highlight dialogicity and poliphony as well as a strong ironic and subversive capacity concerning music and creole culture. On a narratological level, analysing the critical representation of social problems after the destruction of Hurricane Kathrina raises the problems of focalization and narratorial distance.