FWD from Week 6 discussion

I, for one, am one of those people who have seen the 1961 film
countless times (thanks to parents and ex girlfriends), but
never attempted to read Truman Capote's writing. After seeing
Phillip Seymor Hoffman's academy award performance in "Capote",
I kind of predicted out that our faithful narrator was (just
like Tennessee Williams) an asexual or closet homosexual (at
the time), thus adding to the dilemma the book has now struck
on me. I now understand some of the themes that I couldn't
really fathom as a kid/teen, having only watched the film, trying
to understand what the heck they meant by "powder room" and why
they accepted checks and cash for 50$ because of it. Prostitution
has added a whole new element to the drama I had always thought
was Hollywood romance. Ironically after last weeks discussion on
the sex comedy and "beating around the bush", this 1961 film, made
in between the age of "the code" makes complete sense... if you
only take into account that they abandoned EVERY controversial,
juicy emotion that Capote is trying to convey.
Instead of the book being a romance, I find it to be more of a
study piece on the human condition of the female-rebel without a
cause. Our narrator, unlike the film, serves as an investigator,
complacent and willing to understand the abstract character of
Holly. We are drawn to Holly's charm, style, confidence and apathy
because everybody else in the story is. The character progression
of Holly is more like a deconstruction of insecurities, addictions,
and fixations, thus revealing her soft side as she shifts back into
reality as the story progresses.
I actually prefer the film over Capote's novella even with its
flaws. It's nothing personal against Capote's writing, because I
think he has the gift to make words and emotions fly like music
within sentences. I just think Audrey Hephburn's performance defined
an image and culture for millions of women and celebrities to come.