Capote - my reaction

I just watched the movie "Capote" with my mom and dad. It was required by my Feature Writing class, for which this blog is dedicated. It is Saturday night, February 6th, late in the evening, and I'm just revelling in this movie. I absolutely loved it. Capote was such a flamboyent and eccentric person, and of course there have been many biopics on him. But this wasn't just another biopic. It was a snapshot of Capote's writing career - specifically, when he discovers, researches and writes his book "In Cold Blood." Philip Seymour Hoffman nails Capote's personality, look, lisp, and general ambience. I even noticed the little upper lip quivers he did - and I didn't realize how close Hoffman was to Capote's character until I watched a few YouTube videos of him on different television shows.

This film really represents what a feature writer must go through to truly absorb themselves in a story. Capote doesn't just watch from the outside and write what he thinks about this town and these men (he writes about a small town where a couple of men kill an entire family with a shotgun). He immerses himself in the town, interviewing anyone and everyone. But the more fascinating part is how he immerses himself in the lives of one of the killers. He starts to deeply care about - almost fall in love with - one of the two killers, Perry Smith. I went through the whole movie thinking that Perry was just along for the ride with the other guy, who was much more crass. However, in the end, you find out that he was the one who killed everyone in the house. Finding this out was one of Capote's goal for his book, and it deeply affects him when he finds out how brutal Perry was. I reacted much the same. I never thought Perry was the one who did it. Capote's reaction - almost a complete change in his personality, really throughout the whole experience - shows just how much he got involved, and even influenced the outcome and the process of the trials, appeals, and eventual death of the killers.

This immersion almost scares me. I would be afraid of getting so connected with the person or persons that I'm writing about that I would almost get too attached. I tend to be that way - very very emotional, and sometimes not logical enough. I would definately need to learn how to control my emotions. However, maybe the people who cannot keep boundaries, like Capote, are the very best feature writers...

Annie Johnson