Walking the Dangerous Line of Journalistic Novels

I was very intrigued by the efforts Capote made to redefine not only journalism, but writing in general. He fused journalistic truth with the structure of a novel. With a novel, to write an adequate story the author must know his characters on an almost deeply personal level to make them convincing. For Capote this is an aspect he focused on deeply, spending an enormous amount of time with the Clutter family murders, just to figure out what makes them tick. He had to get inside their heads, which is what novelists do with their characters, and journalists stray away from. Each part he was fusing was held down by the other. Capote couldn't finish the book until the actual journalistic event he was writing about came to a conclusive end. He was writing journalism, but because he was formatting it as a novel he had to wait on the events to transpire so he could adequately fit the narrative together fluidly. He broke his novel into several parts as he wrote to account for this. It's something that is more widely done today, but for Capote it was truly ground breaking mainly because he was writing as it was occurring, not just reporting the facts, but doing something even more difficult and challenging and that was stylizing the facts together to create a cohesive story as he gained more information and didn't even have the complete picture yet. Capote sums this up beautifully by saying "This book was an important event for me. While writing it, I realized I just might have found a solution to what had always been my greatest creative quandary. I wanted to produce a journalistic novel, something on a large scale that would have the credibility of fact, the immediacy of film, the depth and freedom of prose, and the precision of poetry.”

Also, here is an interview with Capote on his views on capital punishment:

In Cold Blood/Capote

In Cold Blood was an interesting movie in that it was actually based on a piece of journalism rather than just a movie with journalism as the plot. That just shows how much film and journalism really are connected. I was amazed by the cinematography and impressed with the films ability to get me so involved; I literally got tense during the suspenseful moments and felt nervous and scared as Dick and Perry were executed.

Capote was interesting in that it showed Truman Capote’s process or writing a non-fiction book, which took years, relentless research, and essentially getting into the minds of the criminals. The relationship between Capote and Perry was a complex one. It was hard to watch Capote become attached to Perry and feel guilty for exploiting him, but continue writing the book anyway. In the scene where Capote is reading an excerpt from his book, I was surprised that it was so interesting and eloquently written. Sometimes, I get this idea about journalism that it’s only facts and boring details, but Capote shows that it takes a great deal of creativity to turn journalism into art. He saw potential in that story to be more than just a series of articles, and he persisted until he found a deeper story—enough to be an entire book.

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Once again I can't say enough about the acting in this film. While the direction and design are brilliant. Simple and elegant framing, extreme long shots of the landscape in turn become a character itself. BUT. Philip Seymour Hoffman took a leap. Small choices. Eye movements, hand gestures, lip quivers, voice annunciation. He embodied not just a character but the film itself.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000450/

Capote's "In Cold Blood"

The film Capote tells the true story of how Truman Capote's book "In Cold Blood" was researched and written. In 1967, the book was adapted into a film which was known for being unnervingly accurate in its depiction. The book describes the killing of the Clutter family in Holcomb Kansas, which took place 1959. Richard "Dick" Hickock and Perry Smith were responsible for the murders, and were arrested six weeks after the crime took place. Just after the murders occurred, Truman Capote read an account of what happened in a newspaper in New York. It was there that he decided that this would be the subject of his next book. Little did he know, that the book he was planning on writing would invent a genre of writing and solidify his place in history. Truman and his close friend Nelle Harper Lee rushed down to Kansas shortly after Truman had read the story. Over the next six years Truman would come to know most everyone in Holcomb, and when Dick and Perry were brought in, he got to know them very well too.

Perry believed that Capote had become his friend. They would swap life stories and found that they both had miserable childhoods. With an acquired sense of comfortability, Perry relinquished most every detail of his life and the events that took place in 1959 to Capote. Capote considered Perry to be a "goldmine", and when Dick and Perry's execution date drew near, Capote got them a lawyer who filed an appeal on their behalf. Capote "couldn't bear the thought of losing them too soon." At this point whether or not Capote actually considers Perry a friend is unknown, but as his execution date approached it was apparent that he did.

Capote was a writer, not a journalist. And as such he did not technically have a "code of ethics" to adhere to. The only morals that guided his decisions were his own. Those who employed him were in favor him him getting the story, and i would argue, would be in favor of him using any means necessary to obtain it. Towards the beginning of his investigation into the Clutter murders, Capote only involved himself to the extent necessary to gain the information he needed. As his investigation proceeded his level of involvement increased as information was harder to obtain. This continued until he, himself became part of the story. He was shaping the outcome by organizing lawyers to appeal on Dick and Perry's behalf. From a writing or journalistic perspective, Capote involved himself in the Clutter case to an unhealthy and unethical level. To the extent that there were serious emotional repercussions for Capote after the hanging of the two men.

Capote was played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won best actor for the role. Just after accepting the award Hoffman was involved in a press conference, during which he was asked about Capote.