Capote the movie

From the film I saw Capote interviewed without taking notes on hand. I thought this was strange since we were told that he had something like 8,000 pages of notes. Then he made a few comments about having a 94% recall, which was funny but also pretty amazing. Capote obviously was a very intelligent person which explains a lot of his abilities. I was a little confused on the order in which he wrote the book. He obviously couldn't write the ending until Perry told him what happened, but the movie didn't show them discussing what happened before or after the killings. So I didn't understand if the movie just left that part out of the interviews or did he write what he knew then went back to add what Perry and Dick did. I would also say that the priorities of his writing would be the correct portrayal of the characters. Everything about the characters, feelings, attitudes...etc.

Obviously Capote was very close to Perry, although it wasn't directly stated in ICB it was definitely shown in the movie. After watching the movie and realizing that Capote not only didn't agree with the way Perry and Dick were convicted but he actually helped them by getting them new lawyers so they could appeal the courts decision. Although Perry and Dick were not represented correctly they still did the crime, I would think that Capote could separate himself from them with this reality. I understand that he was holding on to the hope that Perry was innocent, thinking that it was Dick who did all of the killing, but he was wrong. All I can think about after watching the movie is what if Capote actually did get these two out of jail, or out of death row? What if they were set free because of Capote's actions? Would he have been able to live with that decision?

I think Capote at times does misrepresent himself. I think he did care for Perry thinking that he was just not the killer that everybody was saying he was. But it astonishes me that he allowed himself to care as much as he did about Perry. That fact right there is pretty damn creepy. I can understand a writer becoming close to their subject of interest, but number one, not when there's any possibility that he can be a killer, and number two, not when you're trying to stay objective about the story. The part that I think was misrepresenting himself was when he told Perry that if he didn't tell what happened at the Clutter house that night that he was done interviewing him. I think this is misrepresentation because it was out of character and he really didn't want to stop seeing Perry. I think his concern for Perry is also innappropiate. I think he crossed the line from writer to having a relationship with him. Although after reading ICB I did feel a connection between the two of them, I didn't see this line crossed when reading it. To me this made the book consistent and an amazing work of creative nonfiction.

Brothers

Bret Lott's Essay Brothers shows a familiar relationship between two brothers. An obvious important relationship that the author finds dear to his heart. I found it interesting and ironic that Lott's description of his brother wasn't obviously close. As if his memories of them growing up weren't very favorable. Although he remembers them with a great deal of significance, most of his memories aren't of him and his brother being really close. Rather what he remembers specifically is actually them fighting. If I were writing a piece on how close I am to one of my siblings I don't believe I would be recalling all of the disappointing memories I have of them. But then he focuses on a picture they took after they were grown. He was in love with this one picture. Maybe he saw that picture as what he really wanted their relationship to be like. Then he observes that his own two son's relationship is much like his relationship with his brother. Hopefully realizing that they aren't close now but he has hope that will be as "close" as he was with his brother. I think this essay is just a weird view point that he has as a younger brother, and there's not anything necessarily wrong with that. His viewpoint wasn't something I could specifically relate to, but I can as the youngest of four see the wanting to be close with my siblings. That idea is very familiar to me.