Truman Capote

I am intrigued by Truman Capote. Did you know Harper Lee based the character of Dill in To Kill A Mockingbird on Capote, who was her childhood friend? TKAM is one of my all-time favorite books and I find myself thinking differently about it knowing that little fun fact.



Anyway - I decided to finally read Breakfast at Tiffany's as one of my fun reads for spring break. It's surprising how much the short story was altered in its transformation to film (SPOILER! for example, the writer-narrator remains nameless and does not have a relationship with a rich, older woman, Holly becomes pregnant and has a miscarriage, they don't get the cat back after Holly pushes him out of a cab, and the story does not end happily ever after with Holly and the narrator in love). Although the portrayal of Yunioshi expresses racist sentiments in the film, the short story also uses some less-than-p.c. language about homosexuals. The short story Holly makes me feel differently than the Holly portrayed by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film. I love comparing books and movies because they are such different mediums - it feels immensely interesting to think of all the differences between them and the varying methods used to express the same message (or, in this case, maybe a different message).