Capote: Motivating the Intellect of Viewers

The internet has become a major promotional tool for American and international film industries. An entire website dedicated to the promotion of one film has the potential to give audiences a microcosmic look into the meanings, narratives, and history of what will appear on the big screen. According to research gathered by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 56% of internet users watch video clips. Many of the clips available online are movie trailers enveloped by content such as a film synopsis, cast information, and theatrical release dates. The websites that present this information most effectively are thoughtful and engaging representations of the films that they promote. The Webby Award nominated website designed for the 2005 film Capote, is a intellectually appealing and accessible representation of the motion picture. Capote’s website has three clear objectives: to inform audiences of the historical placement of the film, convince audiences that the film is as intellectually stimulating as the site itself, and to ultimately persuade viewers to go see Capote or purchase it. With the film essentially amounting to a character study, the site sheds an extensive amount of light on the controversial and subversive reputation of Truman Capote. Although the site successfully generates the eerie ambiance of Capote and addresses important literary and social implications of the life of Truman Capote, it fails to provide easily identifiable insights into the filmmakers, writers, and actors involved in the film, leaving viewers with more knowledge of the subject of the film rather than the film itself.

Before delving into the particulars of the website, it is first important to note how the site deals with Capote, the person, as a well-known homosexual man and Capote the film as a pivotal representation for the LGBT community. One of the few things that audiences may know going into the film is that Truman Capote was a gay man. Capote’s sexuality is addressed as sparsely and nonchalantly on the website as it is in the film. His flamboyant physicality is notable but seamless within the larger context of his persona. The “childlike voice, fey mannerisms, and unconventional clothes” of Truman Capote mentioned in the opening synopsis and in several of the reviews are concisely pointed out. Since the film successfully avoids portraying Capote as a campy caricature of an effeminate gay male, the site itself is not overly concerned with his homosexuality in the biographical information, nor in the imagery provided. This is a completely sensible decision considering that there are no explicit romantic occurrences in the film, nor are there any identity issues dealt with directly. If anything, Capote’s sexual identity serves to reinforce the power of celebrity embodied within his persona. As quoted in the “Biography” section, “During a period when homosexuality was anathema in America, Truman was nonchalantly and resplendently gay.” The “Biography” and “Timeline” does not shy away from pointing out Capote’s lovers and companions, but none of the information is gratuitously focused on. There is an adequate and tasteful amount of information provided for anyone looking for more details about Capote’s homosexuality. By not exploiting this particular side of Truman Capote, the site, as well as the film, contributes to the evolving representations of LGBT individuals.

As an independent feature in prominent film festivals, Capote is among few mainstream films that cater to a more intellectual audience. The homepage of the site highlights the Academy Award honors the film received, specifically for the title role. This opening page serves to inform or remind viewers of the filmic status of Capote. In addition, the Sony Classics .com domain enforces the credibility of the website. It is the official site dedicated to Capote, not a fan or spoof site. The “Reviews” section and the “Festivals” section accentuate the reputation of the film. In fact, the “Festivals” section is where the photo background motif is the most functional. This photo captures the smug infamousness of Truman Capote which looks fitting next to the illustrious “Official Selection” emblems from the New York, Toronto, and Telluride Film Festivals. Reviews from prominent newspapers and magazines such as Time Magazine and Rolling Stone, lend to the esteem of the film. Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal vigorously spouts, "I've never seen anything like Philip Seymour Hoffman's portrait of Truman Capote." This and equally flattering reviews of the film solidify Capote's critical status. The site is operating under the assumption that the anticipated audience is a highly intrigued academic group of movie-goers conscious of the film’s prestige. This is a positive characteristic of the site because it establishes the validity and respect of the film.

Once in the Macromedia Flash site, viewers embark on a small aesthetic journey. By delicately capturing the atmosphere of Capote, the visual elements of the site readily engage visitors. The judging criteria for the Webby Awards, asserts that good visual design “communicates a visual experience and may even take your breath away.” Capote's website attempts to do this without using muddled complexities. The introduction to the site is a concise blend of visual, audio, and textual elements that serves as a thematic foundation for the film. Though primarily driven by textual entities, the visual elements provide smooth transitions to carry viewers over into the meaty content of the website. Upon entering, readers are greeted with a familiar black and white image of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote in front of a desolate Kansas field. Four alluring quotes from the film are presented through sound bites and visual text, while the film score softly plays in the background. This combination of audio and visual elements establishes the bleak setting and haunting mood of Capote. Welcoming viewers into the world of the film with these four quotes disproves preconceived notions that it is a biographical piece. The focus of the story is on Truman Capote in relation to the violent incident alluded to in the passages. The introduction could have opened up with quotes about Capote’s life as a child, his experience coming out as a homosexual, or his life in the spot light. Instead we get a glimpse of a film that is about crime and murder, and the complexities of human relations. Following the introduction is a blur effect transition into the main page, followed by the typing of “Capote” across the screen along with the side bar options. These slick transitions provide an entertaining, yet simple way to introduce the site’s navigational features. The visual content is not extremely intricate or flashy, however it is polished enough to keep the attention of the expected audience.

The visual design of the website is persistently well organized and easy to follow. Web Style Guide suggests that graphic design should create “visual logic and seek an optimal balance between visual sensation and graphic information.” The still photo backgrounds in contrast with the slightly transparent information boxes establishes a good balanced between visual entertainment and textual information. Having the high quality photographs from different moments in the film, outside of the photo gallery, provide a constant visual stimulation for a site that is mostly geared toward historical and academic documents. The dense text documents are easier to read with the firm contrast and relief of the visual elements. For instance, the image of the real-life Truman Capote next to his biographical information is eye-catching. The viewer gets a glimpse of the reality of the film and there is no better way to expand on that than to read the given biography right in front of them.

Hidden within the seemingly minimal navigational options is a hefty amount of descriptions, explanations, and facts that can seem overwhelming for someone looking for a brief overview of the film. The Web Style Guide asserts that, “Few Web users spend time reading long passages of text on-screen. Most users either save long documents to disk or print them for more comfortable reading.” The abundance of information provided on this site may seem both useful and excessive to viewers. A typical film site would include the information found in “The Film” section, a movie trailer, and a photo gallery. However this site goes several steps further with the inclusion of biographical sources, newspaper clippings, and dozens of directly and indirectly related links. Under the “Links” section one can find dozens of hyperlinks to websites related to the studies of crime, journalism, and literature. These extensive features of the site work as instruments to bring viewers closer to the real life events that the film is based on as well as broader thematic elements within the film. Though much of the sources and textual information may seem excessive, it is all undeniably relevant to the film.

The importance of Truman Capote’s literary contributions is the most pertinent and assisting form of information the website provides. The purpose of the “In Cold Blood” section is to emphasize the impact Capote has had on the literary world. The section asserts that “Capote’s influence extends even into the twenty-first century, and writers…write the way they do because of the way he did.” The social commentary on the impact of the “Non-fiction Novel” ultimately proves that Capote is a public figure worthy of a film adaptation. Instead of pompously stating that Capote is the most important writer of his generation, the author of this content, cleverly introduces the idea with a supporting quote from Norman Mailer, who states that Capote was the “most perfect author of [his] generation.” This section shifts to the importance of Truman’s persona, as a great writer and a frolicsome celebrity. The description of the book’s succ$ess and success of the film and television adaptations provide a comfortable ending to the biographical section of the website. The final quote from Gerald Clarke indicates that there is more to Capote’s success than meets the eye. Audiences could deduce that the film explores the “tragic downfall” mentioned in this quote, prompting them to see the movie. The biographical content available on the site is an invitation to see the film with a well informed knowledge of the subject matter.

As a result of all the rich textual information, a minimal amount of interactivity is allowed on the website. The site is only able to accommodate this feature with one entity. According to the Webby Award judging criteria, well crafted interactivity on a site “insists that you participate, not spectate.” The “In the press” section of the website allows audiences to participate in the sensationalism of the arrival of non-fiction crime literature. The section, containing book reviews and magazine clippings from the mid-sixties and early seventies, not only confirms facts given within the biographical sections, but also adds to the general ambiance of the website. These are hands-on examples of the book’s impact on the literary world as well as glimpses into Capote’s inspiration and celebrity. The hyper-texuality allows the reader to directly transport to the time and frame of the film. The most distinctive of these articles is the link to the 1963 New York Times article, entitled Wealthy Farmer, 3 of Family Slain. With access to the actual article clipping that prompted the writing of the novel In Cold Blood, the audience is given the thrill of being in Capote’s shoes. With these cultural artifacts from Capote’s In Cold Blood stages, it is easier to grasp the historical significance and accept that the influence of Capote has not been exaggerated by the website.

With the overwhelming focus of the website on the historical context of Capote, the film’s contributors are overlooked and decentralized. Under the “Cast and Filmmakers” section a list of credits are provided, but there are no cast biographies nor are there links to such material in this section. The site does provide links to websites for the three leading actors under “Cast” in the “Links” section. However as a matter of prioritization of information, it woulnd be easier for readers to have cast information available under the first mention of the “Cast and Filmmakers.” Instead the primary mention of the cast is found in the “Reviews” section. For instace in the esteemed Rolling Stones review by Peter Travers he complements Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s performance stating, “his real triumph is inward, the way he finds the stillness in Capote and the emotions rolling in his eyes when what he sees in the world reduces him to awed silence.” Here we have an in-depth commentary on the role of performance in the film not found in any centralized section of the site. Although helpful, the “Reviews” section is also somewhat inadequate in that it does not provide links to the full reviews of the selected blurbs on the website. The site neglects the fact that film reviews are among the key elements that prompt viewers to see the films. These well-written and flattering articles should be fully accesible. Readers interested in the actors and their performances, as well as the films literary and temporal structure, are not met with much satisfaction from the website’s materials.

The Sony Classics website for the film Capote is a well-crafted and detailed look at the persona behind the film and the creation of the novel, In Cold Blood. The bulk of the site contains information that most audiences would only sift through once or twice. However anyone doing recreational or academic research on the subject of Truman Capote, the non-fiction novel, or subjects as broad as crime, literature, and journalism would be able to find at least a few helpful resources through this website.Ultimately, the website is both informative and intriguing. Capote is a haunting, honest, and perplexing depiction of a prominent figure in the history of American literature. Through the website, these ideas are illustrated succinctly and expanded on in ways that allow browsers to explore a seemingly infinite amount of information about the man behind the title.

The Ex-Gay Movement: Damaging Visibility

USC’s LGBT Resource Center is holding an intellectual discussion that features a representative from the group PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays) on Thursday November 2^nd. This event is meant to foster dialogue about the growing representation of Ex-Gay organizations and focus groups. PFOX contacted the LGBT center proposing that Ex-Gay Information should be available to students on campus. As the Communications Director for the Resource Center, I completely objected to the idea. Myself and several of my colleagues feel that a Pride Center is surely not the proper venue for Ex-Gay Literature. This issue prompted me to search for blog-posts that discuss sexual identity reformation and what type of artistic representations of it exists. I commented on two posts, one from a liberal perspective and one from a conservative perspective. I posted as "designosis" on the latter post. The conservative post discusses an upcoming by Exodus International book about educating churches on handling LGBT people. The second post I responded to is a very liberal report on an upcoming Ex-gay Television show called “Pure Passions.” Both sides of the Ex-Gay phenomeon proves that the issue is bound to become more controversial.

Get on the Bus:

Explicit Content and the Treatment of Sex in Film
When does a film cease to be art and become pornography? Is the depiction of actual sex pornographic if the images are calculated not to arouse viewers, or is what causes arousal so subjective that it is impossible to define what is pornographic? If so, is it practical to empower lawmakers to define what is or isn't pornographic on our behalf? When serious actors engage in sexual activity for artistic purposes, are they inadvertently prostituting their art? Any number of these tricky, perhaps unanswerable, questions are raised by the explicit sexual content in the upcoming fall release Shortbus.

Shortbus follows a group of New Yorkers as they explore the comic and tragic intersections between sex and love in and around a present-day underground sex salon called Shortbus. The film includes scenes of real sex between gay, lesbian, and heterosexual characters as well as masturbation and group sex scenes. The film is not meant to focus on the erotic side of sex, but use sex as a representation of other aspects of the characters and the overarching story.

In the 1996 article “Prisoners of sex? - sex in society and the media" in the Humanist, Lee Ann Morgan writes about the progressively juvenile and superficial portrayal of sex. She states that “sex may be losing its soul in direct proportion to its becoming a mass commodity.” Ten years later Morgan’s observations of mainstream media’s treatment of sex have worsened exponentially. Sex is trivialized in raunchy gross-out teen comedies, reality television, magazine spreads, and other prominent pieces of pop culture. Morgan continues by stating that “the images are powerful without an accompanying sense of respect or responsibility or proportion.” Sex sells, but only if it is exaggerated and infantile. This leads to the question, Can films like Shortbus bring the “soul” back into sex? In a Cannes Film Festival press conference, Director John Cameron Mitchell stated that he “wanted to use sex for a metaphor for things that were perhaps more universal: themes of connection and love and fear.” Imagine if sex was more commonly situated to provoke thoughtful interpretation, as opposed to provoking erections. Although Shortbus’s ability to do this relies heavily on the audiences’ capacity to accept the sex in the film as not another opportunity to overdose on our cultural obsession with sex, but to view the sex in the film as a single entity that defines and represents the characters.

Despite the artistic clarifications given for the abundance of sex in Shortbus, the film is still bound to draw in some socio-political controversy. Director John Cameron Mitchell has openly declared that his text is an act of defiance against the current political climate in America. In the introduction to the uncensored trailer on Ifilm.com, Mitchell states that Shortbus is “everything you need to get through the next two years of George Bush.” It is unclear how directly the film itself addresses Bush, terrorist fears, and other post-9/11 political issues. Yet it is evident that the auteur, Mitchell, is using his film as a symbol of subversion and liberation in a time where there is a strong presents of distrust of the current administration. At the Cannes Film Festival press conference, Mitchell declared that “We are certainly being controlled by a puritanical government in the States, a theocracy so to speak that a lot of people…don't agree with.” The extreme leftist views of the film and the filmmakers are going to cater to the expected audiences who actually go out to see it, relatively liberal individuals. The extremity of this film may not lead to much social change, or even effect any mainstream media treatment of sex, however for the intellectually open crowds who are able to see it, it will hopefully fulfill its main purpose of giving sex the proper value and respect it deserves.

John Cameron Mitchell on the goal of Shortbus: “Most people have said that by the end of the film, the sex was the last thing they think about, which is in a way our goal too, to remind people that it is just another brush stroke in the painting of life."

Evolving Representations: Long awaited depth for LGBT stories in Hollywood Film.

Cinematic representations of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) individuals have not received such mainstream attention prior to last year’s Oscar-winning film Brokeback Mountain along with Transamerica and Capote. For the first time, mass audiences were able to see homosexual and transgender story lines that went beyond stereotypes and two-dimensional caricatures. Brokeback’s success can be attributed to the relatively known actors, an acclaimed director, and a narrative operating outside of typical gay cinema territory, the classic Western. Brokeback’s ability to demythologize the most fixed conventions of the genre, along with its timeless backdrops, and empathetic ending, made it the most humanizing tale of homosexual love to ever hit so many big screens. The representational consequences of Brokeback Mountain have the potential to produce LGBT characters of substance in mainstream cinema, eventually contributing to the goals of social tolerance and equality.

Now that Hollywood has little reason to abide by any preconceived notions about whether gay films with gay leading characters can succeed with audiences, there’s no limit to how many widely released films in the upcoming year will incorporate LGBT into its vocabulary. One point of contention is how these films are going to be sold to audiences. Even if a series of thought provoking, tactful films continues to emerge, overzealous coverage can easily turn much needed visibility into a superficial fad. The potential for this is blatant in Silvia Aloisi’s Entertainment news headline that highlights the “Gay Kiss” between the two lead actors in the upcoming film “Infamous” (another film about the acclaimed writer Truman Capote). This need to emphasize the homoerotic interactions in the film indicates the level of intrigue audiences are expected to have over anything with a hint of homosexuality in it. Daniel Craig, one of the actors involved in the kiss, is slated to play James Bond in the upcoming film Bond 22, prompting the playful subheading, “KISSING JAMES BOND.” Like the demything of the Western, the publicity over this kiss is an example of another subversion of an infamous cultural text. The same actor lined up to play the epitome of the chauvinistic womanizing secret agent can simultaneously take on a role that involves kissing another man. This no longer jeopardizes the persona of the actor, nor the legendary character. This illustrates the fact that Hollywood is more willing to tell LGBT stories than ever before and is letting down some incredibly old boundaries.

So what can truthful and humanizing representations do for LGBT communities? How tangible is the correlation between representation and reality?

The main objective of any marginalized group’s visibility within a prominent medium, like film, is to ultimately ignite social change. Maria DiBattista, using Brokeback Mountain as her example, explores the question, “Can Movies Change our Minds?” in a LA Times article. She states that movies have the ability to “take on the great social problems of their time, but they may be the least effective — or appropriate — medium for solving them.” Claiming that Brokeback Mountain is the beginning of the end of homophobia and injustices based on sexual preference is of course a completely irrational conclusion. However the films that take on such issues in their time add up to be something impacting. What will effectively provoke change are honest, if not positive, representations of LGBT individuals. Film, like any art, has the potential to rouse analysis, understanding and even allow audiences to embody the life, or story, of someone else. We will see a change in social and political disparities as more LGBT narratives and characters are implemented with substance and purpose.