Capote's Case

I, like several of my classmates have already shared, was also angered by Capote's description of Coco Chanel. He seemed to only be convinced of the cultural legitimacy of her career when he could cite men as other examples in the same realm, and he listed one objective fact about her life in this brief spotlight. One. As I ranted about this to my roommates and friends, I was reminded to consider the time  in which he was writing. And sure, it was a different time, and women were perceived differently, but I cannot get over the fact that he never seems to acknowledge women as equally capable and legitimate humans. It may have been a different time, but there are times today, when I see the reminence of this way of thinking. When certain, shallow college guys can discuss only how attractive a girl is and fail to mention any characteristics regarding her personality or hobbies. This does not describe most men, in my experience, thankfully. But it is present. And it is difficult to explain to them why they are being offensive towards the opposite gender.

It's especially interesting, after watching the film Coco Before Chanel, to see just how many details and intricacies of Chanel's life that Capote ignored. Again (and logically as is the theme of our course), I saw many interesting contrasts in gender relations and French women in comparison to American women. It is difficult for me to fully understand the societal expectations of the time around mistresses and other similar sexual pursuits, but regardless, Chanel seemed fine to be living under Étienne until her budding romance led her to realize how this compromised her freedom as an individual. It is interesting to me, that the first time she appears (in dress) as we interpret feminine to be today, is towards the end of the film, after she took so much time stepping away from the restrictive feminine fashions of her time, was described looking like a boy and sometimes did dress similar to one. Perhaps the costumes in the film suggest that the modern woman and modern femininity include a bit of borrowing from the boys. In Chanel's case, this is taking independence and freedom to become the modern woman. Capote mentioned none of that. Perhaps his audience was made up of his shallow college buddies as well.