"It's a killer story, but let me sell it first."
Feud: Capote vs. the Swans is the second installment of the Feud anthology series, airing on FX Networks, created by Ryan Murphy and starring Tom Hollander as Truman Capote. The cast also includes Naomi Watts as Babe Paley, Treat Williams (in his last on-screen role before his death) as William Paley, Diane Lane as Slim Keith, Chloë Sevigny as C.Z. Guest, Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill, and Molly Ringwald as Joanne Carson.
In 1955, writer Truman Capote manages to charm his way into the orbit of William and Babe Paley, a powerful pair of socialites. Having gained their confidence, he becomes witness to their turbulent marriage and is there to comfort Babe when she discovers that William has cheated on her with Happy Rockefeller. Through her, he meets the Swans, a collection of influential New York socialites.
In 1975, Capote, now a washed-up drunk, is desperate to get his latest book, Answered Prayers, finished so that he doesn't get sued by his publishers, but is also suffering from writer's block. At the suggestion of his new manager, John O'Shea, Truman decides to write about the personal lives of the Swans, exposing, for instance, William Paley's affair. Enraged by this betrayal of their confidence, the Swans vow revenge, banishing him from their group and seeking to make sure that he becomes a social pariah.
This miniseries contains examples of:
- Adaptational Friendship: "The Secret Inner Lives of Swans" portrays Truman Capote and James Baldwin spending a day together and even sharing a kiss, implying that they are good friends. In real life, Capote hated Baldwin's writing and the two were never more than casual acquaintances. One of the writers for the show admitted that he exaggerated the relationship because he'd been reading about Baldwin's life and thought he'd work better for the kind of episode they were writing than Capote's actual rivals, like Tennessee Williams or Gore Vidal.
- The Alcoholic: By 1975, Truman's drinking has become a serious problem, alienating his longtime partner Jack Dunphy and inhibiting his ability to write.
- Ambiguously Bi: John O'Shea has a wife and kids, but is also pursuing a relationship with Capote, but despite this, he refuses to identify as either gay or bisexual.
- Animal Motifs: The title sequence presents the Swans as literal swans, while Truman is presented as a fox when he infiltrates their circles and as a viper when he's on the outs with them.
- Artistic License – History:
- The Maysles did make a short film about Capote, but it centers on his life as a writer and does not have anything to do with the Black & White Ball.
- During the filming of Murder By Death, Truman is shown giving his final monologue on a dining room set. In the finished actual film, Truman’s character gives the monologue in his office.
- "The Secret Inner Lives of Swans" portrays Capote and James Baldwin as friendly rivals. In real life, Capote hated Baldwin's writing and the two were never more than acquaintances.
- Episode 6 has Capote seeing Andy Warhol on The Love Boat and musing on how could do the same. The Warhol episode aired in 1985, a year after Capote's death.
- Awful Wedded Life: Babe's husband Bill repeatedly cheated on her, often with fallout that humiliated her (one of his mistresses menstruated on their marriage bed, another ended up working for Truman on his Black and White Ball.)
- Broken Ace: In 1975, Truman is a shadow of his former self, as years of alcoholism coupled with the stress of trying to follow up In Cold Blood have given him severe writer's block and he's stuck in an unhealthy relationship with John O'Shea.
- Camp Gay: Truman is effeminate, out in a time when that is rare, and has a razor wit. The Swans also realize, after reading his story, that he is deeply misogynistic.
- The Casanova: Bill Paley is a womanizer, sleeping with countless women under the nose of his beautiful wife. This hurts her deeply.
- Confidentiality Betrayal: The plot is kicked off when Truman Capote, desperate to prove to people that he can still write despite his worsening alcoholism, publishes La Cote Basque 1965, a short story about a socialite whose husband slept with the wife of the mayor. While he uses pseudonyms, nearly everyone in New York society realizes that he's writing about Babe Paley, his best friend, whose husband Bill is a known womanizer. As one can imagine, Babe is pissed that Tru aired her dirty laundry, and she and her friends all choose to shun him, setting off the titular feud.
- Conspicuous Consumption: The Swans live a meticulously opulent life, surrounded by beautiful things and dressed in sumptuous mid-twentieth century fashions. Overlaps with Costume Porn.
- Dances and Balls: The high society world of the swans is filled with exclusive parties, but Truman's Black and White Ball tops them all.
- Disco Stu: In "Gloves, Hats, and Effete Homosexuals", both Truman and the Swans discover they've fallen behind the times when it comes to fashion, as Babe discovers that gloves are no longer fashionable enough to warrant their own department at her favorite store, CZ learns that her favorite milliner is going out of business, and Truman is derided for bringing in his new protege Kerry to Richard Avedon dressed like a Daughter of the American Revolution.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Truman began his vendetta against Ann Woodward after learning that she called him a "faggot" behind his back. For this, he destroyed her reputation and ultimately contributed to her committing suicide.
- Documentary Episode: Episode three, which centers around the Black & White Balll, imagines itself as a documentary being shot by the famous documentarians the Maysles. Shot in black and white, it portrays Truman stringing along the swans and teasing that that each of them will be the guest of honor at the ball. In the end, he chooses none of them and the ball honors Kay Graham, who is not part of his circle.
- Domestic Abuse: Truman's relationship with John O'Shea is violent and abusive, with Truman's verbal abuse met with John's physical blows. "It's Impossible" reveals that O'Shea's violence was not limited to Truman; his daughter Kerry shows up at Truman's apartment and reveals that her dad finally walked out on them after years of abusing her mother.
- Double Standard: Truman points out that all the Swans' philandering husbands have to do something big (like buy expensive jewelry) to apologize every time they get caught, and that the Swans don't have to do the same despite being no better than the men.
- Driven to Suicide: In the wake of Truman publishing "La Cote Basque", which included thinly-veiled insinuations that her shooting her husband was a premeditated murder rather than a tragic accident, Ann Woodward kills herself.
- Due to the Dead: In the penultimate episode, Babe learns that she will be dead in less than six months and begins planning her own funeral. Sure enough, she's dead by the end of the year, and the other Swans work together to make sure her funeral and wake play out to her exact specifications.
- Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: As she is dying, Babe surveys her fabulous jewelry collection, with many of the pieces being gifted to her after one of Bill's affairs.
- Excrement Statement: Happy Rockefeller gets her revenge on William Paley for dumping her by showing up at his place for one last rendezvous and not telling him that she happens to be menstruating. Consequently, he discovers to his horror that her menstrual blood is all over the bedroom, making it impossible for him to hide their affair from Babe.
- Fear-Induced Idiocy: Much of Truman Capote's self-destructive behavior is attributed to fear - he enters into a toxic relationship with John O'Shea because he's afraid of being alone, he betrays his friends' confidence by writing an unflattering story about them because he's afraid of running out of money, and in "The Secret Inner Life of Swans", he claims that he drinks heavily because he's terrified of everything.
- The Fellowship Has Ended: After Babe's death, the Swans start to drift apart, as they realize that she was the one who coordinated their lunches.
- Gay Best Friend: The series could be viewed as a deconstruction of this trope, with Truman and the Swans both being deeply hurt. Babe, especially, is broken when she realizes that her friendship with Truman wasn't as deep as she believed. Meanwhile, Truman realizes that the women aren't as forgiving as he'd expected them to be and he misses their company. Of course, he doesn't miss them as much as their society, but he still misses them.
- Hit Them in the Pocketbook: Truman Capote is summoned to the penthouse of his dear friend Babe Paley to console her after she's learned that her husband not only cheated on her with Happy Rockefeller, but he also unwittingly allowed Happy to menstruate all over their bedroom, making it difficult for Babe to continue hiding her husband's infidelities from their children. She's ready to divorce him, but Truman advises her against it, telling her that she'll just end up yet another divorcee exiled to Long Island. He instead suggests that she use the affair to guilt-trip her husband into buying her whatever she wants, as losing thousands of dollars would probably be much more painful to her husband.
- Hypocrite:
- In "It's Impossible", Slim paints herself as the most principled of the Swans, refusing to forgive Truman, suing him for libel over La Cote Basque, and insisting that the Swans all need to stick together and present a united front, but at the same time, she's also feeding questionable stories about Truman to gossip columnist Liz Smith to sabotage his attempt to revive his social life and having an affair with Bill Paley behind Babe's back. Lee Radziwill eventually calls her out on this.
- Babe calls all the Swans out on this in the penultimate episode, pointing out that they've all done horrible things in their lives, many to each other, and yet have been willing to forgive each other (or at least move on from it) while refusing to extend the same treatment to Truman.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Towards the end of "It's Impossible", having burned bridges with so many other people, Truman is only too happy to take on young Kerry O'Shea as a protege, mentoring her as a writer and helping her find modelling gigs to pay her bills.
- Masquerade Ball: Truman throws the legendary 1966 Black and White Ball at the Plaza Hotel. He's at the height of his social powers.
- May–December Romance: In "Gloves, Hats, and Effete Homosexuals", Truman has a fling with a young repairman named Rick in an attempt to convince himself that he hasn't gotten too old yet.
- Reclining Venus: Before she settled down with her husband, CZ had an affair with the painter Diego Rivera and he painted a nude of her in this position which is something of an open secret among CZ's social circle.
- Replacement Goldfish: In "Gloves, Hats, and Effete Homosexuals", Truman tries to have Kerry made up to look like a younger version of Babe.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: After a heavily-inebriated Truman announces on TV that he's probably going to kill himself, and then nearly dies that night, only surviving because Jack found him and got him to a hospital, Jack declares that he's had enough and breaks things off with Truman.
- Slumming It: Played With. While Joanne Carson and her showbiz friends are wealthy and in some cases famous, their bohemian California lifestyle feels like a big step down for Truman.
- Socialite: Babe, Slim, CZ, and Lee are the creme de le creme of New York society, and Truman both loves their world and resents it.
- Straight Gay: James Baldwin is presented as being able to pass for straight, because he has to; at the end of the day, he always has to go back to black society, where gay affectations are seen as a white thing.
- Themed Party: Guests are expected to wear black and white to the Black and White Ball, but it is Babe who suggests red tablecloths to add a pop of color.
- This Is Unforgivable!:
- In the opening, Babe is just about ready to walk out on her husband after discovering that he cheated on her with the Governor's boorish wife.
- Truman honestly thought the Swans would eventually forgive him for writing La Cote Basque, but Babe is deeply hurt that he would expose her marital troubles to the world, and the others find his descriptions of them extremely misogynistic.
- Twofer Token Minority: In "The Secret Inner Lives of Swans", Truman takes lunch with James Baldwin, the famed gay black author. When Truman wonders why they're hanging out, as they don't travel in the same circles, Baldwin laments that while there's plenty of community for a black man, and some community for a gay man, there's not much community for a man who is both.
- We Used to Be Friends: The miniseries opens with Truman rushing to comfort Babe Paley after she discovers her husband's affair and shows that they were the closest of friends, but Truman's selfish decision to betray her and the other Swans' confidence destroys all that.
