Feud: Capote vs. The Swans Reminds Us to Never Trust a Writer
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud follows Truman Capote’s infamous breakup with the East Coast socialites he called “the Swans,” showing how his charm and talent as a raconteur couldn’t save him from being banished by wealthy elites.
Tom Hollander as Truman Capote in Feud: Capote vs. The Swans. (FX)
When Truman Capote died in 1984, his bitter rival Gore Vidal quipped, “Good career move.”
By that point, Capote had almost entirely lost his creative capacities as he disintegrated, body and mind, from the ugly effects of alcoholism and drug use and heartbreak over his ostracization from the elite circles he loved. He’d run afoul of “the swans,” as he called the svelte gang of rich, thin, jet-setting fashionistas who dominated the New York City social scene. They vengefully made sure he wasn’t invited to the right parties ever again.
That’s the subject of the belated second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud currently playing on FX/Hulu, subtitled Capote vs. The Swans. The first season, way back in 2017, was subtitled Bette and Joan. It featured a memorable depiction of the legendary long war between formidable Hollywood stars Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon) and Joan Crawford (Jessica Lange), which reached its vicious peak during the filming of the 1962 horror classic in which they both costarred, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
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