Today marks the 65th anniversary since the film adaptation of Truman Capote’s novella ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ was released and I thought I’d revisit to remind myself why, of all charming 60’s films, this one has stood firmly in relevancy for so long. I also want to ask the question of how ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ cultural impact has developed and shifted through the generations.
Upon the film’s release on the 5th October 1961, ‘Breakfast At Tiffany’s’ earned major critical and commercial success with five academy award nominations, one being Audrey Hepburn for ‘best actress’ for her portrayal of Holly Golightly. That being said, the casting of Hepburn was a source of heated controversy as the film was being developed. The book’s author, Truman Capote, famously despised it seemingly more than anyone when he expressed “Oh God, just everything. It made me want to throw up.” Capote insisted on the casting of Marilyn Monroe for the role of Holly Golightly.
Throughout the 1950’s and early 60s, Monroe was the living breathing archetype of societal expectations of female sexuality with her carefully constructed blonde bombshell image, iconic red lips, sultry bedroom eyes and fluttery faux innocent “Who, me?” demeanour. In her final years, as her mental health accelerated in it’s decline, Monroe’s image darkened into a romantically tragic paradox between alluring sex kitten and the deeply vulnerable human being she really was. In the original text, Holly Golightly’s characterisation bares striking similarity to Monroe’s public identity; a woman plagued with antagonistic melancholia, barely veiled by a carnival performance of femininity and sensuality. It’s no wonder that Capote had such an indignant reaction to the casting of Audrey Hepburn.
The comparative commentary between Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe has been swirling since the 1950’s, with the actresses reflecting two of the most desired female archetypes at the time. Contrary to Marilyn Monroe’s unabashed curves, indulgent flirtatiousness and opulence, Audrey Hepburn emerged off the back of ‘Roman Holiday’ (1953) as the antithesis of everything that Monroe defined desirability to be. Hepburn was waifish, sophisticated (the way vaguely European people are) and demure with a wholesomeness and warmth that was fundamentally opposite yet equally magnetic. The casting of Audrey Hepburn into the role of a wild Texan weed-smoking escort does seem utterly absurd given the context of what these two actresses represented around the time of the film’s conception. You almost want to side with Capote’s fist-waving harrumphs. However, when the film was finally released, those criticisms by the public were finally dampened. Audrey Hepburn’s stunningly vulnerable and charming depiction of a character that juxtaposed so much with the actress’s aesthetic contributed immensely to the film becoming a worldwide success.
Of course we can’t talk about ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ without giving credit to the iconic opening sequence in which Holly Golightly stands outside of the Tiffany’s jewellery store in an impossibly chic black evening gown and opera gloves, eating a pastry. This sequence has become a piece of iconography bigger than the film itself, referenced countless times throughout pop culture and appearing on bedroom walls of teenage girls everywhere. It is such an important and beautifully crafted introduction to the complexities of Holly Golightly. She embodies elegance in this moment as she watches through the window with a dreamy, orchestral version of ‘Moon River’ playing softly over the scene. This hypnotic scene is only enhanced by the expectations that audiences had for a character delivered by Audrey Hepburn. In the film, however, the fantasy created by this sequence is immediately shattered when she is followed to her apartment door by a man who has been paying for her company all night, pressuring her to let him inside and pounding on the door. At once, the viewer understands that Holly’s character is entirely built on a fragile farce. In 2001, Joan Smith stated in The Guardian “Hepburn represents both the elegance of the period and a sense of class barriers about to break down”. This is the essence of Holly Golightly. While I do agree that Hepburn delivers an exceptional and nuanced performance of a girl perpetually frightened with a desperate unfounded belief that everything will work out for her, I do wonder whether the years since this film was released have exposed a growing societal issue: the public’s simplification of media as we trade meaning for aesthetics. The opening scene of ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ is brilliant because of where it is embedded in the film. It relies on us not knowing anything about Holly Golightly and everything about Audrey Hepburn to make us enchanted by her in this way. We feel like this once and then never again. I find it so interesting that this opening scene has surpassed the film itself in terms of cultural impact within my generation and Holly Golightly has become a character that so many young girls aspire to emulate, when in reality she is hearbreakingly vulnerable.
In the 2010’s, Gossip Girl was one of the most popular TV shows among teens and young adults, detailing the lives of the children of New York elites. The two female leads in Gossip Girl, Serena Van Der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf, are deliberately reminiscent of the archetypes prescribed to Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. Serena Van Der Woodsen is tall and blonde, possessing an effortless charm so intoxicating that the people around her are constantly inclined to give her benefits and opportunities that she doesn’t ask for. Blair is the brunette who is so preoccupied with her personal ambitions that she is only courteous to people she can benefit from. The wardrobe of these characters reflects that with Serena adopting an almost bohemian aesthetic that nods to California and Americana, while Blair has a preppy, tailored look that takes inspiration from London and European fashion. The show frequently includes comparisons that reference the Golden Age of Hollywood with Serena having paid homage to Marilyn Monroe’s dance number ‘Diamond’s are a Girl’s Best Friend’ from ‘Gentleman Prefer Blondes’ and Blair recreating the ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ opening scene.
While the show was airing, Blair Waldorf became the favourite amongst many viewers on social media sites such as Tumblr and Twitter. In turn, ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ experienced a resurgence in popularity as it was introduced to a new audience. This is when I started noticing negative criticisms starting to emerge. I believe that the issue with making the opening sequence into such a culturally impactful piece of iconography outside of the context of the film itself is that audiences are so dazzled by the aesthetics of the film that they refuse to acknowledge the nuance of the film itself. They only signed up for a pretty dress. We’re starting to see this pattern of valuing aesthetic over meaning pop up more and more online, with ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ representing this increasingly in the 65 years since the film’s release. Holly Golightly is a wonderfully layered and tragic character. She is obsessed with Tiffany’s jewellery store because of how much she clings to beautiful things to keep herself from unravelling completely. In the 1960’s, audiences very much still had preconceived expectations about Audrey Hepburn, fuelled by the media narrative of the time, however the beautifully nuanced performance earned rightful praise and won people over. In fact, the studio utilised expectations to flip them on their head. Observing the way ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ has started to lose cultural impact beyond the opening scene concerns me and highlights the decrease in media literacy over time that’s synthesising a daunting two-dimensional approach to the consumption of art.
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