As the credits roll and the lights are turned up, we are left with a crucial question, nonetheless center concerning the interpretation of the film Citizen Kane. Citizen Kane is widely regarded by many to be the greatest movie ever made, but who actually is this man, Charles Foster Kane? We know that the he is played by a young prodigy by the name of Orson Welles, and many references have been made in and out of the film regarding a very powerful gentleman at that time by the name of William Randolph Hearst. But who actually, is this film about? Orson or William Randolph Hearst? Or maybe someone else entirely. Citizen Kane is the story of Orson Welles, yet it is not. It is a narration of Hearst's grand rise to power, yet it is also not. So who or what exactly, is Citizen Kane about?
Essentially, this movie revolves around a single word "Rosebud". From the very start, we see the expressionistic genius of Orson Welles, at Kane's deathbed, the last words uttered from his dying lips -"Rosebud". As these words were uttered, the one object he treasured and desired, a snowglobe, fell from his grasp, and was smashed into pieces. We hear silence, marking the end of the life of a man. In this short montage of the last moments of Charles Foster Kane's life, albeit not knowing it at the moment, we had already learnt the true identity of this man.
In the establishing sequence, we are greeted with a "No Trespassing" sign, that we are about to enter the life of a man, cut off from the world, yet still very much a part of it. And this sets the tone for very much the rest of the movie, that we were about to enter the life of a man secluded and cut off from the world. The narration in Citizen Kane is also brilliant, where director Orson Welles manages to tell us the story of this man's life using individual accounts of the people Kane's life to allow us to piece together and understand who the man was. Using rosebud as the McGuffin in the movie, Orson Welles sends us on a wild train ride exploring the life of one Charlie Foster Kane.
In the opening minutes, we see the narration of Charlie Foster Kane from the view of the media, of the people and of the public. To them, Kane was a mere newspaper tycoon, a rich and powerful man, a person who had lots of promised yet failed to lived up to them. He was neither hated nor loved, just a man. We see him for what he has done, but not for who he really is. The media tribute by news on the march to Charlie Foster Kane was never about him as a person, but merely about him as an object. And in this way we are introduced to Kane, distant, unattached; a mere figure in their lives. In this manner, the Kane whom we are introduced to is distant and far away. Throughout the movie, we are never really able to see into his heart, he never really explains his decisions to anyone, for instance, choosing the stay in the election even at the cost of losing his son, we never really know what motivated him to make that decision. Merely knowing that he did it because he could.
As the narration progressed, we begin to see Kane from the eyes of his guardian, Tatcher. In an unbiased narration, we see how Kane was taken away from his home, on the very same snowy day in his snowglobe, just before his death. We see how he was given away by his parents for something they deemed more valueble, money. Before he was taken away, we saw the very Kane for who he really was, innocent, carefree and youthful. The symmetry in the movie here is beautiful. In cruel irony, as Kane slid closer and closer to his end, we see him vainly buying everything with the very thing his parents gave him away for, money, yet he could not get what he wanted the most. Also, as we see Kane grow older, we see him lose his childhood innocence, his freedom and his boyish energy.
Next up was the narration of Kane's life through the eyes of Jedediah Leland, the man who was Kane's closest friend. In him, we see Kane's moral conscience. The story of Kane is also the story of Jedediah Leland. As we are introduced to Leland, we see how Kane and himself drafted the declaration and principles, announcing to the world how they were unafraid to tell the truth, to uphold their moral principles and to be righteous. This stands in stark contrast to the scene where a drunk Jedediah Leland lies asleep on the typewriter over an unfinished review of Susan Alexander's horrid performance, in a vain attempt to prove to Jedediah that he still held firm to those principles, Kane finished the review for Jedediah. From the words of Jedediah Leland, we truly begin to catch a glimpse of Kane's true character. "He married for love -- that's why he did everything. That's why he went into politics. It seems we weren't enough. He wanted all the voters to love him, too. All he really wanted out of life was love. You see, he just didn't have any to give." From Leland's narration, we begin to learn a bit more about the real Kane, what motivated him to do what he did. Yet however, in a cruel twist of fate, in the culmination of his humiliation, after his second wife flopped at the theaters, Leland sent him the very copy of declaration of principles he himself had drafted, a sorry reminder of how Charles Foster Kane had strayed from the very road he set for himself.
So what exactly, is Citizen Kane REALLY about, and how does Rosebud fit into this? To some, it is just a mere fictional biography of a man by the name of Charles Foster Kane, a man with great promise, yet failed to live up to it because of his own vanity and obsession for love. Yet, many see this movie to be about the life of William Randolph Hearst, a stab by Orson Welles at the media tycoon, about his rise and fall from power, and the self absorbed vanity of the man. And rosebud? Maybe it was all just a joke in reference to the nickname of William's mistress' private parts.
Yet at the same time, Citizen Kane is about Orson Welles. In making a movie about William Randolph Hearst, Welles incorporated the very essence of his himself into the character of Charles Foster Kane. Though he was portraying another man, he was very much telling us a story of himself. We see many clues he left behind for us which concerned him more than the man whom the movie was based on. For instance, in the opening sequence, a young Kane was given away by his parents; stands in similarity to the tough childhood of Orson Welles, where he desired the love of his parents. For in telling one man's story, he was actually telling his own. And there is where the brilliance lies. In many ways, this movie foretells the life of Orson Welles even before he lived it out. Welles was Kane, and Kane was Welles. It was the story of the rise of fall of a great man, and as many have said about Welles, this was really his first and last movie ever made. To me, Citizen Kane was really about Orson Welles. And rosebud? It is a representation of all the things that made Orson Welles Orson Welles, the very thing that motivated him to do what he did, love. It is the last piece of the puzzle, the key to the life of a man. In the closing scene, we see the sled being thrown into the fire, gone forever along with Rosebud. And in the words of Jedediah Leland, Citizen Kane was the story of how he lost it.
Next up was the narration of Kane's life through the eyes of Jedediah Leland, the man who was Kane's closest friend. In him, we see Kane's moral conscience. The story of Kane is also the story of Jedediah Leland. As we are introduced to Leland, we see how Kane and himself drafted the declaration and principles, announcing to the world how they were unafraid to tell the truth, to uphold their moral principles and to be righteous. This stands in stark contrast to the scene where a drunk Jedediah Leland lies asleep on the typewriter over an unfinished review of Susan Alexander's horrid performance, in a vain attempt to prove to Jedediah that he still held firm to those principles, Kane finished the review for Jedediah. From the words of Jedediah Leland, we truly begin to catch a glimpse of Kane's true character. "He married for love -- that's why he did everything. That's why he went into politics. It seems we weren't enough. He wanted all the voters to love him, too. All he really wanted out of life was love. You see, he just didn't have any to give." From Leland's narration, we begin to learn a bit more about the real Kane, what motivated him to do what he did. Yet however, in a cruel twist of fate, in the culmination of his humiliation, after his second wife flopped at the theaters, Leland sent him the very copy of declaration of principles he himself had drafted, a sorry reminder of how Charles Foster Kane had strayed from the very road he set for himself.
So what exactly, is Citizen Kane REALLY about, and how does Rosebud fit into this? To some, it is just a mere fictional biography of a man by the name of Charles Foster Kane, a man with great promise, yet failed to live up to it because of his own vanity and obsession for love. Yet, many see this movie to be about the life of William Randolph Hearst, a stab by Orson Welles at the media tycoon, about his rise and fall from power, and the self absorbed vanity of the man. And rosebud? Maybe it was all just a joke in reference to the nickname of William's mistress' private parts.
Yet at the same time, Citizen Kane is about Orson Welles. In making a movie about William Randolph Hearst, Welles incorporated the very essence of his himself into the character of Charles Foster Kane. Though he was portraying another man, he was very much telling us a story of himself. We see many clues he left behind for us which concerned him more than the man whom the movie was based on. For instance, in the opening sequence, a young Kane was given away by his parents; stands in similarity to the tough childhood of Orson Welles, where he desired the love of his parents. For in telling one man's story, he was actually telling his own. And there is where the brilliance lies. In many ways, this movie foretells the life of Orson Welles even before he lived it out. Welles was Kane, and Kane was Welles. It was the story of the rise of fall of a great man, and as many have said about Welles, this was really his first and last movie ever made. To me, Citizen Kane was really about Orson Welles. And rosebud? It is a representation of all the things that made Orson Welles Orson Welles, the very thing that motivated him to do what he did, love. It is the last piece of the puzzle, the key to the life of a man. In the closing scene, we see the sled being thrown into the fire, gone forever along with Rosebud. And in the words of Jedediah Leland, Citizen Kane was the story of how he lost it.
This essay is not focussed as much as it should be. It's as if you wrote it while you were thinking it up. You make some formidable points, especially toward the end -- where you introduce the idea that Welles is the true subject of the movie. Perhaps that should have been your thesis, but you don't really develop the idea. That's really the problem with this essay. You set down ideas, but you don't develop them. So the essay goes from one thing to another, skipping like a pebble on a pond. It doesn't go into any depth.
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