Theme Of Citizen Kane

In fact, during the newsreel documenting Kane's life at the beginning of the film, the reporter declared that Xanadu contained "the loot of the world. (Citizen Kane)." Furthermore, both men were known to use their mansions to host extravagant Hollywood parties that catered to the elite of America. The similarities in their estates aided in illustrating the resemblance between Charles Foster Kane and William Randolph Hearst. This, in turn, reinforced the movie's message that wealth and power are destructive to human values because viewers could refer to a real life example of the main character.

     Orson Welles’ cinematic classic, Citizen Kane, is a film that centers on a group of reporter’s investigation into the meaning of Charles Foster Kane’s last word, “Rosebud.” Through their investigation of his last words, the team of reporters, is presented with an almost, but not quite, complete picture of “Citizen” Kane’s life. By assuming that the man’s last word was as grandiose as his life, the reporters miss out on the bigger, more holistic picture, which is Charles Foster Kane’s life. The reporters’ emphasis of attention on what turns out to be a small and trivial, although they never find that out, aspect of Kane’s life, make Citizen Kane a perfect example of the pitfalls of over-interpretation.

The film Citizen Kane was voted the greatest American film twice by the American Film Institute in 1998 and 2007. It broke new grounds in several areas such as complex sound, deep focus and the narrative structure. This movie showed the director is the plays the most important role not the producers, writers or financial investors. William Randolph Hearst the media baron was one of the individuals that inspired the film. He was offended by the film and tried to destroy it by refusing to publicize the film through his media outlets but his efforts failed.

The newsreel that starts the movie basically tells us the entire plot and Kane’s entire life story, but it doesn’t really do a good job of it. It’s just too shallow, it’s not Kane. It’s his public persona, nothing more. And the rest of the movie, and therefore, the rest of Kane’s personality and character, is told to us by 5 different sources. And all these sources could very well be unreliable narrators. In fact, when talking about a person who isn’t you, you end unintentionally being unreliable. Only Charles Foster Kane knows what it was like to be Charles Foster Kane, and he never got to tell his side of the story.

newsreel at the start of the film on Kane's life matches Hearst's almost perfectly. Kane ran over thirty newspapers, radios, and syndicates, had a well publicized romantic affair, tried in vain to be elected to public office, was totally and completely careless with his money, (always expecting there would be much more coming), and built himself a pleasure palace called Xanadu, which included a gigantic collection of statues and animals (Citizen Kane). Hearst also did all these things over the course of his life, which further served to convince movie viewers of Welles' libelous intentions in the making of the movie. (Swanberg).

Widely recognized as one of the most iconic films of its time, Citizen Kane made nothing short of a thunderous debut in May of 1941. An article from the NY times refers to it as “the most surprising and cinematically exciting motion picture to be seen” [1]. But why? What makes this film standout in what the article notes to be the “withering spotlight” of Hollywood? Let us start with the narrative itself.

example of the main character, Charles Foster Kane, it is shown how the person who could get

On the surface, Citizen Kane appears to be a film simply about a reporters telling journey to discover whom newspaper mogul, Charles Foster Kane was. However, it is during this journey of identifying Kane’s personal core as a man that we come to the realization that there is much more to the film and soon enough we begin to uncover the underlying themes. Thus, in this essay I will set out to analyze the way in which Orson Welles, through elegantly crafted mise-en-scene, conveyed messages of isolation, innocence and that money cannot buy neither happiness nor love. From the very moment that the film begins, the mise-en-scene of the opening shots alone, immediately sets the tone for what we are about to witness: Kane’s isolation.

Citizen Kane was a movie that challenged holly woods usual way of giving narrative and expanded and changed the way we perceived mise-en-scene. First off Citizen Kane took a much different approach to giving and delivering narrative than most other movies did at the time. Usually the story would revolve around the main character or protagonist and let them explain the narrative or play it out as the movie went on. But, in Citizen Kane instead of following Charles Foster Kane, the movies main character, it follows a journalist who goes and visits Kane’s friends and associates to figure out exactly who Charles Kane was before his death. It is through the journalist’s visits and interviews that we learn the narrative of the story.

There are several themes in Citizen Kane including “the myth of the American Dream.” In the first scene, we see the poor family of the Kane's, and rich Thatcher taking Kane away from his home and give him a rich life, the American Dream. He finds that the luxury and power doesn't make him happy and takes over a struggling newspaper his caregiver owns. All through the movie, we see Kane unhappy with all his money and spending it on things other than his happiness. He buys love from others and other things like the newspaper to make the people he hates miserable.

Directed by Orson Welles in 1941, Citizens Kane is a magnificent film for its time. This feature film brings film making to a whole new level. The film theme has very many different themes; Power, Corruption, Vanity, The Media, Innocence, and The American Dream. Citizens Kane has a genre that is almost of a gangster film, Charles Foster Kane is made of money and he makes sure everyone knows that. Charles Foster Kane never let anyone truly in, not his wives, close friends, if you can call them that. Charles Kane was such a private person that when he said his last words, “Rosebud.” No one knew what that meant. Citizens Kane is an iconic film about fame and fortune that is given to a young boy, at a very young age, which led to power, corruption,

Citizen Kane opens with “rosebud”, the last word of Charles Foster Kane, a wealthy newspaper owner dying alone in his mansion Xanadu. His death takes the world by storm and every newspaper and news agency have something to say. One group of journalists question the significance of Kane’s last word and send Jerry Thompson to interview “his [Kane’s] banker, his manager, his best friend, his mistress-wife, and his butler” (Mosher, Davidman and Bower). Over the course of the five interviews, Kane’s story is discovered, from child to adult, from a kind man to what some may have considered a monster. Thompson is never able to uncover the mystery of “rosebud” for himself, but the final scene reveals its identity to the viewers, Kane’s childhood sled.

Two primary themes within the film contribute to the recognition and acclaim generated by Citizen Kane. The themes are buried beneath the visual muddle of the film itself. First, the theme regarding the disparagement of the private disposition of the municipal figure contribute to the esteem of the film. (Carringer) Next, the theme regarding the overwhelming force of materialism may be identified as a defining factor of the film, Citizen Kane. Viewed in unison, the themes encompass the poignant irony of the triumphant success of an American. The tale takes a drastic turn and winds up revealing the demise, lonesomeness,

Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film directed, co-written, produced by, and starring Orson Welles. The story is a film à clef that examines the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane, played by Welles, a character based in part upon the American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, Chicago tycoons Samuel Insult and Harold McCormick, and aspects of Welles' own life. Kane's career in the publishing world is born of idealistic social service, but gradually evolves into a ruthless pursuit of power. Narrated principally through flashbacks, the story is told through the research of a newsreel reporter seeking to solve the mystery of the newspaper magnate's dying word: "Rosebud". Cinematographer Citizen Kane is best known for its best cinematographer because of it stylist techniques, deep focus- or the foreground and background of the shot to be in focus using lighting, composition, and lens- choice is constantly is utilized to bring to bring both plot and perspective of the viewer, in addition deep focus makes anything and everything in the shot immediately relevant.

Citizen Kane tells the provocative, epic story of a Charles Kane, A newfound wealth kid who acquired a fortune, was detracted from his unassuming environment and his dad and mom, was raised by a financier, and turned into a spectacularly well off, self-important, and enthusiastic newspaperman. He made his notoriety for being the liberal, hopeful champion of the underprivileged, and set his self absorbed personality on a political profession, until the point when those political dreams were broken after the disclosure of a silly 'love-settle' undertaking with an artist. Kane's life was defiled and at last self-destructed by a desire to satisfy the American long for progress, acclaim, riches, and influence. After two fizzled relational unions and a change into a dismal, odd, and oppressive creature, his last days were burned through alone, gloomy, and despondent before his demise in his very own hermitic shelter making - an unpromising manor loaded with endless belonging to make up for his life's vacancy.