Citizen Kane Assignment

Tanner- I found it interesting that Kane believed " If I haven't have been rich, I would have been a really good man." This implies that money corrupts the persons nature and misleads their desires. I also wondered what the ringing of the bell means, is it crating a false reality since all the men stop what they are doing and pay attention to Kane? I also thought the scene with Kane's mother and father was interesting. At first I believed the mother was cruel since she wanted her son gone and even packed his bags a week before, and the father was caring since he tried to keep the boy and interacts with Kane. My thoughts changed when the father said Kane should be thrashed and the mother response "Thats why im sending him away." She is trying to protect him from his father and poverty by sending Kane with Mr. Thrasher.

Mitch - The notion that Welles Presents in his film Citizen Kane that wealth leads to power and both of those lead to a man not being a good person on the inside. It shows resentment for the wealthy in a way. Also, I feel like when Bernstein says that no one knew what Kane really wanted hints that Kane was in search of love. He longed for true love and he could not get it. He could not find love because, as Welles hints at, wealth and power cannot coexists with love because it leads to a person being not whole hearted on the inside and not a good person. Kane seems to think that he is not worthy of love because of his wealth and power and his idea that he is not a good person because of those. Wealth and Power cannot coexist with love is what I found most interesting in the film.

Mattie - Welles uses a variety of far shots, mid shots, and close ups, but no matter the camera angle or the width of the shot, nearly everything is in focus, including the images in the background. His use of a disjointed timeline from the perspective of an individual looking back on the events of Kane's life reminds me of Benjamin Button, except Citizen Kane is even less linear. Also, during the "documentary" that described Kane's home, the narrator made Xanadu seem like a place of wonder and enchantment. Ironically, as the film begins, the castle looks eerie and sinister; similar to the way a haunted mansion would be depicted. The way that society sees the castle is unlike what it really is, which brings up the idea that the media distorts reality. This can be exemplified with the very first shot of the film with the close-up of the Do Not Enter sign. The intimidating, although ordinary fence slowly dissolves into an elaborate gate.

The first thing that struck me about the film was the opening scene. There is a close up of a “no trespassing” sign, which is followed by a close up of the chain link fence that is surrounding the eery looking mansion. This promotes a very prison like feeling. The mansion is shown in a long shot which contrasts the previous close up. What really caught my attention was the difference of movement in the camera shots compared to the previous films. When Kain drops the globe the camera follows it to the floor and the scene cuts fit very well with the sound effects. The rest of the scene is then shot through the reflection of the broken globe as the nurse rushes in the room. There is a great use of shadows when the reporter is inside the phone booth. You can only see his silhouette, and Mrs. Kane and the waiter are in the background. The lack of identity in the waiter forces the viewing audience to use their own imagination.

Welles creates an interesting film with a lot of plot but still very clear themes. It is a mystery to find out what the meaning of Kane's last word, "rosebud". Throughout this mystery Welles keeps going back and forth between time periods. He is able to develop the plot and theme around Kane's life b going back in time. Kane is showed as a child being forced into a life of wealth which he does not care to live in. Since he is so wealthy he is not able to have a private life. He clearly does not enjoy being wealthy because he hates everything that Mr. Thatcher believes in, which seems to only be money. Also the woman who Kane is having a love affair with may be trying to escape her wealth as well through drinking.

"Citizen Kane" expands on the views of rich versus poor that we saw in Chaplin's "City Lights". I feel that Welles was likely influenced by some of Chaplin's views in "City Lights" and expanded upon them in "Citizen Kane", as it is known that Chaplin's film was Welles' all-time favorite film. Kane demonstrates that money is not what led him to be successful in life, but rather character. He chose to invest in the Inquirer not for the interest of profits, but because he "thought it would be fun to run a newspaper". When speaking of Kane's former guardian, Mr. Thatcher's, success it is said "There's no trick to making money, if all you want is to make money." Emphasizing how money alone is not a factor which leads to one's happiness.

The movie puzzeled me regarding why his mother sent him away. That, in my opinion, is the main reason he had no “love to give” and behaved the way he did. The answer is not to give him a better life, as in education, etc. That doesn’t even make sense. The mother was rich now and could pay tutors and afford to send him to great schools. What she couldn’t do, at least in those days, was protect him from his father. Mr Kane Sr seemed nice enough in those scenes at the boarding house but when he said Kane Jr needed a good thrashing for kicking Thatcher, Mrs Kane said “That’s why he’s going to be brought up where you can’t get at him.”

Although I've already watched this movie, I still love watching Orson Wells mix the past and future and make a type of cross cutting/ montage with Kane's life. He reflects back on Kane's childhood in Colorado and his time in the snow. The snow globe that drops when he dies is sentimental to Kane and is a reflection of his childhood. His life was filled with everything that his "father" didn't want or like for himself. Its almost as if he acts on his actions that are just to spite his parents leaving him as a child.

Some great ideas about Welle's film making and what formed Kane's character. Keep up the good work!

What Still Stands out to me is the opening scene in this film. Welles deconstructs the idea that this is a real setting by showing the viewer that this is actually a hollywood set. Also, the way Welles starts out at the end of the movie by showing Kane's death then working his way to the rest of Kane's life is sort of a revolution in the film world because many movies now do that, and he was the first to really use that in an effective way.

I find it interesting how Thather's library is equivalent to a memorial trying to immortalize him so he can still be loved by people. I also liked Kane's quote " I know too many people, we are both lonely." Then there was the scene where Kane is being signed over to Mr. Thatcher and his mother opens the window while his father closes the window. It seemed that the window was a barrier between Kane and the people who loved him, he then was signed over to Thatcher and was never given a chance to have people around him which he could truly love and be loved back.

After viewing the first portion of "Citizen Kane" for the second time, one part that really stood out to me was the scen in Thatcher's Library. It is clear that the library along with those who work in it represent Thatcher's life. The inside is cold marble, ad all appears to be sterile with no intention of decorating with any purpose other than to demonstrate wealth. The librarian is also very cold and emotionless, if not cruel, to the reporter. The guard is also very aggressive for a library guard and appears to be in Nazi-esque attire.

Kane is a man of contradiction and duality. I noticed that in his election speech Kane contradicts himself several times. He said, "I am an American..." suggesting that he is a capitalist then goes on to say "...I look after the common man which is a view of communism. Later in the film Kane walks the hall of mirrors showing the pieces of the puzzle that has become his life. As Kane makes his way down the hallway we see exaggerated distances signaling separation, alienation and loneliness. This seems to be Welles way of reminding the audience that we are all only human.

The classic definition of a classic hero is a great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat. I do think that Kane is somewhat of a tragic hero because of his childhood. He was set up for defeat from the moment that his mother decided to give him away. At the end of the film, the viewing audience realizes that rosebud was Kane’s sled from his childhood, and that was the last time that he was truly happy. From that moment on, he could never be happy again, so he spent his life seeking out wealth and power. He became consumed with materialism and as the movie progressed and showed his life, the film style used lots of shadows and dark scenery to portray his failure. Kane is shown to seek love within his two wives but it is always overcome with power and greed. All of the shots that are shown of his mansion are dark and eery. They give off the impression that Kane was putting himself in a tomb before he was dead. The progression of the movie goes back and forth which shows the contrast between Kane being happy and him being dead on the inside from the pursuit of wealth and power.

Throughout the movie, Kane's life is documented through the stories of people who knew him, including his ex-wife and his old best friend. Interestingly enough, each individual (aside from the butler) had some sort of distorted reality. His ex-wife was drunk and his best friend was an older man in a nursing home. Can their stories really be trusted? During the scene where Kane slaps Susan, he towers above her, his shadow hiding her face. The upshots at this time are very sharp, making Kane appear very powerful and overbearing. Also, while Kane ages rapidly, Susan does not. She doesn't seem to age until after Kane's death. One scene that really intrigued me was right before Susan's first opera performance. Behind the curtain, it's chaos. Stage managers, costume perfectionists, and make-up crew members are hustling to perfect every final detail, but as soon as the curtain rises, the actors appear completely put-together. They work towards the satisfaction of an audience, similarly to Kane's way of life.

Kane seems to be very influenced by Thatcher who is obsessed with making money. This obsession takes Kane from the childhood when he was happy and he becomes powerful due to his wealth. Both of his wives leave him because he is incapable of loving them no matter what. During his first marriage Kane is trying to get more publicity for his paper that he does not have time for his wife. The second marriage he is already wealthy and just tries to use his money on things that he thinks Susan would like but usually she is overwhelmed by these gifts.

I definitely was impressed by the distortion of reality and the mixture between fantasy and reality. Everything in Kane's life is distorted, a faction of his imagination. Xanadu, his fairytale castle that keeps him removed from society allows him to separate his life from that of society, and create his own. While married to his ex-wife, she was a drunk, which distorted her perception of life, giving him a mixed reality of "love", and how it functioned. Then, he had a odd relationship with his workers, and helpers in Xanadu. Also, his best friend was an older man. Although older people are "wiser", how can one have a man who is in a living facility be your best friend? His perception of reality was twisted and he didnt truly understand the balance between power, love and truth.