Critical Essay on Citizen Kane Text

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In the film citizen kane, charles foster kane's life was summed up in one word, rosebud. Rosebud had a significant symbolic meaning, which is cited in various scenes throughout the duration of the film. The term rosebud symbolizes the security, hope and innocence of childhood, something that a man can spend his life seeking to regain. Charles foster kane's childhood was cut short when his mother and father relinquished custody of him. In this scene, charles was seen in the background outside playing in the snow while his parents were inside signing his custody papers. After his parents relinquished custody of him, charles foster kane moved to the east, where he was cared for by mr.

Rosebud was the name of the sled charles received from his parents the first christmas that he was living with mr. It was a brutal reminder of the carefree life he was pried away from so that he could be educated at a school in the east, the reason his mother relinquished custody of him. The sled reminded him of times when he played in the snow and built snowmen, which he no longer did after being placed in mr.

This symbolizes something one could never get back no matter how much money they had. The phrase rosebud also has an impact on charles foster kane's life because throughout his adult life, he had many unfortunate things happen to him, such as him not being loved by anybody, his personal life being made public, and his moral values being overt citizen kane is widely hailed as the great american film and with good reason. From its complex narrative structure to pioneering photography to its incredibly rich use of sound, welles' 1941 picture remains one of the most innovative movies ever to come out of a hollywood studio. Unfolding almost entirely in flashback, welles's masterpiece presents various perspectives on the oversized life of the recently deceased charles foster kane. Through the reminiscences of friends, family, and coworkers, the film moves from kane's childhood to his rambunctious adolescence, from the heights of his success to the depths of his isolation.

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All the while there is a search for clues to kane's mysterious last word: rosebud. The puzzling phrase drives the tale, but ultimately it is only a means of exploring the film's real theme: the impossibility of truly understanding any human being. In the film kane orson welles, who also directed and co wrote the screenplay is separated from his parents as a child and made heir to an enormous fortune.

Coming of age, he decides to run a newspaper, sensationalizing the news and considering himself to be the voice of the people. With ambitions beyond publishing, he runs for new york governor, and later promotes the singing career of his second wife susan. These various ambitions fail, and kane dies a wealthy but spiritually broken man.

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When william randolph hearst multimillionaire and media tycoon got wind of what 25 year old orson welles was creating at rko's film studio, he feared his life was the inspiration for the main character. In response hearst and his newspapers employed all their influence to try and stop citizen kane's 1941 release. John o'hara of newsweek addresses just this controversy in his review of citizen kane. Within the withering spotlight as no other film has ever been before, orson welles's citizen kane had is world premi xe8 re at the palace last evening.

Welles and the rko directors have taken the much debated leap, it can be safely stated that suppression of this film would have been a crime. For, in spite of some disconcerting lapses and strange ambiguities in the creation of the principal character, citizen kane is far and away the most surprising and cinematically exciting motion picture to be seen here in many a moon. As a matter of fact, it comes close to being the most sensational film ever made in hollywood. Being a mercurial fellow, with a frightening theatrical flair, he moved right into the movies, grabbed the medium by the ears and began to toss it around with the dexterity of a seasoned veteran. Fact is, he handled it with more verve and inspired ingenuity than any of the elder craftsmen have exhibited in years. With the able assistance of gregg toland, whose services should not be overlooked, he found in the camera the perfect instrument to encompass his dramatic energies and absorb his prolific ideas.

Upon the screen he discovered an area large enough for his expansive whims to have free play. And the consequence is that he has made a picture of tremendous and overpowering scope, not in physical extent so much as in its rapid and graphic rotation of thoughts. As for the story which he tells x2014 and which has provoked such an uncommon fuss x2014 this corner frankly holds considerable reservation. Naturally we wouldn't know how closely x2014 if at all x2014 it parallels the life of an eminent publisher, as has been somewhat cryptically alleged. The blamable circumstance is that it fails to provide a clear picture of the character and motives behind the man about whom the whole thing revolves. As the picture opens, charles kane lies dying in the fabulous castle he has built x2014 the castle called xanadu, in which he has surrounded himself with vast treasures. Suddenly the death scene is broken the screen becomes alive with a staccato march of time like news feature recounting the career of the dead man x2014 how, as a poor boy, he came into great wealth, how he became a newspaper publisher as a young man, how he aspired to political office, was defeated because of a personal scandal, devoted himself to material acquisition and finally died.

But the editor of the news feature is not satisfied he wants to know the secret of kane's strange nature and especially what he meant by rosebud. So a reporter is dispatched to find out, and the remainder of the picture is devoted to an absorbing visualization of kane's phenomenal career as told by his boyhood guardian, two of his closest newspaper associates and his mistress. It is also clearly revealed that the man was in some way consumed by his own terrifying selfishness. But just exactly what it is that eats upon him, why it is there and, for that matter, whether kane is really a villain, a social parasite, is never clearly revealed. And the final, poignant identification of rosebud sheds little more than a vague, sentimental light upon his character. Like the novelist, thomas wolfe, his abundance of imagery is so great that it sometimes gets in the way of his logic. Welles? isn't it enough that he presents a theatrical character with consummate theatricality? we would, indeed, like to say as many nice things as possible about everything else in this film x2014 about the excellent direction of mr.

Welles, about the sure and penetrating performances of literally every member of the cast and about the stunning manner in which the music of bernard herrmann has been used. And, although it may not give a thoroughly clear answer, at least it brings to mind one deeply moral thought: for what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? see citizen kane for further details. citizen kane original screen play by orson welles and herman j. Mankiewicz produced and directed by orson welles photography by gregg toland music composed and conducted by bernard herrmann released through rko radio. There is a menacing no trespassing sign outside an old gate, and after panning up over a chain li. Or arrogance, in life that would have made him proud to be the subject of a film. In five pages this 1941 classic film is examined in a consideration of orson welles' pioneering camera techniques and how they del.

In six pages a cinematic analysis of director orson welles' masterpiece citizen kane focuses upon the auteur's themes of capitalis. The movie from the perspective of the 21st century, the movie may not seem that impressive. Wealthy man puts his emphasis on money, power and manipulation fails at politics and his domestic life and dies friendless and al.

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In five pages the thematic development of individualism and utilitarianism as it relates to the characterization of charles foster. One of the most innovative movies in cinematic history is orson welles' citizen kane. Kane's mother sends him away when he is only eight years old, and this abrupt separation keeps him from growing past the petulant, needy, aggressive behaviors of a pre adolescent. Kane never develops a positive emotional attachment to his guardian, thatcher, and he rejects thatcher's attempts at discipline and guidance.