Analysis Of Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane is a very well put together film that re-lives, in detail, the life of Charles Foster Kane and his endeavor. The movie does an extremely good job at illustrating the on going desire of the American dream, as well as revealing the obstacles in honoring and telling the story of a man. In addition to this, there are multiple shots and sequences that put the film a league of it’s own, especially for its time.
Mr. Kane was a man who appeared to be very true to himself, he did what made him happy and what he believed to make other people around him happy. For example, he started his whole empire on the basis that he thought it would be fun to run a newspaper. Furthermore, he never did it for the money, and that was going to …show more content…
be true whether he was wealthy or not. This differs vastly from what most movies were portraying to the viewers, which was money equals happiness. 29 minutes the movie, Kane mentions that although he doesn't mind the money, he would not mind not if he was not as wealthy. This shows that money and power can’t buy Kane’s happiness. Moreover, every time he tried to use money for that reason, it back fired. Kane thought that if his paper continually raved and praised his second wife’s, Susan Alexander Kane, singing career it would blossom and everyone would end up loving her just as much did Kane did, but it only made her not enjoy it anymore and leave her upset. Kane did the tried his best to make sure that money did not effect how he acted or how people viewed him, which he did accomplish to a large extent, with the song written about him saying "With wealth and fame he is still the same”(43rd Minute).
After Kane’s death there was a lot missing to the story with the first iteration of the news clip that was supposed to tell the whole story of Charles Foster Kane’s life. He was more than a business man, he was more than another wealthy man, he was a true american. When he started up his newspaper, he made sure the reader was not lied to, he wanted to tell it how it was, and he kept his word. When Jed couldn’t finish his piece on Susan’s performance, Kane carried out the task showing no remorse, which seems harsh, but he did keep to his word. Telling Kane’s story is a little harder than others, he was very closed off at point and leaving nothing but “Rosebud” as his final words did not do much for anyone, but what it did do was show the legacy and morals that Kane left behind about getting the true story, no matter how long and where you have to go to find it. The main report went threw every hoop and followed every lead he had to try to recover what Charlie Kane said in dying moments.
The camera shots used in Citizen Kane were very well done.
From the first shot to the last, it kept the viewing wondering what was going to happen next. The opening sequence with all of the dark music and slow frame changes did an amazing job at depicting how sad and lonely Kane was at the end of his life. Furthermore, when this all led up to the shot on his lips when he uttered “Rosebud”, I found it interesting that nothing else could be seen in that shot and only the snow globe to be seen afterward, truly leaving the words a mystery for the entire film. Another shots that captured me was the dinning room seen between him and his first wife. The viewer saw each close up of each of them every mini-scene, slowly seeing their smiles go to frowns, go to yelling at each other, to finally, complete silence. The close ups did a great job throughout the sequence at documenting the evolving happiness of Kane and how he couldn’t find happiness, even with a meal with his wife. Being the last shot in the movie, the camera work needed to be flawless for the shots on “Rosebud”, and it was. The steady zooming in on the name and what it was on finally reveal to the viewer all that Kane ever wanted, his simple life back, or more importantly, when he knew what made him
happy.
Citizen Kane was an amazing film, one of the best of its time, and I was throughly content with watching a story that shows that money can’t buy happiness. Kane showed that sometimes the simplest things in life is all we ever really need.
Mr. Kane was a man who appeared to be very true to himself, he did what made him happy and what he believed to make other people around him happy. For example, he started his whole empire on the basis that he thought it would be fun to run a newspaper. Furthermore, he never did it for the money, and that was going to …show more content…
be true whether he was wealthy or not. This differs vastly from what most movies were portraying to the viewers, which was money equals happiness. 29 minutes the movie, Kane mentions that although he doesn't mind the money, he would not mind not if he was not as wealthy. This shows that money and power can’t buy Kane’s happiness. Moreover, every time he tried to use money for that reason, it back fired. Kane thought that if his paper continually raved and praised his second wife’s, Susan Alexander Kane, singing career it would blossom and everyone would end up loving her just as much did Kane did, but it only made her not enjoy it anymore and leave her upset. Kane did the tried his best to make sure that money did not effect how he acted or how people viewed him, which he did accomplish to a large extent, with the song written about him saying "With wealth and fame he is still the same”(43rd Minute).
After Kane’s death there was a lot missing to the story with the first iteration of the news clip that was supposed to tell the whole story of Charles Foster Kane’s life. He was more than a business man, he was more than another wealthy man, he was a true american. When he started up his newspaper, he made sure the reader was not lied to, he wanted to tell it how it was, and he kept his word. When Jed couldn’t finish his piece on Susan’s performance, Kane carried out the task showing no remorse, which seems harsh, but he did keep to his word. Telling Kane’s story is a little harder than others, he was very closed off at point and leaving nothing but “Rosebud” as his final words did not do much for anyone, but what it did do was show the legacy and morals that Kane left behind about getting the true story, no matter how long and where you have to go to find it. The main report went threw every hoop and followed every lead he had to try to recover what Charlie Kane said in dying moments.
The camera shots used in Citizen Kane were very well done.
From the first shot to the last, it kept the viewing wondering what was going to happen next. The opening sequence with all of the dark music and slow frame changes did an amazing job at depicting how sad and lonely Kane was at the end of his life. Furthermore, when this all led up to the shot on his lips when he uttered “Rosebud”, I found it interesting that nothing else could be seen in that shot and only the snow globe to be seen afterward, truly leaving the words a mystery for the entire film. Another shots that captured me was the dinning room seen between him and his first wife. The viewer saw each close up of each of them every mini-scene, slowly seeing their smiles go to frowns, go to yelling at each other, to finally, complete silence. The close ups did a great job throughout the sequence at documenting the evolving happiness of Kane and how he couldn’t find happiness, even with a meal with his wife. Being the last shot in the movie, the camera work needed to be flawless for the shots on “Rosebud”, and it was. The steady zooming in on the name and what it was on finally reveal to the viewer all that Kane ever wanted, his simple life back, or more importantly, when he knew what made him
happy.
Citizen Kane was an amazing film, one of the best of its time, and I was throughly content with watching a story that shows that money can’t buy happiness. Kane showed that sometimes the simplest things in life is all we ever really need.