Citizen Kane Literary Analysis
Citizen Kane was a film released in 1941 and it it was voted #1 in history of American film. It was written by, directed by and acted by Orson Welles. The story was set in Xanada in Florida and started with an introduction about that place. Citizen Kane has a strange opening as it opened with the camera panning a spooky haunted mansion and then the camera lingered and zoomed in closely to the sign saying ¡§No Trepassing, ¡¨ then the camera took us to the room in the house, we saw a person was lying on the bed and that was the main character of the story ¡§Charles Foster Kane.¡¨ (Orson Welles) We could see that he was dying and his last word was ¡§Rosebud¡¨, and then he dropped the ball, and it shattered. Because of the word ¡§Rosebud¡¨, people
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wanted to find out what it was, so it was a rising action which the story will began. After Charles¡¦s death, the next scence was a newsreel ¡§News on the March,¡¨ which announces the death of Charles and giving a summary of Charles¡¦s colorful life and career and surely will introduced some of the important people and events in Charles¡¦ life. As this a summary of Charles¡¦s life, this was just an introduction of him, so that we got a sences of how he was like. Later on in the film, we will deeply understand his relationships between him and his wife and about his career. The newsrell was played in a small projection room filled with reporters. He noted Charles¡¦s last word ¡§rosebud¡¨ would make people suspicious. He decided to send a reporter, ¡§Jerry Thompson,¡¨ to search the meaning behind the word ¡§rose bud.¡¨ Jerry¡¦s first interview was Charles¡¦s 2nd wife ¡§Susan Alexander Kane, who worked as a dancer and singer in a bar, thinking she would know something about rosebud. For the reason, she was drunk, she was not willing to tell anything about him, so the waiter told Jerry that she spoke of him often when he was alive, but she said she had never heard of rosebud before. After that, Jerry went to Hall and he read a diary of Charles. As Jerry began to read this memoir, the image of the page dissolves into a flashback to Kane¡¦s childhood. The flashback showed how Thatcher, Charles¡¦s guardian until 25 years old, meet Charles. This was set in Colordo, and Charles was still a young child. Charles¡¦s mother, Mary knew that it¡¦s not going to be better if Charles was growing up in that place. It¡¦s better for him to go to some big city, so she decided to send him away and to entrust Thatcher to raise his son for her. As a result, Charles was completely upset and disappointed by that. Over many years, Charles¡¦s relationship with Thatcher still never improved. Charles constantly made Thatcher very angry, as he was wasting his money to open a newspaper company. Back to reality, Jane found the next two pages was blank and he was asked to leave, as he only had time until 4:30 pm. Jerry went to find other people who were close to Charles and these character related their memories of the man through flashbacks as well. Jerry first interviewed Charles¡¦s employees Mr. Bernstein. As Mr. Bernstein began to tell Charles¡¦s life story, a flashback of how they both met the first time appeared. He also talked about his 1st and 2nd wife and his personalities in the film. After meeting with Mr. Bernstein, Jerry ran to interview Charles¡¦s closer friend Hedediah Leland. He told him about the events how they met each other, but he also talked about his point of view about Charles. As Jerry wanted to know more about Charles¡¦s relationship with Susan, he decided to interview her once again. This time, Susan told him the reason why he left Charles and again there was a flashback there. Before Jerry left, Susan told him to find the butler, Raymond, because she knew there will be more information from him. Jerry immediately ran to interview this butler, Raymond. He said he surely knew about the ¡§rosebud¡¨, but he wanted to bargain before he¡¦s going to tell. He asked for 1000 dollars and they agreed. Then he told Jerry that he remembered Charles saying ¡§Rosebud¡¨ all the times following a violent episode after Susan left him, but he didn¡¦t know who or what is about that. After his talking, Jerry refused to pay, because it wasn¡¦t something exclusive or it was nothing special. When Jerry giving up the question, was leaving Charles¡¦ castle, Xanadu, the camera then lead up to the scene where the workers burning some of Charles¡¦ possessions. In the fire, we saw the sled that Charles was riding the day his mother sent him away, was painted the word ¡§Rosebud¡¨ The film ¡§Citizen Kane¡¨ was shot excellently as it was a story of mystery and narrative.
As in the beginning of the story, the narrative was introducing the city of Xanadu and Charles¡¦ colorful lifetime. The story were telling from 5 different points of view. It was Thatcher¡¦s point of view about Charles, but it was also Charles¡¦s employee, Bernstein, his closer friend, Jedediah Leland, Charles¡¦s ex wife Susan and the butler, Raymond. From their point of view, we knew that Charles was arrogant, lonely, thoughtless, morally bankrupt, desperate for attention, and incapable of giving love for his two wives. This faults eventually caused Charles to lose his career, friend and the beloved ones. Furthermore, the film gave the audience a feeling of supicious in the story. It also kept the audiences wanted to find out the truths behind the Charles¡¦s last word ¡§rosebud¡¨. Besides Citizen Kane opened with the camera panning across Charles¡¦s spooky castle and the camera lingered and zoomed on a ¡§no Trespassing¡¨ sign, made the film more mystery. I even thought of the film was about the haunted mansion. That really made the movie effective. The film was made smoothly. For instance, in the beginning, after shooting the sign of ¡§No trespassing,¡¨ the camera gradually made its way to the house, where it appeared to pass through a lit window, liked the camera lead us through the story. Also at the end of the story, where when Jerry was leaving the house, the camera paned a scene of workers burning some of Charles¡¦s possession and at that time we could the sled which painted the word ¡§rosebud ¡§on it. It was liked one image is wiped off the screen by another. The middle part through the ending was the most exciting part, as I curiously wanted to know about the ¡§rosebud.¡¨ Who was it or what was it, why was it so important as Charles was to whispering this word at last. This made it a question that we wanted to find out. The combination of lighting, compositing
and the technique of filming made the movie effecticely. The film made everything in frame, even in the back ground, in focus at the same time, as opposed to having only the people and things in the foreground in focus. For instance, the introduction of the background, it gave description about the place abit. The most effective scenes was that Charles¡¦s loss of control and his personal isolation, because it gave the audience a clear view of the space Charles commands as well as the space over which he has no power. Although the film was black and white, the lighting was better than the black and white movie at that time. The camera angles of people facial expression often use in the movie as to make the movie supicious. For instance, we thought the butler Raymond would know about the ¡§rosebud¡¨ as his facial expression seemed like he surely knew it. As a result, he lied to the audience, he didn¡¦t even know one thing about, he just only heard of it before. This is a technique to treat all the audience and this were often used in movie in those days. One last thing, I am really impressed with was the flashback in the film. It was gorgeous. We could deeply understand the motif in the story. From his childhood¡¦s flashback, we could see the reason what lead to the fact that he was isolated from the world around him. Wheather he was young or old, happy or unhappy, alone or surrounded by other, which suggested that his final isolation is inevitable. Symbolism made the movie suspicious. The ¡§rosebuds¡¨, the sleds appeared 2 times in Citizen Kane. It appeared at the beginning, during the flashback of Charles¡¦s childhood and the second shot was appeared at the end where it was being burned with other possessions after Charles died. Rosebud symbolized his childhood, not only a normal childhood, but his happiest time in his life. Before he died, the word ¡§rosebud¡¨ is the last word Charles whispered, which not only emphasized how alone Charles was right now, but also suggests Charles¡¦ s persuasion on finding happiness in his world. The snow globe that falls from Charles¡¦s hand when he dies also made the film symbolism. It fell off from his hand when he died, linked the end of his life to his childhood.d The scene inside the snow globe was simple, peaceful, and orderly, much like his childhood. It was much symbolized the Charles¡¦s childhood that it was very simple and peaceful. As at the end the snow globes shattered which meant his hope had broken too. Orson Welles acted as Charles Foster Kane. His performance was the best. He was deeply into the movie that I didn¡¦t know he was acting. He could easily revealed Charles¡¦s characteristics. He was the most remarkable in the movie. Everett Sloane acted as Mr. Bernstein, Kane¡¦s friend and employee. His acting were lively, his facial expression was funny. His dressing and talking was funny too. I liked him very much in the film. In contrary, I didn¡¦t really like Dorothy Comingore acted as Susan Alexander Kane, Charles¡¦s ex-wife. She was overacted. Her facial expression was exaggerated. Especially her voices that I really don¡¦t like, her voice was too high pitch. I thought they could find one that much better than her. As a conclusion, the story was made excellently. The story was well written and the story was well acted. The beginning was the greatest, because of the film technique they made. There were never any part that were being bored. Every part was exciting as I really wanted to find out what is Rosebud. No doubts, this movie was voted #1 film in history of American film.
wanted to find out what it was, so it was a rising action which the story will began. After Charles¡¦s death, the next scence was a newsreel ¡§News on the March,¡¨ which announces the death of Charles and giving a summary of Charles¡¦s colorful life and career and surely will introduced some of the important people and events in Charles¡¦ life. As this a summary of Charles¡¦s life, this was just an introduction of him, so that we got a sences of how he was like. Later on in the film, we will deeply understand his relationships between him and his wife and about his career. The newsrell was played in a small projection room filled with reporters. He noted Charles¡¦s last word ¡§rosebud¡¨ would make people suspicious. He decided to send a reporter, ¡§Jerry Thompson,¡¨ to search the meaning behind the word ¡§rose bud.¡¨ Jerry¡¦s first interview was Charles¡¦s 2nd wife ¡§Susan Alexander Kane, who worked as a dancer and singer in a bar, thinking she would know something about rosebud. For the reason, she was drunk, she was not willing to tell anything about him, so the waiter told Jerry that she spoke of him often when he was alive, but she said she had never heard of rosebud before. After that, Jerry went to Hall and he read a diary of Charles. As Jerry began to read this memoir, the image of the page dissolves into a flashback to Kane¡¦s childhood. The flashback showed how Thatcher, Charles¡¦s guardian until 25 years old, meet Charles. This was set in Colordo, and Charles was still a young child. Charles¡¦s mother, Mary knew that it¡¦s not going to be better if Charles was growing up in that place. It¡¦s better for him to go to some big city, so she decided to send him away and to entrust Thatcher to raise his son for her. As a result, Charles was completely upset and disappointed by that. Over many years, Charles¡¦s relationship with Thatcher still never improved. Charles constantly made Thatcher very angry, as he was wasting his money to open a newspaper company. Back to reality, Jane found the next two pages was blank and he was asked to leave, as he only had time until 4:30 pm. Jerry went to find other people who were close to Charles and these character related their memories of the man through flashbacks as well. Jerry first interviewed Charles¡¦s employees Mr. Bernstein. As Mr. Bernstein began to tell Charles¡¦s life story, a flashback of how they both met the first time appeared. He also talked about his 1st and 2nd wife and his personalities in the film. After meeting with Mr. Bernstein, Jerry ran to interview Charles¡¦s closer friend Hedediah Leland. He told him about the events how they met each other, but he also talked about his point of view about Charles. As Jerry wanted to know more about Charles¡¦s relationship with Susan, he decided to interview her once again. This time, Susan told him the reason why he left Charles and again there was a flashback there. Before Jerry left, Susan told him to find the butler, Raymond, because she knew there will be more information from him. Jerry immediately ran to interview this butler, Raymond. He said he surely knew about the ¡§rosebud¡¨, but he wanted to bargain before he¡¦s going to tell. He asked for 1000 dollars and they agreed. Then he told Jerry that he remembered Charles saying ¡§Rosebud¡¨ all the times following a violent episode after Susan left him, but he didn¡¦t know who or what is about that. After his talking, Jerry refused to pay, because it wasn¡¦t something exclusive or it was nothing special. When Jerry giving up the question, was leaving Charles¡¦ castle, Xanadu, the camera then lead up to the scene where the workers burning some of Charles¡¦ possessions. In the fire, we saw the sled that Charles was riding the day his mother sent him away, was painted the word ¡§Rosebud¡¨ The film ¡§Citizen Kane¡¨ was shot excellently as it was a story of mystery and narrative.
As in the beginning of the story, the narrative was introducing the city of Xanadu and Charles¡¦ colorful lifetime. The story were telling from 5 different points of view. It was Thatcher¡¦s point of view about Charles, but it was also Charles¡¦s employee, Bernstein, his closer friend, Jedediah Leland, Charles¡¦s ex wife Susan and the butler, Raymond. From their point of view, we knew that Charles was arrogant, lonely, thoughtless, morally bankrupt, desperate for attention, and incapable of giving love for his two wives. This faults eventually caused Charles to lose his career, friend and the beloved ones. Furthermore, the film gave the audience a feeling of supicious in the story. It also kept the audiences wanted to find out the truths behind the Charles¡¦s last word ¡§rosebud¡¨. Besides Citizen Kane opened with the camera panning across Charles¡¦s spooky castle and the camera lingered and zoomed on a ¡§no Trespassing¡¨ sign, made the film more mystery. I even thought of the film was about the haunted mansion. That really made the movie effective. The film was made smoothly. For instance, in the beginning, after shooting the sign of ¡§No trespassing,¡¨ the camera gradually made its way to the house, where it appeared to pass through a lit window, liked the camera lead us through the story. Also at the end of the story, where when Jerry was leaving the house, the camera paned a scene of workers burning some of Charles¡¦s possession and at that time we could the sled which painted the word ¡§rosebud ¡§on it. It was liked one image is wiped off the screen by another. The middle part through the ending was the most exciting part, as I curiously wanted to know about the ¡§rosebud.¡¨ Who was it or what was it, why was it so important as Charles was to whispering this word at last. This made it a question that we wanted to find out. The combination of lighting, compositing
and the technique of filming made the movie effecticely. The film made everything in frame, even in the back ground, in focus at the same time, as opposed to having only the people and things in the foreground in focus. For instance, the introduction of the background, it gave description about the place abit. The most effective scenes was that Charles¡¦s loss of control and his personal isolation, because it gave the audience a clear view of the space Charles commands as well as the space over which he has no power. Although the film was black and white, the lighting was better than the black and white movie at that time. The camera angles of people facial expression often use in the movie as to make the movie supicious. For instance, we thought the butler Raymond would know about the ¡§rosebud¡¨ as his facial expression seemed like he surely knew it. As a result, he lied to the audience, he didn¡¦t even know one thing about, he just only heard of it before. This is a technique to treat all the audience and this were often used in movie in those days. One last thing, I am really impressed with was the flashback in the film. It was gorgeous. We could deeply understand the motif in the story. From his childhood¡¦s flashback, we could see the reason what lead to the fact that he was isolated from the world around him. Wheather he was young or old, happy or unhappy, alone or surrounded by other, which suggested that his final isolation is inevitable. Symbolism made the movie suspicious. The ¡§rosebuds¡¨, the sleds appeared 2 times in Citizen Kane. It appeared at the beginning, during the flashback of Charles¡¦s childhood and the second shot was appeared at the end where it was being burned with other possessions after Charles died. Rosebud symbolized his childhood, not only a normal childhood, but his happiest time in his life. Before he died, the word ¡§rosebud¡¨ is the last word Charles whispered, which not only emphasized how alone Charles was right now, but also suggests Charles¡¦ s persuasion on finding happiness in his world. The snow globe that falls from Charles¡¦s hand when he dies also made the film symbolism. It fell off from his hand when he died, linked the end of his life to his childhood.d The scene inside the snow globe was simple, peaceful, and orderly, much like his childhood. It was much symbolized the Charles¡¦s childhood that it was very simple and peaceful. As at the end the snow globes shattered which meant his hope had broken too. Orson Welles acted as Charles Foster Kane. His performance was the best. He was deeply into the movie that I didn¡¦t know he was acting. He could easily revealed Charles¡¦s characteristics. He was the most remarkable in the movie. Everett Sloane acted as Mr. Bernstein, Kane¡¦s friend and employee. His acting were lively, his facial expression was funny. His dressing and talking was funny too. I liked him very much in the film. In contrary, I didn¡¦t really like Dorothy Comingore acted as Susan Alexander Kane, Charles¡¦s ex-wife. She was overacted. Her facial expression was exaggerated. Especially her voices that I really don¡¦t like, her voice was too high pitch. I thought they could find one that much better than her. As a conclusion, the story was made excellently. The story was well written and the story was well acted. The beginning was the greatest, because of the film technique they made. There were never any part that were being bored. Every part was exciting as I really wanted to find out what is Rosebud. No doubts, this movie was voted #1 film in history of American film.