I believe what Orson Welles is trying to portray through the movie Citizen Kane is the difficulty that goes into describing a person’s life after they have passed on. The reporter Thompson investigates Kane’s story and witnesses it unfold as it is told by those closest to him. Although this makes you wonder how different it would have been if Kane got to tell his own story rather than rely on the reminiscences of his colleagues because not a single one of these people knew or could figure out what drove Charles Foster Kane. The only person who could have fully understood Kane was Thatcher, but his concerns focused more on making money rather than the loneliness of a child. With each perspective we get on Kane’s life as well as the lack of his own point of view, it forces us to question what truly mattered in Kane’s life. With his last words and …show more content…
This isolation is even more emphasized by the camerawork in the movie. For example, Kane starts off as a happy child outside playing in the snow, alone. A short time later, the camera isolates him from his parents as they plan to send Kane away from home. Next we see him by himself seated in the middle of a room surrounded by dark suited men who watch as he opens a gift he got from Thatcher. This isolation follows Kane well into adulthood where he is seen sitting by himself in his office while a celebration is going on in his honor. The camera focuses on Kane in a sort of triangular shot as he is in between Leland and Bernstein as they discuss Kane’s tactics in succeeding. The nature of the discussion between Bernstein and Leland and the way the frame is shot leaves Kane as an outsider, despite them being in physical proximity. Eventually both Bernstein and Leland leave Kane, resulting in Kane barricading himself in his estate with
In both stories the main character are both fighting alone. [Kanes signs his name to what he has written, folds it, then writes on it: "To be opened in the event of my death" (Foreman 326). This tells the watchers/ reader that Kane has no one to help him and fears that he will die. "Your brain against mine. Your woodcraft
Both times, the main character realises that they have lost everything important to them and have ended up with nothing truly valuable. The play and the film similarly explore the regret and loneliness of those who have lost what is truly important to them. Macbeth and Citizen Kane clearly show the difference between acquiring material goods, and acquiring what is truly important: happiness. Macbeth and Citizen Kane explore the themes of greed, ambition and desire, and are both very clear examples of how such qualities can cause the loss of everything truly valuable. Both works show examples of how those who are overly ambitious can end up with everything they desired, yet nothing they truly want.
The struggle a someone can go through to test if they have control over their life, or to find out if their destiny has been decided can be shown throughout literature and film. In The Truman Show existentialism plays a big role into how this program is created. The Production of this film is simulated by tiny cameras placed secretly around a small town inside a dome. These cameras are used to follow around a man named Truman Burbank, and record his life. Essentially creating a popular T.V. show that is on 24/7.
(Connell 16). Rainsford and Kane both faced internal conflicts about how they are going to survive. They can either run away, die like cowards, or they can stay and try to survive against their problems. Kane does not deserve to be alone in his fight against the antagonist, Frank Miller, because he has helped his town so much, but no one shows gratitude by volunteering as a depute. In this film a character named Baker states “I don’t believe it!
The Film Citizen Kane was a groundbreaking film in the 1940’s, the way Orson Wells depicts his film with different lighting, cinematography, choice of camera shots and mise-en-scene throughout this movie truly showed the masterpiece that this film is. In the Film Citizen Kane, it was the first movie that went against true Hollywood cinema by introducing flashbacks throughout the movie to show us how Charles Foster Kane changes throughout the movie. Throughout this movie the audience can see how Charles Foster Kane undergoes a variety of physical and emotional changes from when he was just a young boy all the way until his unfortunate death. Power, that’s all that Kane wanted in the start of the film. In the beginning of the film Kane gets ownership of the struggling New York Daily Inquirer, Kane suggests that he wanted to use journalism to apply to the public and protect the interest of ordinary people.
Sociological imagination can be defined as one’s awareness of the impact that society has on their personal life because of the outside conditions and circumstances. The outside world create standards for people, even if they do not know that they are being looked at in this way. Therefore, society influences a person’s behavior and limits their free will. This theory is clearly demonstrated in The Truman Show. The movie helps to deepen my understanding of sociological imagination and helps me to see how the outside world controls my life.
In the movie High Noon, Marshall Will Kane is faced with a moral dilemma just has he is about to leave town with his new wife. With his desires to leave town and move on with his wife, he is faced with a dilemma in which he feels that he has an obligation to stay and resolve this issue to make sure that the town is safe once and for all from the former killer, Frank Miller. As Marshal Will Kane has a decision to make, this essay will identify and explicate what his duties and obligations are as the Marshall of the town and whether he should leave town or have a show down with Frank Miller. As throughout the movie we saw that Kane was constantly struggling with finding former deputies to help him in his assist with taking down Frank Miller, but as a result no one wanted to stand up to this guy because they were all afraid of him and what he could do.
(Citizen Kane, 1941) Kane’s parents used the power of money as an accessory for giving him away to a billionaire. Since that day, the protagonist went through a traumatizing experience, insecurity and redisposition due to his parents’ actions, which marked the beginning of his tortuous need, to be loved. This unreturned love created a sense of fear and mistrust to love something or someone, only to experience abandonment again was something Kane never got a chance to learn. Citizen Kane broke all the rules because of Welles, there were no
Directed by Orson Welles, the 1941 motion picture “Citizen Kane” is the story of the rise and fall of a great, influential man. The opening scenes of “Citizen Kane” are quite different from what follows during the rest of the film. Fading in and out of different landscapes instilled mystery. This mysterious vibe was carried on during Charles Foster Kane’s death through the use of shadows, quiet music, and close up shots. Isolated in his vast empire of a home, Kane uttered only one word before he passed: “rosebud.”
Citizen Kane challenged the traditional narrative and technical elements of classic Hollywood cinema mainly in the area of sound. Orson Welles was ahead of his time when he created his works of manipulating sound to transfer meaning in the film Citizen Kane. Welles used concealed hanging microphones to obtain different levels of sound throughout the film. The manner, in which the story was told, from Kane’s death flashbacked to his life of success and ultimate failure, was also a new style of storytelling for films. Welles also used symbolism with his last mumbling word “Rosebud.”
There are many things that make “Citizen Kane” considered as possibly one of the greatest films every made; to the eyes of the passive audience this film may not seem the most amazing, most people being accustomed to the classical Hollywood style, but to the audience with an eye for the complex, “Citizen Kane” breaks the traditional Hollywood mold and forges its own path for the better. Exposition is one of the most key features of a film, it’s meant introduce important characters and give the audience relevant details and and dutifully suppress knowledge in turn. “Citizen Kane” does not follow this Classic Hollywood style exposition, instead going above and beyond to open the film with revealing as little information as possible and confuse/intrigue
The movie overlaps the interviews to tell the life story of Kane while the flashbacks are doing the storytelling. The story is not told in chronologic manor, uses several techniques to tell the story of Kane. The angles used to portray certain scenes, getting all of views in, having lighting changes, shadows are all creative to the movie and introducing these techniques into Hollywood
Shot Analysis: Citizen Kane Orson Welles, director of “Citizen Kane”, is well known for his unusual directing methods that defied conventional cinematic techniques. Welles provided his audience with original forms of cinematography, narrative structures, and music. The scene I chose to analyze is extremely important to the plot of the film because Kane begins to realize that he is going through some serious financial problems. During the scene, Kane maintains a sarcastic mood, until he finally decides to surrender and signs the papers that transfer the ownership of his media empire to Mr. Thatcher.
This is when we find out that the news was screened in a room. Shadowed images are seen in the room. With what is said in the room we get to know that these men are very manipulative and want to know what is meant by Kane’s last word “Rosebud”. Sir Thompson is chosen to reveal to the audience the secrecy behind this word. If we were to view this very carefully, we see that Sir Thompson is indirectly the audience to whom all the facts about Kane is revealed to.