Final Exam: ‘Citizen Kane’

Final Exam: ‘Citizen Kane’
Ana de Olano

1.    “Citizen Kane” is one of the most influential films ever made.  Discuss this statement

This motion picture played a large role in the minds and eyes of the common American during the Great Depression, it allowed for the viewers to escape their reality temporarily and allow them to dream. Looking through the pot of the story alone, how Charles Foster Kane came from a poor dwelling, in a rural environment, and is then given the opportunity to live a life of riches, with the cost of leaving his mother and father behind. His parents give him no choice but to leave with this man he never knew. The movie emphasizes the un hindering capitalism through the demonstration of Kane’s bottomless pit of wealth. His ‘adoptive’ fathers wealth does not get to him in the beginning, and still shows concern over the common ‘blue collared American’. Kane had to do nothing to earn his wealth, and that contradiction to the American ideals leads to conflict with him just needing wealth to gain power.
    In the beginning of the story line, Kane is a likeable character, and is trying to use his power and wealth to inform the public of the happenings across the country through his newspaper. This is when his power turns him into politics and decides to run for governor. He takes the time, in a speech to represent himself as a strong, young and determined man that is condemning the past politicians for their constant mistakes. This image represents something that is always seen in politics, and represents the corruption that lies with in governmental power.
    Kane shows how there is both goodness and badness in capitalism and American businesses. That wealth and prosperity can lead to corruption, and after all the American dream is to live well and prosper. It ask the question, were is the line of too much success? Also asks the question, what makes a person truly happy? Money? Wealth? Or living a fulfilling life with meaning? That is what I think Kane struggles with his entire life, and that is the search for meaning in his life. He did nothing to earn his riches, and therefore had no reason to care of it. I think he truly was looking for love and affection, which he never got. His parents ‘sold’ him, his adoptive father was always working so he tried to find it in his wife.  And that there is a defiant similarity between him and his adoptive father, once again looking for someone to love him, so he adopted a child.

2.    What had Orson Welles done in his first 23 years of life to warrant the Hollywood Film Industry offering complete creative control to a first time filmmaker?

At a very young age, Welles had experienced a lot of devastating circumstances, making him have to grow up fast. Starting with his parents getting separated and him having to lived with his mother while his father left in pursue of his carrier making a fortune. At the age of nine his mother died and he was sent to live with Dudley Crafts Watson. Six years later, at the age of 15, his father died and he inherited a small fortune, which allowed him to travel through Europe. This is where it all began, through the inheritance of his father. While traveling through Ireland he walked into the Gate Theater in Dublin and stated that he was a Broadway Star. Although they didn’t believe him, they did like the his audition and this is when he made his appearance in 1931 in the play Jew Suss. His performance and fame extremely grew, and even spread to the United States. So when he returned to the States, his fame was short, but this is when he decided to move on to writing a project which ended up being  Everybody’s Shakespeare which turned out to be extremely successful.
    Thornton Wilders introduction lead him to New York state, and in 1933 is when he toured with Katharine Cornell’s company in three different Broadway productions. Wells later performed a drama festival at Todd School and it turned out to be another success. Wells added his earnings in the theater as a radio actor in 1935 together with other actors who latterly formed the core of his Mercury theatre. 1934 is when he shot a  short silent film The Hears of Age . While working for Mercury Theater he was given an opportunity to create a seven week series to adapt Le Miserables, which he was able to do extremely well. Then he shifted his attention to radio acting, which got him dramatic attention in the broadcast of War of the Worlds. After this role, he was given a lot of attention and analysis, which when some one is getting attention or criticism in that world means your are doing something good. The fact that you are in their minds means a lot, whether it is for good reasons or bad, because this ended up placing Welles in the mind of Hollywood. This latterly was one of the main reasons that attracted Hollywood to allowing him full and complete creative control as a first time filmmaker.
    After all his experience before the age of 23, he was given what was seen as to be the ‘greatest’ opportunities for a new director, or untried director, and this was the fact that he was going to be given complete artist control to Welles. It seems that after all the experience that he pertained in his first 23 years of life, Wells had gained a lot different medias and different roles through out that time which allowed him to be a full and well rounded director, knowing what goes well with what and how to run it.

3.     Pick an extended scene or sequence from “Citizen Kane” and discuss the storytelling technique by analyzing any combination of its component parts (direction, writing, performance, cinematography, production design, art direction, editing, sound, score, etc.)

    I would say that one of the most important scenes, in which affected me as a viewer would have to be the scene towards the end when his wife is choosing to leave him. The conversation that they have and how she is wanting a husband that will give her love, that will let her in. But he doesn’t understand what she means by this, he think that she just wants objects and material. When in all honesty, their relationship was based on consumerism and things, rather than love, passion, honesty and care. He doesn’t understand that his whole life he has been searching for one thing, and that is love. After the fact that his mother and father gave him away to Mr. Thatcher, and then that Mr. Thatcher could give him money but not love. So he search for it in his wife, but was never able to truly understand it. He would not open up to her, and this is something that creates a similarity between Charles Kane and Mr. Thatcher. This is why at the end he realizes that all he truly wanted in life was love and therefore happy. At the start of the movie it is depicted that the last words of Mr. Kane was rosebud, and the whole movie tries to understand why those were his last words. And in this extended scene one understands that it was the name of the sled his true parents gave him, and the importance is that was the time that he had a true and caring family and that was when he had love and was happy.