Analyzing Orson Welles Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane (CK), directed by Orson Welles in 1941, is a dramatic film which explores the corrupting nature of power due to an individual’s vanity which gradually leads to the collapse of one’s moral compass, as well as the futile search of his identity lost amongst his possessions. By incorporating multiplicity of perspectives on Kane’s life, Welles effectively communicates this message through the innovative cinematography and structure to the contemporary audiences.
In CK, Welles conveys how the social concerns of wealth and power has resulted Kane’s sense of vanity and arrogance which led to his corruption of his moral integrity. Initially, through the deep focus throughout the negotiation between Mrs Kane and Mr Thatcher highlights Kane’s

As the news reporter Thompson takes the responder on an adventure in discovering Kane’s identity, it is evident that Thompson’s figure is always hidden and remains mysterious to the responder. Through Welles’s use of dark lighting upon Thompson’s face throughout the entire film, Welles expresses the fact that the responder has a vague understanding of Kane’s identity, just like Thompson. This concept is further displayed through the double exposure when Thompson is interviewing multiple characters as Thompson always has the back of his head facing towards the camera, further exemplifying the fact that Thompson has a lack of understanding of Kane’s identity. Furthermore, through the chiaroscuro lighting which clearly shows Thompson’s silhouette, we get a further understanding of the obscurity of his personal identity. Through Thompson’s statement “Rosebud was a missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle”, the recurring motif of jigsaw puzzles symbolizes the process of piecing Kane’s identity and shown in the montage where Susan is playing with them. Finally, Kane’s loss of personal identity is established through the use of mise-en-abyme where Kane walks past the infinite mirrors without looking at himself and creating an infinite number of his reflections, highlighting his

This concept is displayed through the majestic and grandiose layout of Xanadu on the outside and significant amount of material possessions on the inside, Welles cinematography successfully conveys how the spacious layout of Xanadu’s residence symbolises how the growing distance between Kane and his lover leads their eventually emotional breakdown, as well as immorality due to wealth. From responders’ perspectives on CK, this action of the pursuit of materials still exists in today’s society as this may bring the eventual corruption one moral compass and relationships, therefore the responder gains an insight as to how CK remains to be a provocative film even