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Citizen kane a level film analysis
Citizen kane a level film analysis
Critical analysis of the movie citizen kane
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Citizen Kane, Orson Welles’ cinematic classic, is a film that centers on a group of reporter’s investigation into the meaning of Charles Foster Kane’s last uttered word, “Rosebud.” Citizen Kane ' brings into light many social problems between countries, relationships, and also between competing newspaper companies. It brings into light how a newspaper should react and also brings the corruption of politics. War was breaking out in Europe and throughout the entire film Kane states there will be no war. He ignores the fact people are being killed, tortured, and rounded up like livestock. In the beginning the film introduces to us to a single word, Rosebud. The audience, of course, has no clue what the word means. Kane did great and elaborate things and his life was publicized by his guardian. It is very important in the scheme of things because after Kane 's second wife divorced him he became a recluse and people had that curiosity about what he was doing in Xanadu. The audience seems to go with this theme of privacy and can relate. This theme can be carried over to today and the day to day life of current celebrities. There were a lot of paradoxes in the movie that turned back to that critical moment of Kane 's life when his guardian took him away from his home and Rosebud. The audience does not find out till the last scene whom or what …show more content…
Kane is a successful man who has loves of everything. He buys things in quantity and yet at the same time seems to not love them as he should. He has two wives who love him, but it does not appear he loves them. He buys them anything they want, but does that count? The film reaches down deep inside of a person and shows what the human condition of love and repression can do to a person. Kane was taken as a child to become a great person and it is successful. Or is it? Kane achieves great success, but in the long run dies an empty and lonely
Mise-en-scène, cinematography and editing are used in all forms of cinema. Within the “Declaration of Principles” scene of Citizen Kane, lighting, blocking and panning are three of the main sub aspects that work in unison to consistently demonstrate important aspects of the film. Welles uses these attributes to portray to the audience how this younger Kane is an important newspaper owner, with an even more important document. He creates a scene that has a heavy emphasis on panning to continuously preserve a frame that centers Kane while also lighting the document so viewers can constantly see the important plot and characters of the movie.
The film Citizen Kane is a mystery beginning in Xanadu, Florida, with Charles Foster Kane on his deathbed. Holding a snow globe, he utters “Rosebud” before dying. Reporter Jerry Thompson sets out to tell Kane’s story, as well as discover the meaning of Rosebud. Thompson begins to interview all of Kane’s known friends and associates. First, Kane’s second wife, Susan Alexander Kane, is interviewed, but refuses to speak about her late husband. The story then moves to Charles Kane’s childhood. Mary Kane, his mother, discovers a gold mine on their property in Colorado, bringing them out of poverty. Playing with a sled, Charles discovers he’s being sent away to be raised by a bank in New York. Walter Thatcher arranges a trust fund to be received by Kane upon turning 25. Years
Citizen Kane’s larger than life character is Charlie Kane, and he is shot from a low angle many times. This is showing the power and effect he has on others and how his fame is “too good to be
He kills his father after slapping the cornflakes out of his hands just like his father did to him. While the hit man is in his twenties having fun, his mother is in the hospital dying of cancer. The fact that T.C Boyle puts the line “The priest wears black. So does the hit man.” means something. It means that both life and death or good and bad are both sides of the same coin. Both of them go hand and hand. They’re both messengers of something greater. The hit man’s first job, which we don’t find out till later, was to kill this one guy’s cousin. He then tells us he doesn’t like peas which was a foreshadowing of the waitress’s death. The hit man then attends a talk show which is really him talking to god and his angels. The whole description of the place and how the pediatrician has to deal with all the children (which is us) made it seem to be like god talking to death. The pun at the end, “Tell me - I’ve always wanted to know – what does it feel like to hit someone?” was just to make it funny. Later on when the hit man gave a wino $1800 then killed him meant that the wino used all his money on drugs which killed him. The hit man getting married, having a kid, going to work, and greeting his neighbors is all part of creating the sense of humanity in him. The fire, the 3 headed dog, and getting a gilded scythe is all part of making him seem like the reaper or something of that nature. At the end when he’s
In the film, Citizen Kane, Charles Foster Kane’s immaturity, wealth, power, stubbornness and lack of love turn him into an corrupted figure. Kane grew up with Mr. Thatcher but takes no advice from him, and purposefully go against his will. Kane lives his own way of life, and unaware of what is "normal" and what is not. Kane’s wealth and power makes him think that he can get whatever he wants just by using the two. His stubbornness does not allow him to admit mistakes, and makes him more and more ego. Lastly, not knowing how to love someone Kane does not have the ability to care about others.
The first scene in the film is the scene of Charles Foster Kane’s death. It begins by showing a sign that reads “No trespassing” which shows the isolation of Kane. The chain-link fence keeps unwanted people as well as possible friendships from approaching. The scene then continues with exterior shots of his mansion, Xanadu. Some of the various locations other than the massive castle itself sitting on a hill are an empty dock, an abandoned golf course, and a closed drawbridge. These deserted locations foreshadow a lack of visitors and the loss of friends. We see that only one light is on in the house and when shown inside there’s the hand of Kane holding a snow globe containing a small house. It cuts to his mouth which is partially covered by
The structuring of the film as an investigation of Kane’s life reflects the emerging prevalence of voyeurism in 1940s Hollywood film production. During the opening scene, the fish eye lens through a snow globe visually symbolises the audience’s distorted perception of Kane, whilst the fragments of glass symbolise Kane’s own shattered psyche. Subsequently, the voyeuristic obstructed shots through a fence in “News of the March” suggests the audience’s minimal knowledge of his private life while, the polarised opinions of Kane as “a communist” and “a fascist” similarly reveals the multiple contradictory perspectives. As such the newsreel proves unsatisfactory in providing a holistic understanding … Moreover, the use of multiple, subjective narrative flashbacks provides a fractured portrait of Kane providing limited insight to his true identity. The mid-shot portrait of Kane behind Bernstein is indicative of his reverent attitude towards Kane as his inferior hence influencing his altruistic image of him as “an honest man”. This, however, is juxtaposed with the mid-shot of Leland, which suggests a level perspective, to reveal Kane’s true machinations as egotistical with “no conviction except himself”. As such, Welles deliberately structures the film to expose the timeless idea that the complex nature of human existence is subject to perception. Thus, the film’s circular structure, commencing and concluding with the “no trespassing sign” underlines that despite investigation into Kane’s psyche, the audience maintains an incomplete understanding of his true identity. This is in line with Leonard Leff (1987) who states that the “inconsistent point of view of shots” within the film “frustrates the viewer’s expectation of coming to know Kane” and understanding his multifaceted psyche. Hence, the single word
Orson Welles’ cinematic classic, Citizen Kane, is a film that centers on a group of reporter’s investigation into the meaning of Charles Foster Kane’s last word, “Rosebud.” Through their investigation of his last words, the team of reporters, is presented with an almost, but not quite, complete picture of “Citizen” Kane’s life. By assuming that the man’s last word was as grandiose as his life, the reporters miss out on the bigger, more holistic picture, which is Charles Foster Kane’s life. The reporters’ emphasis of attention on what turns out to be a small and trivial, although they never find that out, aspect of Kane’s life, make Citizen Kane a perfect example of the pitfalls of over-interpretation.
Also, Welles furthers the image of how demanding Kane is of Susan and many others. Mr. Welles conveys the message that Kane has suffered a hard life, and will continue until death. Welles conveys many stylistic features as well as fundamentals of cinematography through use of light and darkness, staging and proxemics, personal theme development and materialism within the film, Citizen Kane. Welles prominently portrays his figures with a specific amount of light or darkness, stunningly affecting whole scenes stylistically. The scene at Xanadu establishes Mr. Kane as an overbearing, controlling character.
American Psycho is a savage account of a wealthy investment banker in the late 80s that commits heinous acts of murder, rape, and torture. Although on the surface, American Psycho seems as though it is just another horror story, it actually has a much deeper message. This story is a harsh critique of a superficial Wall Street society in the late 80s that was rampant with materialism and greed. This is the society in which the main character Patrick Bateman lives–where appearance, material possessions, and status define a person. This superficial existence leaves him hollow and dead inside and turns him into a psychopathic killer. A society such as this, devoid of any morality, inevitably creates psychopaths such as Bateman. The film shows an excellent portrayal of a vacant, nihilistic killer with no feelings or emotions. However, there is something more to the story that the film did not quite capture. The book seems to not only be a satirical take on this society, but a tragedy as well. Recreating the dinner scene with his secretary Jean shows that underneath the surface Patrick Bateman is, indeed, a human being with real feelings and emotions, and that it is a great tragedy that this superficial society has turned him into a monster.
The following of Kane's death a newsreel gives an overview of Kane's life and career but the producer is unhappy with the film due to its lack of who Kane truly was. So he sends out a reporter to gain information to uncover Kane's famous last word "rosebud". While the reporter interviews Kane's most closet companions we get a series of flashbacks of Kane's past. The first flashback we see was when the reporter goes to
...d, the sled is a McGauffin are sadly not getting the whole picture, as this film is all about Kane and his lost past but I guess it is indeed up to interpretation as many people can see different facets of this truly Modernistic film that influenced countless classics and is still considered to be one of the best films of all time.
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
video camera, of a young teenage girl. The narration reveals that she wants her father dead. The image portrayed around her is constructed as an evil, unaffectionate youth. The next scene is of a high angle shot, with a voice-over narration. The voice-over goes to explain that this is Lester Burnham’s speaking and he is already dead and the following is a construction of the relevant events. This scene holds relevance for two reasons. First it constructs an image that the young teenager in the previous scene is the killer. And as we will learn by the end of the film this image is not all that it appeared to be. This is a reoccurring theme throughout the film, that these are constructed images, and to notice that there is more to the story then what appears on the surface. The high angle spanning shot of Lester’s street also holds significance for the spectator. This opening shot is quite similar to that of Alfred Hitchcock’s opening scene in Psycho. The similar themes is the spectators being the voyeurs. In each we are looking into the private sphere of the character. However, in American Beauty our voyeuristic nature is not shameful.
It is evident the amount of work director David Fincher put into the creation of this masterpiece of a film, from the cast who seemed to almost be born for their roles to a brilliantly written screenplay and very fitting music. From the very beginning, the film is one which is easy to become completely enthralled in, exposing the numerous fallacies of modern day society. It is clear that the fundamental point of the film is to illustrate that consumerism is running rampant in our own society. Thus, this pernicious way of life has transformed masculinity into a brand and turned self-worth into a commodity which people believe can be strengthened through the acquisition of goods. Though much of this movie discusses the detriments of society, the film offers tangible ways to combat these incessant problems.