Directed by Orson Welles, Herman Mankiewicz and Orson Welles wrote the screen; Citizen Kane is a mystery drama of the life of the publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane. It is a window to a world of wealth, power and ambition which will end someday when the ‘master’ is dead.
The last word of Charles Foster Kane-played by Orson Welles- was “Rosebud,” as he dies alone with only the nurse to find him in his room in his palace-Xanadu-. This word awakens the interest of a group of reporters who thrive to find out what it meant. One of the reporters- Jerry Thompson- starts to interview Kane’s family and friends to reveal the story. He first approaches Kane’s second wife, Susan Alexander-played by Dorothy Comingore-, who is now an alcoholic, but she refuses to talk to him and asks Thompson to leave. Secondly, he goes to investigate the archives of the late Walter Parks Thatcher-played by George Coulouris-, a banker who had become the guardian of Kane when he took the eight-year-old Charles Kane from Mr. and Mrs. Kane. Through the memoirs of Thatcher, Thompson finds out about Kane’s childhood and how this child came to be ‘Citizen Kane.’ From there we are shown flashbacks of this fascinating man’s rise to power and fame and how he eventually fell off from the top of the tower he built with his ambitious nature. He also interviews Mr. Bernstein-played by Everett Sloane-, the personal business manager of Kane, and Jedediah Leland-played by Joseph Cotton-, Kane’s estranged best-friend and colleague. Thompson approaches Susan for the second time, in which he is successful in finding out about their marriage and Kane’s personal life. Finally, Thompson goes to Raymond-played by Paul Stewart-, the butler at Xanadu, where he learns the thoughts and feelings of Charles Kane. As Thompson interviews these people; we see flashbacks of how, as a poor boy, Kane came into great wealth, how he became a newspaper publisher as a young man, how he aspired to political office but was defeated because of a personal scandal, how he became one of the world’s wealthiest men with a large estate ranging from mines to ocean lines and how he devoted himself to material acquisition and finally died.
The movie is not only a biography of Charles Foster Kane; it also covers political and social aspects of the early 20th century such as the rise of the penny press, the Spanish-American war, the rising of fascism and the growth of celebrity journalism.
One of the visible social aspects of the movie is the rise of the penny press. During the 19th century, newspapers in the United States (U.S.) were a luxury which only the high-class could afford for around six cents. With the rise of penny press newspapers, we see the cost of newspapers declining to one cent. On July 24, 1830, the first penny press newspaper came to the market: Lynde M. Walter’s Boston Transcript. This was a revolutionary development because news printed on inexpensive newspapers, which were produced through steam-powering printing, were accessible to both working- and middle-class citizens at a reasonable price. We can see this development and how it affects people in the movie Citizen Kane as Charles Kane embarks into the world of yellow journalism by taking over The New York Inquirer and turning it into a penny press. Working class starts to praise this newspaper because they can receive news about almost everything happening in the U.S. As the working class buys this newspaper for one cent only, Kane starts to become a rich man by building on to each cent.
The Spanish-American War, a political appearance in the movie, was the result of the American interference in the Cuban War of Independence. This result led to a conflict between Spain and the United States in 1898 in which the U.S. demanded that Spain hands over the control of Cuba, but Spain rejected this demand. As a result, first Madrid then Washington declared war. The result was the Treaty of Paris in 1898, in which the terms were in favor of the U.S. and the Spain Empire was abolished leaving Spain in chaos. In the late 1890s, The American public was influenced by journalists who used yellow journalism to criticise the Spanish administration of Cuba. This political theme is observed in the movie Citizen Kane when Kane marries the niece of President Monroe and campaigns for the office of governor of New York State. He manipulates the public opinion of the Spanish-American war not only through campaigns but also through his newspapers that are accessible to all classes. Later in the movie, we see how he loses his chance of becoming governor as his personal life is revealed to the public, and scandalous news is spread destroying his reputation.
Another political theme observed in the movie is anti-fascism. The rise of fascism in the U.S. was a process of time and took place mostly in the 20th century that included other nations. Fascism developed as a solution to the social and economic problems from a particular perspective. With fascism rising in the 1930s, Citizen Kane was produced. Although not primarily, the film was an anti-fascist one that conveyed the message that power corrupts people and money does not buy happiness. This message did not make Kane a great character, but it was certainly implied, sometimes explicitly sometimes implicitly throughout the movie.
The growth of celebrity journalism is also another social theme which can be observed in the movie Citizen Kane. Celebrity Journalism; in which newspapers focused more on the personal lives of celebrities such as, actors, sports figures, politicians, publishing tycoons, etc., started when the press became famous for who they reported instead of what they reported. Throughout the movie Citizen Kane, we see how at first the lives of other people and later the life of Charles Kane are revealed to the public. For example, during the campaigns of the governor for the New York State, the affair of Kane and Susan is published in the newspapers, and this results in the loss of not only the governor office but also the reputation of Kane. As the story unfolds the personal scandals of Charles Kane becomes more of an interest to the public, and this adds to the downfall of Kane.
Other minor details in the story are the developments of the characters Charles Kane, Susan Alexander, Jedediah Leland. From the beginning to the end, we see how a modest and innocent boy-Charles Foster Kane- becomes an ambitious and ruthless man who claims to be the owner of an empire and even builds himself the most magnificent palace and names it after the famous palace ‘Xanadu’ in the poem “Kubla Khan” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Although he builds this palace for his second wife, they are unhappy. From here we can see the change of his second wife- Susan Alexander Kane. She was a singer when Kane met her on the street while she is crying of a toothache. They eventually fell in love and started an affair which ended with Kane divorcing his first wife and marrying Susan. In the beginning, everything went well; Kane bought Susan everything she wanted and even built her an opera house where she sang, rather unsuccessfully. Their marriage ended when Kane was no longer able to see Susan for who she was; and Susan, who was alone, unhappy and no longer in love left Kane in the middle of the night. The changes of Jedediah, the best friend, and co-worker of Kane are also a notable aspect of the movie. In the beginning, Jedediah and Kane started as ‘buddies’ in the formation of The New York Inquirer. Kane signed a noble “Declaration of Principles,” which Leland asked skeptically to keep as a souvenir. He seemed to have a premonition that Kane’s principles will be subject to interpretation. As Kane became increasingly despotic, Leland questioned the unethical and immoral way in which they conducted their business. These changes led Lealand to ask for a transfer to Chicago and later, his position was questioned when Kane discovered him drunk in front of his typewriter. In the end, Lealand realized that Kane must be left alone to save himself.
As the story of Citizen Kane unfolds, the reporter Thompson is unable to discover what Rosebud was. The audience, however, is left with two options about the meaning of ‘Rosebud’: it is either the small gift of the glass-ball given to Susan, or it is the sled from Kane’s childhood. Both of these objects symbolize concepts which are conveyed throughout the story: innocence, love, and happiness that cannot be bought or sold with money. As the innocent child Kane is given to Thatcher in exchange for money, the viewer’s look at this in two ways. First as an opportunity for the boy to live a better life and have a good education, and second as an immoral act of the mother who is ruthless enough to give up her child. As the child plays with his sled, we see his happiness evolving around one single object, which is later left in the snow and then buried in a room. When the rich and powerful Kane leaves his beautiful and skillful wife for a singer, the audience sees this both as an act of madness but also an act of the heart. Kane is not as much depressed to see his first wife go as he is when Susan leaves him. This proves how much he cared for Susan. And finally, enclosed in all this, is the message of happiness. Although the rich and powerful Kane has everything he could ever want, his only real joy is in the voice of Susan and in his sled, which we see as he plays within the beginning of the movie. In the end, Rosebud is the emblem of the security, hope, and innocence of childhood, which a man can spend his life seeking to regain.
The movie is an excellent representation of the rise and fall of an innocent boy who becomes an influential businessman and then a lonely man in all his richness. It also hints to some of the most critical social and political events of the late 1800s to the early 1900s. The development of the film shows how we survive only in the memories of other people after we are gone. There is the innocent Kane, the Kane who disliked glamorous but fake trust, the Kane who chose his mistress over his marriage and political career, the Kane who became the wealthiest man in the U.S., and the Kane who died alone. The perfect image in Citizen Kane is given through perspective; Kane is losing his power, and so signs the papers of his failure. Deep focus allows Welles to play a trick of perspective. In the room behind Kane is an average size window, but as Kane walks towards it, the window becomes smaller until finally, Kane is standing under a shrunken window. Then, as he walks towards the camera, the window enlarges, and his stature grows. A man always seems the same size as himself, because he does not see himself from the perspective we do.
Works Cited
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Crowther, Bosley. “Citizen Kane” Rev. of Citizen Kane. New York Times, 02 May 1941, Natl.ed. Print. 02 May 2014
Ebert, Roger, ed. Roger Ebert. Reviews, Citizen Kane, 30 Jan. 1998. Web. 01 May 2014
“Penny Press.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia, n.d. Web. 01 May 2014
Price, R.G. “Fascism Part II: The Rise of American Fascism.” Rational Revolution,15 May 2004. Web. 02 May 2014.
Shepard, Alicia C. “Celebrity Journalists.” American Journalists Review. Philip Merrill College of Journalism, September 1997. Web. 02 May 2014 “Spanish-American War.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia, n.d. Web. 01 May 2014