essay

1033 Words3 Pages

It isn’t hard to see after watching Citizen Kane that it is considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made. The cinematography alone is remarkable, even by todays standards. The content is timeless. The film shows just what effect money and power can have on someone. Kane’s altruistic beliefs in his early adult life, his transition later in life from being optimistic to unhappy and materialistic, and his realization of the importance of intangible assets, are all major stages of his life and are important for young adults today to learn from. Charles Foster Kane begins fresh out of college, optimistic and ready for life with all of the best intentions. As his life progresses he grows colder and his desire for money and possessions gets larger and larger. Money and power negatively impacted his life. We see him lose all of those he holds near and dear and he is left with all of the meaningless possessions he’s acquired. In the end, the only thing that mattered to him was something he didn’t buy, the happiness his childhood sled “Rosebud” brought him and being with his mother he loved so much. The idea that wealth has the power to change a person is still relevant today as we see politicians lose their closest values in hopes of gaining more funding from millionaires and billionaires. This film can be related to by not only college age students, but by most American citizens.
In one of the first scenes featuring the young adult Charles Foster Kane, he says what Thatcher sees as total madness and what others might see as honest compassion. In response to Thatchers questioning of his negative reporting on public transit, of which he is one of the largest stockholders, Kane explains that Thatcher is speaking to two peopl...

... middle of paper ...

...s from the ground up, just for the fun of it. Kane seems almost as happy at this point in his life as he was during his childhood before he was taken from his family.
To conclude, while Citizen Kane was released in 1941, the themes of this film can not only relate to important issues today, but will probably continue to be relevant for many years to come. College-age adults can learn from the many warnings Kane proposed. Realizing that possessing a degree of altruistic beliefs is important for the well being of all, learning to avoid greed and excess in relation to money and power, and understanding the value of intangible things are all important lessons that can be learned from Citizen Kane. The critique of wealth and power is not only relevant to Americans today, but is necessary for them to understand in order to realize the dire situation we are currently in.

Show More
Related

  • The Nature Of Ego In Orson Welles's 1941 Film Citizen Kane

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through exploring the public and private life of Kane, as it transitions from childhood to adulthood, Welles allows for audiences to understand the universal concept of

    Read More

  • Citizen Kane Opinion

    547 Words  | 2 Pages

    Citizen Kane has earned the prestigious honor of being regarded as the number one movie of all time because of Welles’ groundbreaking narrative and plot structures that paved a path for the future of the film industry. Though critics have viewed the film with such prestige over the years, a present day viewer might encounter a great amount of confusion or difficulty as to why Citizen Kane is the number one movie on the American Film Institute’s top 100 movies of all time. Especially considering the modern day film industry, Welles’ production does not measure up to the amount of thrill and entertainment audiences experience today. Not even considering the possibilities with special effects and technology, Citizen Kane seems to lack an exciting plot that might involve some action or twists instead of the gossip of a man’s life that we no longer appreciate. In 1941, the general public could greatly appreciate the connections between Kane and William Randolph Hearst unlike young adults watching the film now.

    Read More

  • Charles Foster Kane's Last Word 'Rosebud'

    481 Words  | 1 Pages

    The 1941 film Citizen Kane revolves around a group of reporters trying to decipher newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane’s dying last word “Rosebud.” The film starts out with a long panning shot of a huge mansion and then a quick shot of Kane in his Xanadu mansion on his deathbed with him saying the word “Rosebud” before dropping a snow globe to the ground and then dying. Then the film goes back in forth between the upbringing of Kane’s life and the news reporters talking with everyone close to Kane to try and figure out what “Rosebud” meant to him. With that being said, the word legacy comes to mind as one of the major themes in this film with the story focusing on the rise and fall of Charles Foster Kane.

    Read More

  • Charles Foster Kane's Last Word 'Rosebud'

    450 Words  | 1 Pages

    Citizen Kane is a film by Orson Welles. It’s a classic film from 1941 and it still holds up today. It holds up today for its evaluation of what is the value in a mans life. The film holds up because it tells the story of a wealthy man who lives whole life unhappy because he is searching for a time that was much simpler. The film teaches people that all the money in the world can not buy happiness. The whole film is people trying to understand the main character Charles Foster Kane’s last word “Rosebud”. The word “Rosebud” refers to Charles Foster Kane’s childhood sled. This sled represent’s Kane’s youth and innocence. At a young age Charles Foster Kane is uprooted from his life of being a young boy in poor family and is taken in by a wealthy

    Read More

  • Kane

    969 Words  | 2 Pages

    Considered one of best films of all time, Orson Well’s Citizen Kane is a cinematically

    Read More

  • Citizen Kane Film Analysis

    1473 Words  | 3 Pages

    The story of Charles Foster Kane was truly one that could go on as timeless. Born in poverty Kane was given away with the promise of having a better life. In a material point of view Kane lived a very fulfilling life filled with anything he ever wanted. Although throughout the movie, Kane despised the situation in which he was brought up in. Being placed under the care of his mother’s banker really influenced the way he viewed the world. He considered himself a people’s person a sort of hero for those in worse situations than his own. The mass appeal for this character along with the truly original storyline and plenty other factors led many people everywhere to gain a huge appreciation of this movie. Despise its early failure following its

    Read More

  • Similarities Between His Girl Friday And Rashomon

    533 Words  | 2 Pages

    His Girl Friday, Citizen Kane and Rashomon are all very well recognized films in the cinema & media world as well as from avid movie viewers worldwide. Although all three are iconic films, they vary greatly in the film form in which they’re presented. His Girl Friday is a prime example of a classical form, whereas Rashomon can be classified as an example of art cinema. The third film, Citizen Kane cannot be grouped into either one of these distinct categories because it shares similarities that both classical and art cinema film involve. Citizen Kane belongs in a category of its own and can be seen as a “hybrid” combination of both classical and art cinema.

    Read More

  • Characteristics of a Totalitarian Government Portrayed in the Film, Citizen Kane

    1707 Words  | 4 Pages

    Citizen Kane, released in 1941, is one of America’s greatest films. The film is widely considered a cautionary tale for the late 1930’s and the early 1940’s. The main character, Charles Foster Kane is portrayed as a character that is similar to the totalitarian dictators that came about during this time period, such as Adolf Hitler. Totalitarian dictatorships have the goals of creating unity among the masses and obtaining control over individuals and society. There are three key characteristics of totalitarian governments that are portrayed in the film Citizen Kane. This form of government uses propaganda to sway the opinion of the mass population, they gain power with the unity, support, and trust of the masses, and they try to control every aspect of their political states. The character of Charles Foster Kane is portrays these different characteristics of totalitarian dictators, warning viewers of the possible political ways of the present and the future.

    Read More

  • Film of the 1960's

    1115 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nelson Mandela once said, “ I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” This quote will be the surrounding configurations of this essay. These simple words do not only play a role into a human’s everyday life, but that of a role in the major political and social changes of that decade... that decade being the 1960’s. What are those major political and social changes in reference to? These alternations are in contact with the effects of the film industry and how those connections were and will be the major “rule breaking” films of the future solely in partnership with those films of that decade.

    Read More

  • Citizen Kane Analysis

    1001 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Bridge Of Spies Essay

    966 Words  | 2 Pages

    Film is typically looked upon as created with the purpose to influence audience members into having a certain opinion or belief on a topic that is relevant to current culture. One exceptional example for this belief is the film Bridge of Spies (Spielberg, 2015). This film embodies American beliefs and social issues that express the struggles that, at the very least, Americans are facing. The American beliefs of freedom, justice, and equality are prevalent throughout this film and guide the plot. With this film fitting into the melodrama genre, there are certain stylistic elements that support the purpose of this film. By examining this film, one is able to understand a piece of American culture.

    Read More

  • essay

    1713 Words  | 4 Pages

    The human brain is capable of 1016 processes per second, which makes it far more powerful than any computer currently in existence. But that does not mean that our brains do not have major problems and limitations. The calculator can do math thousands of times better than we can, and our memories are often very limited. Moreover, we are subject to cognitive biases, those often unrecognized beliefs that we hold that cause us to make questionable decisions and reach erroneous conclusions.

    Read More

  • essay

    876 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the poem “The Silken Tent”, the poet starts the poem with the word ‘She’ which indicates that the poem is about a women. The words “she is as” indicates a use of metaphor, relating a women to that of a tent. In some interpretations this poem can refer to a special ‘she’ but in this interpretation it refers to the position of woman in society - in general. Although the poem sounds relaxed and peaceful, like ‘the sunny summer breeze’, the underlying message is about the bondage of woman in ‘silken ties’ to the family and society. The whole poem is a single sentence that is of fourteen lines. This poem is an English sonnet or more commonly known as a Shakespearean sonnet. This poem is arranged in such a way that the line endings do not coincide with natural pauses - such as the end of line two: someone reading the words "a sunny, summer breeze / has dried the dew" would not necessarily pause after "breeze", this technique is called enjambment. The poem has an iambic pentameter. In “the silken tent”, woman’s characteristics are implied being soft, smooth, strong, responsible, extraordinary, graceful, spiritual, and confidant, carefree and loves everyone and everything. The poet also points at the many responsibilities women have and how lovingly she attends to them. She is beyond the ordinary.

    Read More

  • essay

    570 Words  | 2 Pages

    At the beginning of last year, I faced a personal experience which made me want to pursue a career in Nursing. The discovery of my grandfather Alzheimer’s, followed by my grandmother’s depression and ultimately anaemia was a shock. By caring for my grandparents I gained lots of experience spending time in hospitals, communicating with doctors and other healthcare professionals but most importantly experiencing the psychological traumas of such events. My personal experience as a carer has helped me empathise the emotional turmoil patients and their families experience.

    Read More

  • Cinematography and the Film Citizen Kane (1941)

    867 Words  | 2 Pages

    The absolutely stunning film, Citizen Kane (1941), is one of the world’s most famous and highly renowned films. The film contains many remarkable scenes, cinematic techniques, as well as innovations. Within this well-known film, Orson Welles portrays many stylistic features and fundamentals of cinematography. The scene of Charles Foster Kane and his wife, Susan, at Xanadu shows the dominance that Kane bears over people in general as well as Susan specifically. Throughout the film, Orson Welles continues to convey the message of Susan’s inferiority to Mr. Kane.

    Read More

More about essay

Open Document