Citizen Kane

Wow! Truthfully I usually shy away from any movie created before 1985, if I wasn't alive then could it really be any good? I have been set straight. I was extremely impressed by this movie and I'm glad Dr. Sexson chose to open my eyes to films that occurred before I was alive.

The Controversy Surrounding the Movie

Rumor has it that Citizen Kane was partially based on the lives of William Randolph Hearst, Howard Hughes, and Samual Insull. The number of similarities to the life of William Randolph Hearst (pictured right) caused him to offer $800,000 dollars to have the film destroyed before it was released. Hearst, like Kane was given a small paper to run, and like Kane he enjoyed publishing sensationalized stories that stretched the truth. "You provide the pictures I'll provide the war, " a quote about the Spanish American War is supposedly similar to a comment pade by Hearst. Also, "Rosebud" is rumored to be: a pet name Hearst gave to his mistress's clitoris, a name Hearst gave to his mistress, or a name he gave to his mother. There is also a parallel between Kane's mistress, who is a singer with minimal talents to Hearst's mistress who he also liked to dress in frivilous outfits to preform. Because of this controversy Hearst refused to advertise the movie, potentially resulting in a loss of profits. However some believe that the real parallel is between the lives of Kane and Welles himself.


Analysis

Kane is a man incapable of loving anyone other than himself. Not only that, he consistently insists that everyone else does the same. I do not think he is alone in this respect. It seems that all great men are possessed with a sense of self importance. It's what enables them to be great; they only care for their own needs.

Rosebud- The search for Rosebud led journalists everywhere to learn all about Kane's life. In the end they came up empty handed and now only we (the viewer) know the importance or Rosebud. It was Kane's sleigh, that he was playing with in the snow, when Mr. Tucker came to take him away from his family, off to boarding school. This is a note to the story that makes Kane more human. It is a cry for his missed childhood. Maybe Kane did not want to be a mogul of industry. Maybe he wanted to be human just like the rest of us.
Also of importance:
Xanadu- the name of Kane's palace and monument to himself.

Bibliography
Citizen Kane. Wikipedia. 10 September 2006. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 10 September 2006. <http://library.osu.edu/sites/guides/mlagd.php>

"America loves the representation of its heroes to be not just larger than life, but stupendously, awesomely bigger than anything else. If blue whales built statues to each other they’d be smaller then these." Hoggart, Simon. America: A Users Guide ch. 11.