Citizen Kane

Zoe Fox

Period 3

Citizen Kane

The Truth Behind Rosebud?

The entirety of this film is based around the question: what is “Rosebud” and why is it such a huge deal that the whole world knows what “Rosebud” signifies? At first I was shocked that “Rosebud” was Charlie Kane's childhood sled, but then I began to analyze the film as a whole.

Throughout this entire film, you see Kane peak and then crash. Meaning before everything came crashing down around him, including relationships with friends and loved ones, his life was mostly full of success when it came to work. But was Kane ever really truly content? Basically the only scene where we saw Charles Kane truly happy was when he was being framed by the window in the front of his house, chanting and playing with his sled, also known as “Rosebud”. But, by the end of the scene, you can see the sled being snowed on, which is sort of really what happened to Kane's life.

We see Kane try to replace his happiness throughout his film, trying to “find his youth” which was the one point of his life in which he was genuinely happy. Through marriages and money, Kane tries to find a stable source of happiness. While he finds happiness in Emily at one point, that ended. Susan Alexander? That ended too. Money and success can’t be everything. An interesting quote that still is stuck with me is when Susan Alexander and Kane were talking about he said, “You don’t know many people? I know too many people. I guess that means we’re both lonely.” Loneliness is a big part of this film, and loneliness, to me, goes hand-in-hand with sadness.

On Kane’s death bed, he said his last word “Rosebud”. “Rosebud” is much more than just a 

sled. Rosebud is Charlie Kane’s only true source of happiness that he had throughout his entire 

life, and I guess he wanted to go out feeling something other than loneliness.



Question/s: Can anyone go through life being completely unhappy or completely happy? 

Can money buy happiness?

Citizen Kane

When Kane said his dying words, "Rosebud" he left everyone to wonder who or what Rosebud was. Even Mr. Thompson, the reporter, was trying to uncover this mystery. Going to everyone that was close to him to see what they have to say. After everyone told their stories about Kane to try to figure out what Rosebud was, they never truly found out. But it is finally revealed when we see his childhood sled being thrown into a fire pit with all of other belongings. 

When we first see Kane it was in Thatcher's flashback. Kane was young and playing in the snow with his sled. He was happy with who and where he was. But soon he was going to leave with Thatcher and never return home. He didn't take anything and his sled was left. Throughout that year you also see his sled covering up in snow the more he is unhappy with Thatcher. Showing how Kane's happiness is quickly vanishing. In the same time you also see Thatcher giving Kane a new sled on Christmas day, but Kane isn't happy about it. He wants to go home with his parents and play with his sled Rosebud. 

Every time Kane thinks about his childhood he thinks about his sled. He thinks about the time he was truly happy. Kane wasn't a man who had a very happy life. He was taken from his parents at a young age, moving in with a man he never liked. Kane and Thatcher always had a reason to fight. Kane upset Thatcher when he always got kicked out of school, and went into business with the Inquirer because it upset Thatcher. And when he got married he was happily in love and everyone was happy that he was happy. But soon they started fighting, which led to a divorce. Then Kane found another girl. Who walked out on him one day. And when she walked out Kane got upset and started tearing down her room but soon found a snow globe she owned and whispered "Rosebud" and immediately calmed down. I believe Kane thought of his last day at home playing in the snow with his sled when he picked up the snow globe because the globe looked like his last day at home.

Citizen Kane

The Mystery of Rosebud

Throughout the entire film Citizen Kane the audience, as well as reporter Mr. Thompson, try to uncover the meaning of Charles Foster Kane's final word: Rosebud. Although Mr. Thompson never truly finds out, the audience at the end of the movie see the truth. Rosebud was the name of the sled that he had before he left his parents. 

When this was revealed to me at first I felt deceived. The whole time with the flashbacks, I was convinced that Rosebud would explain everything, that it was this giant idea about Kane's life. In fact, it was something that the audience sees in the first flashback for a whole 5 seconds. After a minute or so of reflecting on what Rosebud actually was, it became clear to me that it was foreshadowed from the beginning of the film. How so? Let me explain.

The first flashback that we see, which is Thatcher's, the scene opens up with a young Charles Kane playing in the snow. It is in that instant that we see him glide down the snow with the sled, that we now know as Rosebud. The reason that it is so painstakingly clear that Rosebud was the sled, was because of how he felt during this. At the time he still lived with his parents, he had his whole life ahead of him. Then when he leaves everything changes. Essentially this is the last time in his life when he is truly happy. 

I know that can be hard to believe since you may think he was happy when he got the Inquirer, or when he married (both times). Though I believe that was a false sense of happiness. When he got the Inquirer, it was to annoy Thatcher not because it made him happy. The only true thing that made Kane happy was Rosebud. We can tell that this is a significant memory because when Susan moves out Kane goes on a rampage. He destroys everything in his path until he comes up on a snow globe. He picks it up and whispers Rosebud. With that he quietly walks out with the snow globe in hand. After your wife just left you a small, seemingly insignificant snow globe makes you calm and collected.

The film gave us all the information we needed to infer that Rosebud was in fact the sled, considering it was his only true form of happiness. Which begs the question. 

Is there only 1 true form of happiness for each person? Or is Kane's situation just an anomaly?

Citizen Kane

Within the very first moments of the film we are given Kane's last dying words of which is "Rosebud", the entire movie was shot out of chronological order showing us bits and pieces of Kane's life leaving the audience having to uncover its meaning based off of his life events. In the very last scene, the meaning is revealed as we see Kane's childhood sled being thrown into a fire pit along with his other belongings, we are shown that there is a name inscribed on it, none other than "Rosebud".
It is an interesting contrast as to how Kane was at the end of his life compared to his boyhood. When we first see Kane as a young boy, he is vibrant, energetic, and one who loves to have fun as we can see from him playing in the snow. However, in this same scene we witness his life with his parents be taken away from him because he is now handed over to Thatcher as his new guardian, forcing him to abandon his previous life and essentially begin a new one and new identity. Throughout his life, he experiences success, failure, love, divorce, attacks from the media, and relationships that affect him immensely. Amongst all of the things in his life that he either gained or lost, the one thing that he held on to was his childhood sled (Rosebud). In my opinion, I view the significance of the sled as a symbol of Kane's childhood that was taken away from him, and the fact that he had to grow up really fast. Because, his childhood was missing from his life, I think this is what made him the way he was towards his older years, and what perhaps drove that angry force in his adult life. The sled came from a time where Kane was poor, yet happy and because this was the last word that he said before he died, I believe that he lived with a lot of wonder as to what his life would've been life if he had never gone with Thatcher and how his quality of life would've differed. Do you think that Kane's childhood impacted his decision making and the person he set out to be in his adult life? What is the importance of ones childhood in retrospect to their entire life?

Citizen Kane: Kane's Determination to Make Susan a Star

Throughout the film Kane is described as a man who cared only for himself. Though he was often charitable and caring once Kane left his youth he did only care for himself. The only times he showed concern for others was when he needed them, wanted them, or wanted what they could give him. Despite this, Kane did retain a small amount of the youthful joy of his childhood. Though there were several instances of this in Kane's life, one of the most striking was with regards to Susan's opera career. 

In the film Kane is shown to be almost entirely devoted to making Susan a star. When she cannot make it as an opera singer on Broadway he constructs his own Opera house for her to perform in. Lessons, and practices and productions soon follow but Kane seems to be the only one who is enthusiastic about her career. Though unenthusiastic is an understatement, Susan hates it to the point that she attempts suicide. Kane was so devoted to making her a star because it was the only shred of love he could receive that he had left.  

Growing up the only love Kane knew of was the very lonely memory of his mother. After she sent him away for a better chance at success he had no warmth or love in his life. He despised his guardian Thomas Thatcher, and it was for this hatred of him that he entered the newspaper business. His newspaper became the first place that Kane found love, albeit a very false kind of it. It was the admiration of his workers and of the men he hired and paid. This became the defining characteristic of Kane's life. His political career was fueled by his desire for the admiration and "love" of others, though this time it had to be the people of an entire state. The newspaper men and the underprivileged weren't enough, he needed an entire state to love him. 

By the time Kane ended up trying to make Susan an opera star he had lost everything except for her. His wife, child, career and the admiration of the state he resided in. Being the husband of a famous opera star; audiences would love her and since he created her career they wold love him. 

Kane's need for such massive amounts of love and admiration from strangers come from his abandonment by his mother. Like anyone who suffers any form of trauma a void develops inside of them, and they seek to fill it with whatever seems to satisfy them. The irony of this, and of Kane's life is that it is never enough. And in Kane's pursuit of love and admiration, he lost any true connections he may have had. True connections like the ones he had with his wife Emily, and his friend Jed Leland. 

Citizen Kane

Ending: How was the mystery (the truth about rosebud) foreshadowed?

Throughout the film Citizen Kane, an important theme is how one may have everything but still can't find happiness. This theme on its own helps foreshadow Rosebud along with a bunch of other features used by Welles in the film. The theme of not being able to find happiness comes apparent to the audience when Kane is given his new sled with Thatcher. While his mother and father were just trying to give him a better life, young Kane wanted was his beat up sled that he used to play with outside his real home. Now even though he might have the most expensive sled being stuck in the city, doesn't provide him with the snowy slopes to play with it on. The sled almost becomes Thatcher's attempt of showing Kane that toys aren't aloud in the real world. All of this gives us a hint that the sled was something of important value to Kane.

Another important theme that helped us draw the hypothesis that Rosebud was the sled, is Kane's search for his youth. The use of the scattered timeline helps the audience see before our eyes how time can change a person, physically and morally. Kane is an indecisive person who divorced his first wife in fear of growing old and lost his second because he was holding her back from being young. Kane's entire relationship with Susan Alexander is based off of her youth and how she makes him feel young again. By the end of the film Susan realizes that all the money in the world isn't going to make her love Kane and that's because their in two different points of there life. Kane's search for youth can be tracked back to one really important object and that is his sled. The sled is present in the only two flashbacks that go back to his youth, associating it with the youth of Kane.

Rosebud in the end was to be used as a symbolism for youth and Welles used Kane's childhood to foreshadow. I believe he did this to compare and contrast young Kane to old Kane. In the beginning of the film, almost all we see is Kane having a great time and enjoying being a kid but once he gets to New York it feels like time starts going by faster and faster.  This is shown by the amount of time that passes between the and "Happy New Year" flash forward. Welles also cynical under tone comes through when he shows Kane the path to happiness far to late in his life for him to enjoy it.

Citizen Kaneeeee

I really enjoyed Citizen Kane. Orsen Wells is not only great on screen, he convincingly transforms to different ages throughout the film and the fact that he was 25 at the time is amazing.

I know that this film is debateably one of the 'best films of all time'. I don't see where this claim could be coming from. It was very well done and I enjoyed it, I have been much more impressed with many others. Some being Casablanca, Master and Commander, Rush, Blade Runner and others.

One of the interesting things about the film is how Wells jumps around in time so frequently. It reminded me alot of Pulp Fiction and how nothing is told chronologically. I think it really adds something to the story and makes it more interesting...if it is done right. Wells did a very good job with it.

The whole question of the what 'Rose bud' was thrown at the audience ever so often to keep them engaged. Each section of the film is driven by finding out what it means and it naturally adds a well built in climax for the end of the film.

QUESTION: Can one buy happiness?

Citizen Kane

Life at Xanadu

        After Susan Alexander's failed suicide attempt, Kane builds her a grandiose palace dedicated towards improving her mental health, however the vast building only leaves a hollow feeling. Kane's footsteps echo through the dimly lit hallways as he walks towards Susan, who sits near the fire playing with jigsaw puzzles. These puzzles are often nature scenes, which contrasts the feeling of being locked in Xanadu. Nature is free and wild while Susan is isolated and stuck. The puzzle also represents life, because she is constantly trying to put together the pieces. Eventually, after she completes several puzzles, she decides to leave Kane. We know this took a long period of consideration because the montage included several dissolves, which often represent passages of time. Perhaps to Susan, leaving Kane was just like finishing a puzzle.

       This idea of a person's life as a jigsaw puzzle comes back up later on in the movie, when Thompson says, "I don't think any word can explain a man's life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a piece in a jigsaw puzzle- a missing piece". I think that this sums up the whole film- we can never fully understand someone's life. We watched Charles grow up, but these memories were from outside sources which could have been tainted. Bernstein, for example, thought very highly of Kane so his memories were fonder than those of Leland's. Because of this, there will always be missing "puzzle pieces" and unanswerable questions about Kane's life. What other factors, besides faded or tainted memories do you think altered our perception of Kane?

Citizen Kane

While living at Xanadu, neither Kane nor Susan really seemed happy to be there with each other. This atmosphere was partially created by the palace in which they lived together. The mansion was so enormous and spacious that their voices echoed around the house and they couldn't hear each other from different rooms unless they yelled. Everything in the mansion was bigger than them; the fireplace seemed to swallow Kane when he stood in front of it, and the whole house was filled with "nothing but scenery and statues", as Susan put it. It was mentioned earlier in the film that Kane liked to collect statues and he might have put them all here in place of real human interaction. The house was filled with material things rather than sentimental things, and all Susan wanted from Kane was for him to do something meaningful for her rather than him simply buying her any and all things that she doesn't really care about. 

Susan said there was "nobody to talk to, nobody to have any fun with", and even though people did vacation there, the vibe that Susan felt from Xanadu was depressing. Just like how Kane acted in their marriage, nothing at Xanadu was very meaningful. 

Citizen Kane

Throughout the romance of Kane and Susan Alexander, we see Kane push her incredibly hard to become a star. He hires music teachers, and builds an opera house, and yet Susan doesn't ever seem incredibly driven herself. Susan even says, "I never asked for any of it." How come Kane pushed so hard for a dream that wasn't even his?

Watching the romance of Susan and Kane unravel is a refreshing new sight for the viewer in contrast with Kane's relationship with his first wife. In Kane's first marriage, we see the tension between the two grow over time. During the breakfast montage, we view their intimacy slowly disappear until finally they are so separate that Emily won't even read the Inquirer. Kane pushed Emily away as he was almost never home, only talked about his work and felt as if he was more important than his wife. 

You may be asking yourself how this relates to Susan Alexander and why Kane pushed her so hard to become a famous singer. Well the answer is simple. All Kane ever wanted was to be loved. He saw that he didn't have it in his past relationship and he tried to fix that in this new fresh one. Kane saw the lack of love to be due to how Emily was never put in such a position of importance that it drove the two away from each other. Susan was Kane's fresh start. He had a second chance to receive love, and he thought the was to do it was to make his wife's life more important than his own.

In doing so, we see a dramatic change in his life. His work life becomes less and less present, and Susan becomes less and less interested in singing. Susan gets pushed completely to her breaking point, all because Kane wants love. He never truly received love from Emily, so he thinks that by doing exactly the opposite of how he acted during their marriage, he will be able to get love from Susan. This is why he tries so incredibly hard to make Susan a star. It's his idea that if he can give Susan something amazing like stardom, then she will give him love. However this is not the case as Susan cannot take the amount of pressure that their marriage puts on her.

Can love be earned by one who cannot and will never reciprocate that emotion? 

Citizen Kane

"Singer"

At first, it seems that Kane is making a rather stupid decision when he decides to build Susan Alexander an opera house and turn her into a star. However, there are a few possible explanations for this massive waste of money, labor, and singing lessons. The first and most obvious, is that perhaps Kane did all of this, built an opera house, forced Susan to take singing lessons, and perform, because he did after all have some basic form of incredibly misguided love for her. We see that when they first meet, Kane seems very happy when he is around her, and decides to stay with her even at the complete cost of his budding political career. Perhaps he viewed it as some kind of incredibly extravagant wedding gift to her, and thus was determined to make her famous. However, this seems somewhat unlikely, as Susan often expresses distaste for the whole idea. If Kane truly loved her, he would probably simply do what she wanted him to. A more likely explanation for the whole affair, is that Kane, crushed and defeated by his political opponent, would be more determined than ever to win the love of the people, as Jed Leeland said. Therefore, he would devote himself to giving the people an opera star. The public would love and worship this person, and maybe also love and worship the man who gave them their new goddess. However, this theory raises the question: why then, did he not do this with a woman who could actually sing well? Because of the inconsistencies brought about by both hypotheses, perhaps in the end, it was a combination of both. Perhaps Kane loved Susan in the beginning, but then realized that he could use her as a vehicle to even greater fame and fortune.

Citizen Kane Ending

Citizen Kane is a film that revolves around the death of public icon Charles Foster Kane, and reporters trying to find out the meaning of his final words. Throughout the film Thompson, the reporter, goes to multiple different places to meet the various people in Kane's life including his partners and his wives. The ending was particularly significant as everything beings getting tied together. I enjoy how the director doesn't have the reporters or the world find out the significance of "Rosebud" but the viewers do. The director also loops back to the globe, not only as an item that he drops after saying his final words but also as the same globe his last wife left behind. To elaborate, the director starts the film with his death, final words and the dropping of the globe expressing a significance to his life. Then, spends the entire film trying to find out why. The same snow that covers the screen at the beginning and the camera zooms in on, before his death, is the same snow-like transition that the director uses when beginning the childhood flashback. Charles is then playing in the snow, and we learn about his attachment to the sled. At the end of this flashback the sled sits there as snow piles up on it when he leaves. Forwarding many years Thatcher then gives Kane a sled for Christmas, and is rather straight faced. The last time we see the globe is when he picks it up and says 'Rosebud'. It is the one thing that Kane does not destroy when wrecking everything in his wife's room once she leaves. One can infer that the small house and the snow in the globe reminds him of his early childhood with his family, as shown in the flashback.

At the end this is then confirmed when the sled is being burned and on it is printed, 'Rosebud'. He says "Rosebud" while holding the globe symbolizing his past; he never got rid of his sled. I think he died holding the globe symbolizing not wanting to let go, and the good in his life before the rollercoaster in his life. In addition, at the end Thompson says, "I don't think any word can explain a man's life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a... piece in a jigsaw puzzle... a missing piece." I believe "Rosebud" was a word that strongly impacted his life and even explained it, due to his childhood. The sled specifically was a part of a jigsaw puzzle in his life. It was something he always had but didn't know what to do with it. When he left his home to go with Thatcher, everything changed. Was Rosebud really the definition or explanation of his whole life?            

Citizen Kane

Life at Xanadu: How is atmosphere created?

During the scenes at Xanadu, there is a very distinct atmosphere. It is a bit dark and depressing, tense, and feels very empty. This is done through several different techniques. First, the lighting. All of the rooms that Kane and Susan are in are dark. Sometimes, their faces are even in the shadows. Overall, the constant dimness does not make things very cheery. Next, were the shots. All of the camera shots were medium or long. No close ups or anything like that. It all felt very impersonal and not intimate. Another thing that gave that feeling of coldness were the character's placements. Susan and Kane are never really close to each other. One scene in particular that stood out to me was one when they were both in the same room. Each chair was on the opposite side of a massive room, and there was at least 20 feet of space between them. Again, it feels impersonal and a bit tense. Last, there was the sound. Or the lack thereof. There is no music, other people talking, or background noise. It is almost completely silent. There are several moments where they both are in the same room, not talking to each other, and it reinforces the tense atmosphere. Also, when Kane has an outburst, his voice echoes in the large room, making it sound much bigger and booming. This furthers the tension after that.

CITIZEN KANE!

ROSEBUD & THE SNOW GLOBE

Throughout Citizen Kane, the audience is not only led through the events of Kane's life through flashbacks, but also is introduced in the beginning of the movie to the "rosebud" mystery, which does not get answered until the very last scene of the movie. "Rosebud" is later revealed to be Kane's sled, given to him as a Christmas present when he was younger. Also, the snow globe that Kane drops simultaneously as he dies represented his childhood boarding home during winter.

I feel that the foreshadowing of the truth about rosebud isn't actually foreshadowed in the sense that most people expect. The audience isn't always shown clues of what rosebud could mean. However, the reporter constantly mentions that "rosebud" could be something that either made Kane happy, or something that was of great importance to him that he had lost. Both of the things that the reporter inferred turned out to be true at the end; the combination of "rosebud" and the snow globe that falls and crashes when Kane dies is an allusion to his childhood - the only time in his life that he felt truly happy.

Something else that I found interesting was the fact that the snowglobe was the last remaining belonging of Susan's that Kane decided to keep. In the beginning of the film, the audience is introduced to the snowglobe as something that Kane holds and lets fall as he dies. Later, we see the snow globe again as Susan leaves Kane, and he leaves Susan's room uttering only "rosebud." This is the second time that the audience sees the combination of the snow globe and "rosebud" in one scene. This acted as a foreshadowing to Kane's lonely death, because until this scene the audience only saw and heard those two objects in the scene in which Kane dies.

The fact that "rosebud" is the very last word Kane says before he dies, as he drops the snow globe and it crashes and cracks is also something that I found very interesting. Orson Welles (as both a director and an actor) showed in this scene that the snowglobe and rosebud both demonstrated the only truly happy time in Kane's life. Since he said "rosebud" last and dropped the snow globe, he let them go at the same time. With Kane's death also came the deaths of the only two tangible objects that represented the only time in his life when he had no worries.

My question after finishing Citizen Kane: Why were the snow globe and "rosebud" mentioned during both Kane's death and scene in which Susan left Kane? Did the two scenes represent something similar or did the two objects symbolize something in Kane's life that was evident in both his death and Susan leaving him?

Citizen Kane

Why is Kane so determined to make his second wife, Susan Alexander a star? I think he is obsessed with his status and what others think of him, because in the early stages of his life, he never had much money, and no one knew his name. So therefore, I believe that he wants everyone to think that Susan is truly the best opera singer, just so it makes him look good. In addition to that thought, I also believe that Kane feels as if he needs to almost make Susan as “good” as Emily was in terms of status and reputation. What I mean by this is, that Emily had a powerful status as the President’s niece, which not only raised Kane’s status, but it also helped him during his political campaign, despite the fact that he wasn’t with Emily at the time. But whereas Susan is a struggling opera singer who didn’t come from money. In the final scenes of the film, Susan even admits that she will never be as good as Emily. Specifically when she says that she didn’t go to a fancy school (this is during the scene where she and Kane find themselves in a big argument just prior to her leaving Xanadu). So it is clear that Kane wants his second wife to be just as powerful and helpful to him as his first wife was, and that is why he forces Susan to take private vocal coaching, and why he continues to clap when everyone else stops at the end of her performance. But what does this say about Kane as a person? To me, it proves that Kane oftentimes doesn’t really think of anyone but himself, and he will do anything to rise above, even if that means exploiting the people he is supposed to love. We as viewers not only see him do this with Emily and Susan, but also with his newspaper itself. He disregards the principals him and his colleagues set in the beginning of the film, promising to only deliver the most accurate and honest news, just so the paper will get ahead. In terms of understanding Kane as a character, why do you think Kane is so keen on exploiting the people around him when he knows what its like to have nothing? Are there any specific people or events in his life that made him like this?

Citizen Kane

Life At Xanadu

In the opening scene of the Xanadu you see Suzanne and Kane talking in the foyer with stairs and a fire bigger than the both of them combined. The proxemics of Kane standing in front of the stairs made him look inferior and powerless. Although he had all this money to spend he wasn't spending it in the right ways. Suzanne even said to Kane, "You never give me anything I really care about", which continues to show that even with all his money he couldn't buy her. To continue with proxemics, Kane was shown standing in front of objects in his house that were larger than him. They seemed to almost swallow him. I believe that the director did these shots because it showed how expensive the things were that he was buying and how nice they were. They seemed to have little to no fun inside of the Xanadu and I think it's because the house was filled with thousands of materialistic items and not sentimental items.

When Suzanne and Kane began to talk inside of the Xanadu their voices were echoing and it was hard to hear each other. At one point they were even yelling at each other in order to hear the other person speak. The echoing gives the audience a feeling of sadness and loneliness and separation. Later on after they leave the Xanadu Suzanne is yelling at Kane and he says to her, "We're no longer in the Xanadu so there is no need to yell". This further points out how lonely and sad they both were. Suzanne just wanted Kane's love and Kane thought that all his money would buy her love. He always thought about the materialistic things and never things that truly brought pleasure to Suzanne. Why does Kane treat Suzanne like a child sometimes? Do you think that he really loved Suzanne? 

Citizen Kane

The basic plot of "Citizen Kane" is a search to find out why Charles Kane's last words were "Rosebud." Then it turns out that none of the people interviewed are able to give an explanation of the word. In other words, none of the people who were closest to Kane, were able to understand what was obviously of crucial importance for his life.

The “No Trespassing” 

sign that we see at the beginning of 

the film does not only indicate the boundary of Kane’s estate, but also his basic attitude toward friends and the world. Despite his celebrity status, Kane was a very lonely person. Kane told Susan when they first met, "You know too few people, and I know too many. I guess we're both lonely." He was not lonely in the way Susan was though. His sadness was not temporary; it could not be fixed by meeting new friends and having company. Kane's loneliness was a permanent condition because he never allowed anyone to see the traumatized boy that he kept hidden. In a way Kane never knew who he was.

To hide the injured child inside him from the world and himself. Kane makes a public persona of a powerful publisher and man of the people. He refused to look into his inner self right to the time of his death. Only his last look at a snow globe in the first montage may show some small form of self-recognition.

So, why does Kane keep everything to himself? There are so many different theories to that question and none are confirmed. Do you think it is for more selfish reasons or more selfless reasons? Also, why do you think the movie is called, "Citizen's Kane?" I think it is because Kane has two different parts to him and the only one we see for most of the movie is the persona he puts on in front of the people.

Citizen Kane

Noah Pines
Film Analysis
Robbins
Due: 9/29/14

The Opera Montage

               The montage begins with "KANE MARRIES 'SINGER'" appearing on screen in big, black letters, followed by Kane walking out of the wedding with Susan to the car, surrounded by a cloud of reporters. The fact that they put "singer" in quotes shows that most people would not consider Susan to be a singer, due to her lack of talent. Then, a reporter begins asking about Susan's career future, and Kane answers everything in "we", like "We're going to be a great opera star". The reporter asks if she will sing at the Metropolitan Opera House and Kane says they will, and if she doesn't, he'll build her an opera house, but he assures "That won't be necessary". The next shot is a newspaper with the headline "KANE BUILDS OPERA HOUSE". This is yet another example of Susan not being good enough to be an opera star.

               The movie then cuts to the opening night of the opera, with the director screaming at Susan (who is playing the lead, of course) and the rest of the cast is running around with various props and costumes, as if unprepared for the show. As Susan begins to sing, the camera tracks upwards to show the workers on the catwalk, who are not pleased by her performance. Later, the scene is shown again, but this time we see the audience, who are equally displeased by the performance. Bernstein is dozing off, Jed is playing with his program, and the women in a booth near Kane are laughing and joking about how horrible she is.

              The opera montage is an important scene for Kane, because after losing his first wife, and ruining his chance of getting elected, he wanted to convince himself that meeting Susan was worth it. Kane cheated on his wife with Susan, and if there was any chance of regaining his reputation, he would have to get it through Susan's success. He poured his money into making Susan the star she had always dreamed of, but Kane still could not win over the crowd. Susan was not a strong singer, and her director even told Kane this, but he didn't want to believe it. The last straw was when the show ended, and the applause was weak, Kane stood up and began clapping as hard as he could, until he was the only one left. Kane still couldn't win over the crowd. This was the first time Kane lost a battle, and it destroyed him.

Was Susan worth all the trouble that she caused?

Citizen Kane

Scott Yarmoff

Mrs. Robbins

Crit Film Period 3

9/28/14

Citizen Kane

The entire plot of the story revolves around the question, “What is the meaning of 'Rosebud'?” If “Rosebud” is the last thing he says before he dies, clearly it's been the most important part of his life. We find out that “Rosebud” is the name of his sled from his childhood. My question is, how did this come as much of a surprise to the audience? I understand that people may not have been able to guess that “Rosebud” was the name of his sled, but we should have been able to see that it represented something from his childhood.

The only true time that Kane is portrayed as happy is when he is a kid playing in the snow outside his home. From the time when Thatcher takes him away to his death, his only other happy time is when he was with Susan Alexander the first time they met. In the first scene where we see Kane die holding a snow globe, we should've been able to tell that the snow globe represents his childhood, which took place in the snow just a few scenes later.

From the time Kane is taken away until his death, the only thing he does is try to make himself happy. As his 25^th birthday approaches, he is going to be given power to many different companies but he says he only wants to own one of the small newspaper companies because he thinks it will be “fun.” He seems very unhappy with Thatcher and doesn't do what he is supposed to because he wants to be happy. He gets married to try to be happy. He tries looking for his mother's remains in a warehouse to “find his youth” and try to be happy. He instead spends the night with Susan Alexander and is happy.

 On his deathbed, he is trying to take himself back to his only true happy days: his childhood before he was taken away. That's why he is holding the snow globe. We, as an audience, should have been able to tell that the word he said and the object he held were connected, so we should have been able to see that “Rosebud” was symbolic of his childhood since he is just trying to “find his youth” and get back to a happier time throughout the film.

Citizen Kane

How was "Rosebud" foreshadowed throughout the film?

       Chronologically speaking, the first time we meet Charles Foster Kane is outside in the snow when he's playing with his sled, and this object is foreshadowed a lot throughout the film. Firstly, Rosebud was something that made Kane happy. He played with it outside in the snow, and despite doing it alone, he seemed content. It was another thing Kane had to leave behind, along with the life he knew, his parents, and a life without the world's sixth largest private fortune. The last shot of this scene was the sled slowly being buried under the falling snow, abandoned, just like Kane on his deathbed. Any chance of Kane having the life he wanted died that day, but he returned to the memory by holding the snow globe and uttering "Rosebud" on his last breath.

Secondly, the snow globe that smashed as Kane died can be seen in Susan Alexander's room upon their first meeting. The little happy slice of his old life (and last known location of Rosebud) is preserved in a glass ball, and only made its reappearance when Kane laughed for the first time in years. Susan didn't know who Charles Foster Kane was when she met him, and that is why Kane loved her. She liked him for what he could have been if he never left Rosebud, or that little cabin in the snow. Kane just wanted to be loved, and Susan loved the man who used to play with Rosebud in the snow, as happy as could be.


Lastly, Mr. Bernstein gives the biggest foreshadow of them all: "Maybe [Rosebud] was something he lost. Mr. Kane was a man who lost almost everything he had." Rosebud symbolized Kane's last scene of happiness, of a life where he wasn't everything he hated. He lost what Rosebud symbolized on the day Mr. Thatcher took him away, and then lost the literal object after his death. Kane lost everything that mattered to him- the only thing he left behind were objects, containing no sentimental value whatsoever. Kane's only goal in life was to be loved, and I think his last time playing with Rosebud was the last time he truly was- do you agree?

Citizen Kane

One aspect in the last 40 minutes of the film was the way Orson Welles was able to foreshadow the mystery about Rosebud. In Raymond’s (the butler) flashback, he tells, “Charlie had so much, but yet something was always missing”. Although Kane had material wealth, he didn’t have internal wealth. He could buy anything and have anything he wanted, but yet that still did not satisfy him. Raymond was not the only one to pick up on this, but Susan had also and while fighting with Kane she screams at him saying, “You just buy me everything. It means nothing to you, why should it mean anything to me?”. This is one of the more foreshadowing moments in the entire film. Throughout the entire film we see the two arguing and their unhappiness prolong, but we never hear her reasoning or know exactly why the two are so unhappy. As the film comes to a close, we slowly see where Kane’s unhappiness stems from, and Welles does a great job at showing, rather than telling.

Citizen Kane

How was the mystery (the truth about rosebud) foreshadowed? 

The film starts out with Kane in his room and the camera closes up on his mouth as he says "rosebud". Right after this occurred, his hand drops a snow globe which then breaks on the ground; this expresses Kane's death. After this, the entire film is surrounded by people curious to find out what rosebud really meant and its potential to explain all of Kane's life. While this is being searched, many flashbacks occur throughout the film that show different parts of Kane's life to best represent his success and struggles and hope its influenced him. One flashback is when he was a child at his original home, where he was first taken by Mr. Thatcher. Another one is when he was forcing his wife Susan to become a famous opera singer even those she doesn't really want to. These are just a few examples of major events that occurred in Kane's life that show his real personal issues that could be potential influences from being taken out of home with real parents to a stranger who made him well educated and successful. These factors made the influence of having the priority to just be intelligent and successful in life to be able to be happy. Considering his mother wanted him to leave so he could have better opportunities and Thatcher only taught him business. Both situations leave Kane with no time for himself to do things he enjoys to make him happy, rather than relying on just the success and wealth aspect of life. To bring the whole film together, the last shot seen is the sled Kane played on when he was a kid just before Thatcher took him; however its on fire in a fireplace. This is after all the news reporters give up on trying to figure out what 'rosebud' actually meant. There is no one word to describe all of Kane's life, however, the sled represents his childhood and how things were more simple and all he wanted to do was be happy with what he had. 

Citizen Kane

How was the mystery (the truth about rosebud) foreshadowed?

While it is not something I picked up on as we saw Kane's death scene in the beginning of the film, once someone pointed out that the snow globe was of Kane's old house in the winter, and as he said his final word (rosebud), I realized that the word was foreshadowed from the scene at his old house when he was a child. I don't think you could see the writing on the sled when young Kane had it/got it, which was probably done on purpose. Right before he died in the chair, he probably was thinking about his mother and how he never even saw her since he was a child (as far as we know), since they were so close and he was just taken away by a strange man at such a young age. If I were him, I would have been thinking about what life he would have had if he stayed in that house in the middle of nowhere with his mother. In class, we were asked a question about Kane's life and how successful he became, and if he was satisfied with the life he was leading. I believe that before he was corrupted by wealth and fame, he had a wonderful life filled with happiness and good fortune. People really loved him, even though that probably did not fill the emptiness in his heart that his mother's love once filled. I am sure he was very grateful to be so well educated and taught how to live well by Thatcher, who was his mentor and guardian, and kind of like the father he never actually had. As much as he missed his mother, Kane must have known that he would not have had nearly as good of a life if he stayed with her and his abusive father. While young Kane seemed happy during the scene at "Mrs. Kane's Boarding House," there was a lot of frustration and confusion within him about the war, which he turned into outdoor games that he played alone. As an only child, it seems that he has felt alone for all of his life. When he met Susan Alexander, she talked about how lonely she was and he said, "I know too many people. I guess we're both lonely." The loneliness that he has felt for all of his life brought him back to when he was with his mother and seemed happier because he knew he was loved. He knew that no one else ever loved him for the rest of his life, which he realized as he knew he was about to die. The sled and that house were the only remnants of his mother and the childhood that he wanted, which is why the Rosebud sled entered his thoughts just as he left this world.

My question is: Did he know of the snow globe before finding it in Susan's room as he almost destroyed it?

Citizen Kane

Lauren Hope Gottschalk

Mrs. Robbins

Critical Analysis of Film and Literature

26 September 2014

-Susan's opera career: Why is Kane so determined to make her a star? (consider the performance and review scene) 

After Kane loses the battle for the position of Governor of New York it seems a though he feels he has 

failed something that could have been one of his life's greatest achievements. His wife; Susan 

Alexander is a beginner opera singer. Since Kane slipped in the elections he wants at least one person 

in his life to be successful, therefore he holds Susan up from slipping. He hires a singing coach, cheers 

Susan on, and pushes her almost to death. In this movie it seemed as though Kane thrived off of 

success. He was an icon to most people, so if his future did not hold success what did he have to offer? 

Also, Kane did make the large decision to divorce his wife, quit the race for Governor of New York, 

and marry his mistress; Susan Alexander. Since Kane does thrive off of this success, if the public saw 

that Kane married a lowlife his reputation would be in complete shambles. To keep his standing at a 

high degree Kane decided to put his success within Susan. 

CaSaBlAnCa

The ending to Casablanca was awesome. The whole movie, Rick is portrayed as selfish, as he makes clear by repeating that he sticks his neck out for nobody. However, the ending shows that he really does have a moral conscious because he makes Ilsa go back with Lazlo. He didn't want her to be in danger and I also believe that taking a women from her husband goes against his moral code as a man.

Even with the interesting character traits that Rick shows in the ending, attention should not be drawn away from Claude Rains's character, Louie. Louie says one funny after another throughout the film, but Rains's comedic timing during the last half hour of the film is nothing short of historical. Even in the heat of everything that is happening, when Rick pulls a gun on Louie and says, "I don't want to shoot you, but I will if you take one more step!". Louie then replies, "Under the circumstances I will sit down." Or when they are at the airport and Rick is explaining to Ilsa how bad her situation will be if she stays in Casablanca by saying, "Now, you've got to listen to me! You have any idea what you'd have to look forward to if you stayed here? Nine chances out of ten, we'd both wind up in a concentration camp. Isn't that true, Louie?" and Louie replies, "I'm afraid Major Strasser would insist." The way he says it, in the heat of everything is so comedic and adds something extra to the film.

After doing some further research, I found out that there was an alternate ending of the film that was shot where Ilsa stays with Rick and they live "happily ever after". I love the fact that they decided not to use the 'hollywood' ending and chose the one that gives Bogart's character so much more depth.

Everything that happens in the end is clear to me, but the one question I have is what happens to Rick? Does he see Ilsa again? Is he punished for his actions?

Casablanca

The film Casablanca has often been seen as one of the best movies of all times. Even though they never had high expectations for the movie, it came out to be a movie many people keep going back to. The film has many emotional ups and downs. People love that. They always want to know what will happen to the two in love and how they end up. The movie also shows struggles and suspicions in the characters. When we first meet Rick he is shown as a guy with a secret. And because of this, everyone immediately becomes intrigued. They want to know who he is and why he is the way he is. And when Ilsa and Lazlo walked into Rick's, more starts to piece together. Keeping everyone at the edge of their seats wanting to know more about Rick and his connection to Ilsa. Soon people see Rick and Ilsa were in love. Which captivates the viewer even more. People are drawn to love stories that have struggles. They want to find out what happens to the two in love. Whether they end up together or not. Throughout the film you see the characters develop and open up. You see Rick having a drink with Ilsa and Lazlo when you know he doesn't drink with customers, because it is said to a group of people asking to have a drink with him. And soon you see that Rick and Ilsa have a troubled love story in their past. But you also see Ilsa and Lazlo have a troubled love story. Its a troubled love triangle, but you get to see how Rick opens up more and lets Ilsa go away with Lazlo because he knows it's the safest thing for her to do. It's a love story people are interested in. A love story that you can't help but watch. Even though the film started off as nothing spectacular, it ended being an amazing film that won 3 Academy Awards for the amazing actors and story lines that everyone is hearing about, still to this day.

Casablanca

The film Casablanca is often said to be one of the best movies of all time, even though it started out as a film with nothing special expected of it; it was simply one of the hundreds of movies that was produced each year. The film contains themes that are universal and still used in many films today, one of which is love and emotional struggles. These two themes are seen over again in movies throughout the history of filmmaking and it is always an easy way to draw audiences to see movies. All the characters go through an emotional change during the film. Renault begins as police inspector who is working with the Nazi's and has Ugarte killed, but by the end, he is a completely changed character who helps Rick get Laszlo and Ilsa out of Casablanca. When we first meet Rick, a memorable line that he says is that he "sticks his neck out for nobody"; Rick isn't a hero but he isn't a bad guy, and it takes a while to figure out who he is. Even Ilsa, who seems to be the classic woman stuck in a love triangle becomes more than what she is when we meet her, we see that her and Rick have a complicated past and the complications that she has with Rick and Laszlo are more than any romantic comedy of today has. People are always drawn to a love theme, and grow attached to who they think should be together and they will watch the movie over and over again to relive the love and the struggles that each character goes through. It's clear that Ilsa loves both Rick and Laszlo, but at the end of the movie, Rick really shows his love for Ilsa by letting her go with Laszlo in order to keep her safe in America. Even though this film was set out to be nothing out of the ordinary, a failed movie even, it surprised everyone by winning 3 Academy awards, and coming out with iconic characters, lines, and theme song, and even if they've never seen it, everyone knows about Casablanca.

Casablanca

I think one of the most important factors that lead to Casablanca being considered a classic are the characters. Unlike many other run of the mill romance movies, the characters have depth. They feel real, and hold secrets from each other and the audience. Characters in other movies can be shallow or underdeveloped.

For example, near the end of the film, Rick is deciding what to do with the visas. The audience does not know until the end when his plan unfolds. Many other films would take the simple route of having Rick escape with Ilsa in a happy and expected ending. Instead, he says that he and Ilsa are no longer in love, and sends her off with Lazslo. He tells her "We'll always have Paris", suggesting they just keep the fond memories. Honestly, we cannot even be sure how true that is. Rick and Ilsa could still be in love, but Rick could have had a change of heart from his old attitude of "sticking his neck out for nobody". He may be leaving Ilsa so that Lazslo can continue his work against the war, a cause Rick now supports instead of remaining neutral. This also supports that Rick is the model for what an American man should be. In the end, he makes the noble decision, the selfless one, to help stop the global war instead of support his own interests. Like any good character, Rick also has an arc, and is a changed man by the end of the movie. In the flashback, we can see Rick smile and laugh, drinking with others, and generally acting very different from how he does in Casablanca. Obviously, he changes after Ilsa leaves, shutting himself out from the rest of the world or any relationships, and maintains the facade of the cold, calculating cafe owner. Once she returns, he seems to be returning to his old self, with personality and hopes, and he is no longer only out for himself. Characters that are this real and have this much depth are hard to come by, and I think Casablanca owes a large amount of its success to it. Things like the love triangle or the Paris backstory would be much less intriguing if everyone were two dimensional and made obvious and simple choices.

Casablanca

Casablanca, the iconic black and white film, started off as a failed playwright. The script was bought and turned into a low-budget film with very few costumes and mediocre actors, but somehow today it is often referred to as one of the "greatest films of all time". How did this happen? Why have audiences all over the world adored this movie? My guess is that we are all secretly suckers for love, one of the key themes in the film. The leading lady, Ilsa, is head over heels for two different men, Victor Laszlo and Rick Blaine. The story line of the love triangle creates an air of suspense because the audience doesn't know who Ilsa will choose. As viewers, we are forced to compare the two men and decide which one we think she should go with. Once we pick our favorite, it is hard not to get attached. Recent popular films such as The Hunger Games and Twilight also had love triangles, and the two movies became so successful because of their character fanbases. They always kept the audience in suspense as to which character the heroine would chose, so getting attached to the characters was inevitable. Another reason people were so drawn into the love affair was because it was calm compared to the chaos surrounding it. The setting of the movie was one involved in war and cruelty, which juxtaposed their love. If it was simply just a war movie it would be too harsh, while if it were simply a love story it would be too sappy. Casablanca is the perfect mix of these two plots. This film has been successful for so many years because of the theme of love. Whether the viewer has been in love, is in love, or wants to be in love, they can relate.

Since Casablanca is, in many ways, a study in American heroism, one could argue that Humphrey Bogart's character, Rick Blaine, is the idealistic man in our society. Rick ultimately sacrificed his happiness for Ilsa's when he let her board the plane with Victor. He also helped the young couple win money in his cafe so they could escape to America. Although he said he'd "never stick his neck out for nobody", he did both of those times. He also treats Sam and those who work for him with respect. Rick did let down a few people such as Ugarte and Ferrari, but both of those men were sleazy and just trying to use Rick. Rick knew the difference between someone trying to abuse his power versus someone who desperately needed help. If Rick is considered to be the idealistic male, would you consider Ilsa to be an idealistic woman in society?

Casablanca

Reaction To The End of Casablanca

After viewing Casablanca for the first time I can say with the utmost confidence that I was surprised at how it ended. Considering the fact that I have been exposed to the cheesy romance movies of the 21st century I expected Ilsa to leave Viktor at the airport. 

As it turns out I was wrong, Ilsa ends up leaving Rick at the airport and going with Laszlo to America. The way the movie was going I expected that once Ilsa realized how much she missed Rick she would end up staying with him. Especially during the scene where Ilsa is in Rick's office and they begin to kiss and reminisce about Paris. It seemed that Ilsa was leaning toward staying with Rick and letting Laszlo leave by himself.

Another part of the ending that surprised me was Renault. His character is portrayed as comical, and friendly guy. Though he was by the book. He followed orders and did whatever he could to find out who had the visas. To me he seemed like someone who if you betrayed you would regret it. It turns out I was wrong again. After Rick betrays Renault by pulling a gun on him and threatening him, Renault ends up saving Rick from the concentration camp. When Rick shoots Strasser and the soldiers ask who did this Renault says, "Round up the usual suspects".



Going into the movie I had low expectations. I heard a good amount about how it was a classic and a great film, but I didn't buy into the hype. I was wrong once again, a common theme throughout the movie. Casablanca exceeded my expectations massively.

Casablanca

When the young girl returns back to the screen during Casablanca after last being seen in the beginning, we hear about her desperate need to get to America, and the scandalous way she is going to do it. She continuous to describe her incredibly overwhelming love for her husband, and how some things just don’t need to be shared, if they were done to benefit a loved one.

At first, I thought this was symbolizing Ilsa and how in order to spare his feelings, she had to go back to Laszlo without telling him about what had happened while they were apart. However; after seeing the ending of the film I have changed my perspective. Rather than portraying Ilsa, I think that this girl’s story actually inspired Rick to think of his love ahead of himself. In the ending, Rick doesn’t tell Ilsa that she is going with him until the last minute, and I think this was inspired by the girl in the bar. He realizes that Ilsa, and everyone for that matter would end up safe in the end by following his plan, and he knew that that is what would make her happiest.

For what other reason would Rick send his love Ilsa away, if it weren't to have the best outcome?