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?
I completely agree with you when you say that Kane had to start his life too early and grew up too fast. He was given so much money from the gold that his family had found in a mine one day. He was interested to all of this money and had to figure out what he was going to make of his life. He had no real parental roles in his life although he had Thatcher, he wasn't much of anything other than a nuisance to Kane. I think that him growing up too fast may also be related to the fact that he had wives who either didn't love him or who he didn't love. I believe that this was significant because he really had nothing to love other than his beloved "Rosebud" because everything he did love was taken from him. So I think that being a child with a loving family is something that is important to have in every childhood. It doesn't necessarily have to be your immediate family, but someone who alt east loves and cares for you.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the final scene in which Rosebud was burnt was very powerful because the whole film lead up to this reveal. I think it was also really important that they were burning his "meaningless and worthless possessions", because it further reveals how his childhood was not worth anything. This was also shown when they had a flash forward from him leaving his home to "happy new year". They skipped right over his childhood which shows that he was not able to have a carefree youth.
ReplyDeleteI think you made good points about him being so troubled as an adult because his childhood was taken away from him. This makes me wonder what Kane would have been like if he had stayed with his parents. His mother gave him to Thatcher because she thought it would keep him safe from his abusive father. If Kane did stay and was constantly being attacked by his father, wouldn't that ruin his innocence as well?
I think this is a very interesting point and I agree with you. I think the sled was highlighted as something important as well to show his childhood. Another thing we discussed in class was how Kane got distracted with Susan on the way to go look through objects from the past (including the Sled). He tried to replace the sled with her instead of just realizing a younger women wasn't going to make him feel any younger. I don't think this was Kane struggling to find love but instead an inner conflict about him being able to love others.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you described how the sled was so intertwined with Kane's childhood and how that eventually shaped him as an adult. To answer your question, yes, I think his childhood absolutely had a huge impact on his decision making. A good example of these two ideas is his relationship with Susan and how he oftentimes treated her as if she was his child more than she was his wife. First off, he craved attention and status, two things he never really had as a child due to the lack of strong parental figures in his life. This is why he marries Emily, because of her status and power as the president's niece which fulfills his needs for these two feelings. Also it can be said that because he never really had a "proper" childhood, he almost acts like a parent to Susan because he never knew what it was like to have a parent so he feels as if it is her duty to be one to her.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Kane's childhood had a tremendous impact on his adult life and the person he became as a whole. Kane moving away from his parents forced him to mature, quicker than the average kid. He was placed in such a materialistic community where money meant everything. He was forced to lose his youth at such a fast pace where he was not emotionally ready to, and this lead to a lot of his problems later on, as we see his loneliness and lack of emotion for others. Childhood holds a tremendous impact on adulthood because it sets the stage for who you are going to be. Childhood is related to family, and family is everything. Since Kane didn't have a family, he never felt what it was like to be loved except from his two wives which in both cases, didn't end well. Slowly, we see Kane evolve from this innocent boy (When he was with his family), into the abusive, materialistic character.
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