Orson Welles Citizen Kane Film Analysis

An in depth analysis of Orson Welles Citizen Kane.

Amanda Pabon
Report of “Citizen Kane” 
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Art and History of Film
Rutgers University-Newark

Report of Orson Welles “Citizen Kane”

Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane is a biographical fictional film loosely based on the life of William Randolph Hearst, one of the most notable newspaper tycoons in history.[1] The story follows Charles Foster Kane, a well-known media figure in the film’s world. His life story and rise to power is told through flashbacks in innovative ways such as editing transitions, newspaper article clippings, and sound elements. The story begins with Kane’s death where he utters the word, “Rosebud.” It is dawned a mystery and throughout the whole film there are several interviews with some of Kane’s peers, colleagues, servants, and ex-wife to uncover what Rosebud means. This narrative is told in a nonlinear fashion rather than a normal chronological film. As viewers, we try to piece together the contents of Mr. Kane’s life and encounters as well as try to interpret what Rosebud could have meant.

There is not one omniscient (all knowing) narrator in this film. After Kane dies, viewers are launched into a news segment detailing Charles Foster Kane’s life and accomplishments. There is narration in this, tricking viewers into thinking that this film could go into a documentary/news segment like style, as if there is an omniscient narrator. We are objectively given the facts about Charles Foster Kane through snippets and clips the news organization gathered. We are launched out of this segment when we see a group of news reporters who viewed the preview of this news segment they plan to release. Throughout the rest of the film, several characters are interviewed which changes who narrates the story of Charles Foster Kane. The creativity and richness of this film would be otherwise lost if a narrator did a voice-over throughout the whole film.

Themes in Citizen Kane include wealth, power, love, and social class. Wealth is a predominant theme Welles presents because of how we see Charles live. He dresses nicely, lives in a palace, and walks around with a certain pride because of how successful he is. Power is another pivotal theme because Charles is consumed with power and lets it affect him. Charles has a power struggle with Emily and Susan because they challenge him in a way that makes him feel like he needs to over exert his power. They challenge him by arguing with him, trying to exert their own voice, and Charles resents them for not giving him what he wants"a dutiful wife that just showers him with love with no complaints. Love is also present because Charles does not seem to grasp what healthy love is due to his abandonment issues. He wants to be loved yet does not know how to express it and tries to buy love from people. Society and class are shown through how society reveres Mr. Kane as some big celebrity and how he is a “friend of the working man.” Kane’s whole government campaign relied on his connection to the working class, yet he harbors a savior trope that only comes off as slightly condescending.

The main characters in Citizen Kane are: Charlie Kane, Jerry Thompson, Mr. Bernstein, Jedidah Leland, and Susan Alexander. Charles Foster Kane is the protagonist, a wealthy newspaper publisher who the movie revolves around. Kane’s rough childhood molds him into a rough, arrogant man. Jerry Thompson is the interviewer of each of the characters connected to Mr. Kane, but we usually don’t see him fully or have any backstory. He is an embodiment of our experience when watching this film, because he too wants to figure out from the source what “rosebud” meant. Mr. Bernstein is Kane’s friend and employee. He seems to overlook any of Kane’s flaws and he is a constant loyal friend to Charles. Jedidiah Leland is Charles Kane’s friend and colleague who was the first reporter on Kane’s paper. Their friendship and working relationship work smoothly at first, but when Leland writes a negative review about Kane’s current wife at the time, Susan, he fires Leland. Susan Alexander Kane is Charles’s second wife, and a singer. They start off soft and kind but as Susan becomes more lonely and pressured by Charles to pursue opera, their honeymoon phase deteriorates into an unhealthy manipulative relationship that she is forced to leave.

The supporting characters in this film are: Mary Kane, Jim Kane, Emily Munroe-Kane, and Walter Thatcher. Mary Kane is Charles’s mother who gives him away to live a “better” life where he could become successful. In the flashback where Charles is given away to Mr. Thatcher, Mary looks distant, cold, and virtually expressionless. Charles resents her since that moment.  Jim Kane is Charles’ father who seems conflicted in the flashback when Charles was given away. He seems outraged that his wife wants to give away their child yet feels he will benefit from it financially. He shows more emotion than his wife. Emily Kane is Charles’s first wife and daughter of President Monroe. Charles married her for the connections but their marriage goes sour due to his incapability to love in a healthy way. An interesting thing about Emily is when she and Charles’s relationship goes sour, it is depicted through a very well-constructed montage of breakfast scenes through the years. It starts off happy and well, then slowly deteriorates when arguments arise, up until the point that they do not speak at all. Walter Thatcher is the wealthy banker who becomes Charles’s legal guardian in the flashback. As years go by, Thatcher does his best with Charles, but Charles goes into the newspaper business to spite Thatcher personally attacking banking trusts. Thatcher never gets a chance to bond with Kane.

The point of view of this story is told through the camera. The camera is showing everything and we are constant observers of the action on screen. We see Kane’s life not by Kane himself, or told by Kane himself, but through his interactions with other people. Interviews and flashbacks of encounters Kane had with other has dealt with all contribute to how us viewers can perceive Kane. We make our own assumptions based on what is given to us visually rather than an opinionated view if there were a narrator involved telling us the story.

Sound plays a key role in Citizen Kane because we are brought into the film’s diegesis (world) through these elements. Original score further progresses the story. The music changes tempo and beat in certain scenes and evokes a specific mood. A specific instance is after the melancholy music during Kane’s death scene, the music abruptly changes to a lively tune for the “News on the March” sequence. This is a good example of how music plays as a transition to progress the story. Another sound element is ambient noise and in some cases the lack of it. For example, when Kane dies, music overshadows everything else, and normally we would hear a glass shatter when Charles drops the snow globe. The lack of ambient noise for this scene heightens the intensity of this death. An example of where ambient noise is present is when we are introduced to Susan Alexander and the sound of thunder with an image flashing on the screen from black to the image on a rainy night acts as a transition into seeing the poster of Susan. Then, there is a crane shot that reveals Susan at the nightclub she was in. This ambient noise works effectively to transition us into this scene. Sound works both as transitional and a way to evoke a mood in this film.

 

---

[1] “Citizen Kane,” (Accessed 6 March 2017)

Author's Note

This is meant to serve as a sort of portfolio for my film analysis writing. I want to be able to review films someday.