Citizen Kanes, essays

Citizen Kane's, essays The film Citizen Kane, by Orson Welles, creates its deep inner meaning by displaying its characters in numerous interrogations and situations from the past. Not only are we offered with an excellent use of lighting, cuts, and angles, but also a great use of the technique of time distortion. Since the film was made out of sync, we as the audience have the opportunity to piece the plot, theme, and characters together piece by piece. Once developed, Orson's strong theme can be understood. Interwoven in a lot of the scenes is the word "Rosebud". We are first introduced to it in the opening scene of the film. After the many eerie shots of Kane's mansion in Xanadu, we get a close up of Kane's rubbery lips as he utters his last word, "Rosebud..." Little do we know that this is the driving engine of the film. We our only left wondering what Kane meant in his last statement. It is this wonder and misunderstanding that draws the audience to the film which allows for Welles to develop his theme. He did this purposely because he knew that from that point on he'd have all of his audience's full attention. Discovering Rosebud's true meaning is a hunt all the way through the film. In one of the final shots of the film, it's finally revealed that Rosebud was the name of Kane's snow sled from his childhood. Seeing the sled burn reveals that Kane was one who lacked the happiness and love from his mother and father. Already knowing about Kane's rough past and pain filled life by means of the interviews, the audience is at last able to see the symbolism of Rosebud. As stated before, there are clues all throughout the film that lead up to the meaning behind Rosebud. In the projection room sequence, the word rosebud is mentioned when the editors speak about Kane's death, "What were the last words he said on earth? Thompson, you've made us a good short, but it needs character." It's interesting that Rawlsto ...