Citizen Kane is often considered one of the renowned movies of all time. At first I was quite skeptical of this claim. I had never seen the movie, but I had heard a lot about it from many people. When I read the synopsis of the movie, I was not impressed. It honestly seemed very dry and boring, which is not the type of movie that should be revered amongst other films. At first when I watched the movie, it seemed like my expectations of Citizen Kane were coming true, just as I had predicated. The movie was long, and I found the plot boring rather quickly. It wasn’t until our class discussion that I realized the movie’s merit; Citizen Kane is actually amazingly well done. The more we discussed the details of the narrative development, the more the film drew me in. Together, my classmates and I brought up multiple interesting plot points, camera angles, metaphors, scene set ups/dynamics and engaging character roles that brought to light Orson Wells’ cinematic creativity.
Wells has mastered many cinematic tools, which is reflected throughout Citizen Kane. He effectively uses a journalistic approach to tellthe story of Charles Kane. Wells also is able to convey many symbols and metaphors subtly throughout the film that can be easily overlooked by many viewers. Citizen Kane effectively conveys many of the points that Timothy Garrand (author of Writing for Multimedia and the Web) claims are important for a successful script for a movie. Garrand says a scriptwriter should focus on about seven points, “Showing, not telling…Structure…Interactivity and chunking…Setup…Characterization…Conflict…and Cost” (35-36). Wells most effectively uses the “showing, not telling” technique in Citizen Kane. There are two scenes in particular that effectively use these elements; each helps make the film deeper.
The first scene was the one that occurred in the snow during Kane’s childhood. In this scene, Mr. Thatcher and Kane’s parents discuss Kane’s future while he plays in the snow. There are many cinematic elements that are being used in this scene to give the viewer a deeper insight into Kane’s childhood and foreshadow later events in his life. This scene in particular follows Garrands’ movie script tips. One cinematic element used is the body positioning of the characters. The fact that Kane’s mother is depicted standing in front of the father shows that she is the more authoritative figure the family in that time. Also, by depicting young Kane playing in the snow not only shows Kane’s innocence before he is thrown into the adult world but also the loneliness he will sufferer through for the rest of his life. Kane is literally framed in the window as he plays in the snow, which represents the life that he will soon be trapped within. This idea of being trapped is a theme that follows Charles throughout the rest of his time in the film.
The second important scene was where Kane speaks his last words. This scene was one of the most important scenes for the symbolic portion of the film. There is only one word uttered throughout the whole scene, “Rosebud”. Kane is holding a snow globe that has a miniature snow-covered house within the glass orb. You find out later in the film, “Rosebud” was actually a sled. Both Rosebud and the snow globe relate back to the scene mentioned above when Kane was child playing in the snow. Charles was remembering a time before his life became a lonely and cold place.
The traits of a good movie (as told by Timothy Garrand) are obviously used and very effective in Citizen Kane. If Orson Wells had decided not to use and of these cinematic techniques, the film may not have popular or renowned as it is in today’s society.
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