Charles Foster Kane, a media tycoon embarks on a career of yellow journalism presenting manipulative opinions and self-campaigns building unrealistically extravagant life, while controlling other’s.
General Review —
Wickedly censorious subject and an unimaginable visual dexterity. Citizen Kane marks the beginning of a new film era.
[SPOLIER!]
Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane is a story of licentious rise, and hollowing fall of a media tycoon Charles Foster Kane, situated in the New York City. A wonderfully constructed story, Citizen Kane is also the story of an American media baron, William Randolph Hearst Sr. who at his time acquired almost all the major media houses in USA, and embarked on the journey of Yellow Journalism highlighting unchecked, illegitimate news and sensationalised them for more readership and later for many personal reasons. The film very well explains how a single person can take control of the entire country just by manoeuvring the media, and how this very nature self-destroys a person to its ruin, left alone surrounded with an extravagantly stacked wealth.
Most relatable film to watch at times like today.
Character’s Eye —
After his exuberant education, Charles Foster Kane takes control of a media house, namely NewYork Inquirer with a clear agenda of changing the meaning of media and news from its core entirety. The ambition and the determination to accomplish itself corrupts his mind freeing him of all the ethical and professional boundaries, also bolstered up by his strong witty personality. In order to excel, he changes all the rules and decorum of this media house, firstly making it a 24 hours running news paper.
The unconditional support from his employees and the amount of money flowing under this mission blinds every person reading or working for the newspaper. This very fact motivates Kane to do more, thinking that the people are un-ignorantly getting benefitted by this lone venture. It simply blinds his gut. Consequently, Kane abruptly marries the then President’s niece, now sensationalising none other than himself, and his agendas. His attempts to pick on the president creates conflicts between him and his wife, indirectly inciting him to grow more and criticise more. He takes control of around 30 major media houses all around the USA.
The first point where his eternal ego takes form of obsession, compulsion and bitterness is when his wife divorce him on his scandalous affair with an unambitious opera singer, since it also becomes the reason for his defeat in the NYC governor’s election. He marries the singer immediately.
He marries the singer, builds an opera house for her to perform, and vents out his egocentric anger through this new mission of sensationalising his new wife’s talent, despite her disinclination towards all of it. Kane uses all his power to make it happen, taking the repercussions on his ego as in, how dare people think, and have a judgement of their own. Ultimately, His wife’s suicide attempt makes him realise that he has failed in it, and so he builds the most lavish palace to host people from all around the world, to experience an unimaginable hospitality while falling into its loneliness, like a dark core of shiny falling star.
Kane’s wife leaves the palace, abandoning him alone with his broken heart and absolutely no humanly wealth. He dies, recalling his favourite sled, he used to play with in his hometown, during his childhood. The word Rosebud, written on that very sled came out to be the most sensational news of the month as it was the last word uttered by Mr. Charles Foster Kane, the King of Journalism, which ultimately turns out to be as one useless piece news to get hooked on, like all his other news.
Director’s Eye —
“If the headline is big enough, it makes the news big enough.” — Charles F. Kane.
Orson Welles in 1940 was given a chance that every filmmaker must have dreamt of being fortuned of everyday. The RKO studios offered him a budget of around 800,000$ over complete art, crew and financial freedom to create a film on any subject he wishes to. Orson Welles spilled this opportunity over many and firstly hired Herman J. Mankiewicz, an alcoholic but glorious writer to screenplay a film on any subject he wishes to. Mank, who’d initially written great films and plays like The Wizard of Oz chose none other than his sophisticated dinner friend and media tycoon, William Randolph Hearst as his protagonist and wrote a quasi-biographical film, the first of its kind in 1940.
The making of this film witnessed one of the most artistic methods used in the history of cinema. The use of lights and shadow to emphasise the visual appearance, to bolster up actor’s emotions and to create a greater than life character in an extravagant set was unprecedented. Extreme camera angles, from scooped up grounds or from above the roof, use of lights in every roof of every building, transient flow of non-diegetic sound shows how patient-fully, artistically and perfectly this film has been created. The film won the best screenplay award in the 14th Academy Awards.
Watch Closely —
In the last scene, the stacked up wealth in Xanadu is done using miniatures. Also, In many scenes, two different reels are overlapped to create a surreal experience for the characters, like dream sequence or flashbacks. The film talks about Yellow Journalism which now has become a norm in the world of journalism. Citizen Kane has since then been considered as one of the finest film this world has ever seen.
This analysis has been done keeping the critics unstained of media and critique bisases. If you wish to read more, visit the official website of Unfilmy.
