Citizen Kane Analysis

Citizen Kane (1941), directed by Orson Welles, draws extensively upon the ethos of the American Dream and the pursuit of happiness to explore the human condition. The film is a fictionalized version of William Randolph Hearst, it’s this towering central character that gives the film its air of significance as well as its continuingrelevance as the parallels with Citizen Murdoch, Citizen Trump and Citizen Jobs are easy to spot. Most saliently, the film’s enduring value and timeless nature can be attributed to its ability to explore three universal concepts: the emptiness of wealth, the corrupting nature of power and the necessity of love.

Welles explored how an obsessive thirst for material wealth diminishes the holistic pursuit of happiness, leading to emptiness and disillusion. Kane’s achievement of the American Dream is emblematic of the United States as it overcame the Great Depression (1929-1941) through its entry into WW2, resulting in increased optimism and economic progress. This is evident for Kane, via the faux news montage sequence of “News on the Marche” depicting the chronology of Kane’s empire.

However, despite his great wealth, kane dies lonely and isolated, with a recurring symbolism of entrapment established in the opening scenes by ominous, non diegetic music as the camera zooms in and pans over a “No Trespassing” sign. A quick cut to Kane’s last word,” Rosebud”, a synecdoche for the joy of a childhood untainted by a pursuit of material wealth, also symbolizes an eternal winter, emphasizing the metaphorical coldness of the adult Kane’s heart, starved of human bonds.

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Furthermore, following his second wife Susan’s departure, welles frames kane in a mise-en-abyme in which double mirrors reflect an infinite sequence of diminishing kanes, visually manifesting his entrapment in the flawed ethos of the American dream. We, as the audience come to understand that underneath his vast material wealth, …

Citizen Kane Summary