Orson Wells Citizen Kane (1941), is remembered as one of the greatest American films to be made. Its’ revolutionary story line and its new ideas that Orson Welles introduces in the film is what sets it apart from other films created at the time. The film depicts a young man, Charles Kane, who grew up wealthy and who eventually owns a newspaper. Throughout the movie, as hr grows more wealthy and powerful as he ages, he exhibits a distinct weakness that eventually leads to his downfall. Although the Social Network isn’t as famous or as well-known as Citizen Kane, it represents the same idea. In this film a young man, Mark Zuckerberg, who innovates a website that over the course of the movie gains popularity and support, which leads him to …show more content…
The definition of pride goeth before a fall is a display over overconfidence and arrogance that will lead to the eventual fall. Then people don’t display empathy empathy because of the previous confidence and arrogance.() In the case of both films, this definition would not be considered accurate. In both films, the character who was most affected felt empathetic about the downfall of the protagonist. In Citizen Kane, the character who was most affected by Charles Kane’s pride was his second wife, Susan Kane. Evidently, she was affected most by his pride, but she also contributed to his downfall. Charles Kane forced her to become a opera star when she didn’t want to, he did this so he could manipulate the public opinion of himself. Similarly he previously used his newspaper and his political campaign to accomplish the same thing. At one point in the film, Susan Kane attempted suicide rather to continue to sing. The main reason she wanted to stop performing was because of the bad reviews that she continued to get, she also didn’t enjoy singing to begin with, and especially being on a stage with hundreds of people watching her. After Charles Kane dies she was shown as poor alcoholic who owned an establishment named El Rancho. (14.31) In this scene it is shown that time has not treated her well, her face shows the years of hardships she has endured with many wrinkles and blemishes. She was sobbing with
The film was made in 1941 and won best screenplay at the Oscars and was also nominated for best picture, best director, best actor and best cinematography. It was directed by Orsen Welles and its main actors were Joseph Cotten , Dorothy Comingore and Agnes Moorehead. The film has aged incredibly in the last 75 years from its release and has defined film in how good it really was. Citizen Kane changed the way movies are made because it became the starting point for many filmmakers first learning about how films are made and how a director can give a film a particular style. The editing (by Robert Wise) was as innovative as the cinematography by Gregg Toland - add these two talents to the talent of director Orson Welles not knowing how to direct properly and you have stylistic flourishes and a film that still impresses today. It didn't immediately change how movies were made citizen Kane was actually a somewhat forgotten film for several years until it was rediscovered in the late 50s - but it was definitely ground-breaking and many of the techniques used were copied and used by later directors.
Citizen Kane has long been regarded as a cinematic masterpiece and one of the greatest movies ever made. One look at the scene “Thatcher Taking Young Charles”, and you can see exactly why. The storytelling style of this film is a “successful fusion of the flashier devices of 1930s films, and techniques adapted from radio, theater, and prose narrative. “There is pro not a single device in Citizen Kane that cannot be found in earlier films, but Citizen Kane synthesizes elements of various traditions in a totally original way.” (Carringer,1978) This sequence makes use of various cinematic techniques to employ the auteur’s narrative.
Since the beginning of the Industrial Age, Americans have idealized the journey towards economic success. One thing people do not realize, however, is that that journey is not the same for every individual. For Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles), the main character of Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles, the path towards riches and a fulfilled life is being well liked. He serves to please others. He strives for that attention. This view cost him his happiness in the end. In this man’s rise and fall through prosperity, Welles shows the futility of striving solely for likeability.
The movie “Social Network” is about the ideas and the development behind the creation of the very popular social networking site “Facebook”. Mark Zuckerberg is the main character in the movie and also the actual creator of Facebook.
Charles' selfish pride is depicted in a group of cuts with his new wife Emily.
The scene we’re analyzing starts off with a shot of the New York Daily Inquirer. It’s a close shot, taking up the entire screen. I feel this close up is to show the viewer that the newspaper company is going to be the primary focal point for Kane, and his two partners at this point in the film. After the close up, the camera pans down to show Kane and Leland sitting in a car looking up at the building. Kane says “Take a good look at it Jedidiah, it’s going to look a lot different one of these days.” Despite the look on Kane’s face being one of optimism and promise, this statement gives leeway to all of the bad things to follow. Kane specifically says, “look a lot different” as opposed to anything else (i.e.
Mr. Kane exclaims, “I can fight this all alone…I’m Charles Foster Kane! I’m no cheap crooked politician trying to save himself from the consequences.” (Citizen Kane) Though Mr. Kane was by no means a perfect character, up until this point he could be viewed as the “good”, slightly above average, citizen. But as this scene plays out, he begins to show his darker side to the audience.
At the end the film we are visually told a strong message that a man isn’t necessarily the sum of his achievements, possessions, or actions, but that something deeper must drive him. Kane was more than his public accomplishments is the last word Kane uttered: “Rosebud.” Kane’s life story unfolds in layers through the reporter Thompson's investigation and is told by a succession of people who were close to him. Kane never gets to tell his own life story, and we must wonder how much his telling of it would differ from the reminiscences of his associates. None of these people ever really knew what drove Kane to do the things he did. Only Thatcher would have had the chance to fully understand Kane, but he was too concerned with making money to have any compassion for a lonely child. He viewed Kane through a distant, mature lens of acquisition and conservatism. The differing perspectives on Kane’s life, especially in the absence of Kane’s own point of view, force us to question what was truly important in the life of Charles Foster Kane as well as to ponder what constitutes a life in general. Judging by Kane's last word, the most important pieces of his life were not the things that made him newsworthy, such as his newspaper successes and political ambitions, nor his friendships and associations. Instead, as Kane's life comes to an end, he grasps at a memory from his
When discussing the greatest films of all time, Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles, usually comes up. It’s influence in American cinema can still be felt today, but at the time the film was not released without controversy. The main character in the movie, Charles Foster Kane, is undeniably based of the real life figure of William Randolph Hearst, a famous American newspaper publisher. Hearst was very aware of this fact and tried to hinder the success of Welles’ picture by denying it any sort of press in his newspapers. Despite the smear campaign Kane’s influence lives on through Welles’ revolutionary filmic techniques and its presence in pop culture.
There are many reasons as to why Citizen Kane has been lauded as one of the best, if not the best, film of all time. Orson Welles's Citizen Kane has had a lasting impact on cinema and continues to influence directors to this day. Visually striking, Citizen Kane helped to usher in a new era of cinema through its innovative techniques and use of mise-en-scene.
Citizen Kane is set at a time in American History where the world is changing and money is at the center of that world. For example, during this period of time wealth has become more important in America has more new money arrives. Kane is a part of this new money sweep across America and like everyone else is stretching his power and wealth. He stretches it so much that he loses sight of his objection, which is replaced by his obsession to be in control and make all the decisions, a power which he finds through wealth. But it is because of this obsession that his idealistic world is corrupted. Furthermore, the film revolves most around a newspaper. A newspaper reaches everyone and during this time one of the only few mass media. It is through the newspaper that Kane stretches his wealth and influence. He is corrupted by the power that the newspaper gives him. In addition, Kane is constantly surrounded by beautiful things and people, until the end of the movie when
Citizen Kane brought the aspects of a newspaper tycoon in the 1940’s to life in a form of a dramatic narrative. This film is based on a true story of a newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst and based off of some aspects of Orson Welles(Writer and Director). This filmed has been named, “The best American film of all time” due to the fact that, during the time of its making, it was the first film to take on many new techniques of cinematography. Citizen Kane is a revolutionary film not only in the drama genre, but in filmmaking of all forms.
To help create his debut film Citizen Kane, Orson Welles assembled a talented group of artists and technicians who together produced a film that redefined cinema forever. During the film’s production process, Welles himself stated that making a film “is the biggest electric train set any boy ever had.” By this he meant that the production studio was his playground and he intended to use every tool at his disposal. Starting from the film’s very first shot; he proves this to be true. As the film begins, the camera silently cranes up over the fences that surround Charles Foster Kane’s mansion and then slowly transitions to a montage of palatial estate. In this unique sequence the viewer understands that they are watching no ordinary film! Since its release in 1941, Citizen Kane consistently is called one of the greatest films ever made. It also is one of the most analyzed films ever created as well. In watching the film, a person can select from a countless number of famous scenes on which to review, comment, admire, and draw conclusions. For this assignment, I chose my personal favorite scene from the film to analyze in depth. The scene occurs near the end of the film just as Kane’s second wife Susan Alexander leaves him for good. The scene lasts about 3 and a half minutes in length, consists of 12 shots, contains almost no music, and just one word of dialogue is spoken. However, even with these limitations, the scene has more impact and film techniques packed into it
I believe that the author portrays Charles Kane as sort of an evil man through the things he does, but shows that Kane doesn’t realize how he is behaving is wrong. One example of this would be how he ran his newspaper company the New York Inquirer (Citizen Kane). He presented the news in the best way possible to get as many people as he could to read it. Even if he had to lie a little bit in the title or in the actual stories, all he cared about was being everyone’s main source of news. This however was the opposite of what he originally wanted to do which was to present only honest and true news. One time he lied about the news was in relation to his second wife Susan Alexander. She was not a very skilled opera singer as told by the
Why does Charles Foster Kane force Susan Alexander to become an Opera Singer? Why is it so important to him? Kane’s friend Leland states that Kane always has something to prove it is also evident that throughout the movie Kane wants to be loved by the public; when Jim Gettys made it possible for the press to make public that Kane was having an affair the press called the mistress a “singer” as opposed to singer. Kane set out to make his lover Susan into an opera singer because this is to him the only way to recuperate from the scandal and to justify his relationship with Susan. Kane goes as far as to build a theater for Susan to perform in, Susan protested many times due to the bad reviews she was receiving, but Kane was hungry for public attention; Kane put his wife through various lessons and shows to make the public recognize his wife as a singer. We can also see that Kane might also enjoy his wife’s performances, as it is shown that often times he is left as the only person applauding Susan’s performances. The only way Kane was convinced to end Susan’s career was through her suicide attempt but even then he tried to convince her that she needs to fight for the approval of the people, which of course Susan declined.