preview

Stop And Smell The Rosebuds Analysis

Decent Essays

Stop and Smell the Rosebuds Why are the homeless happy with nothing more than a sleeping bag and a loaf of bread while multi-millionaire celebrities are choosing to take their own lives? Orson Welles indirectly answers questions of this nature in his award-winning film Citizen Kane. The film follows the life of a man by the name of Charles Kane from his peak as an innocent boy to his rise in the newspaper industry and eventually to his ultimate deterioration. The story of Kane allows the audience to question ideas that hold beliefs such as that luxuries such as money and power are inevitably toxic in large quantities or that the temptation to seize instant gratification is a recipe for disaster. Welles explores the dark truth masked by Kane’s abundance of riches and possessions and exposes the downward spiral that characterized Kane’s career and life by incorporating specific narrative forms, carefully chosen camera techniques, and the perspective of other characters. Foremost, Welles draws a distinct contrast between Kane at his happiest and at his lowest by utilizing flashbacks to display him as both a cheerful boy in his youth and later an affluent yet grumpy grown man. From the very start of the film, the audience is introduced to Kane as a small child who has a big heart and a gift of great potential. By incorporating these flashbacks, …show more content…

One pivotal instance in which Welles effectively uses deep focus is during a flashback that takes place in Kane’s childhood home in which the audience can see Kane’s mother signing her son away to Thatcher while simultaneously young Kane is playing outside in the snow with no knowledge of what his future holds. This scene is deeply influential because it draws emotion from the audience, as people tend to feel tenderly toward

Get Access