Citizen Cane
By: Tommy • Essay • 394 Words • March 10, 2010 • 781 Views
Citizen Cane
On his deathbed, Charles Foster Kane says a word in his last breath: Rosebud. The death of one of the great American newspaper icons has shocked the world, but what did he mean by his last word? A news agency sends reporter Jerry Thompson to investigate through Kane's life any trace of the meaning of that word. As Thompson plunges into the life of Kane, so do we, as we start from his beginnings as a kid when after discovering a gold mine, his parents literally abandon him by hiring a guardian and master financier Walter Parkes Thatcher. Kane and Thatcher both will bump heads when Kane reaches the age of 25 and decides to run a newspaper for fun, along with his school buddy Jedediah Leland. Kane gains popularity through his newspaper but at the same time starts losing
his soul as he indulges in several disastrous adventures including his relationship with "singer" Susan Alexander which pretty much ruins his marriage and his political career, his promoting of Susan, and the building of his high-priced castle Xanadu. In the end, he lost everything.
Welles uses every single trick in the book when it comes to lighting, set designs, cinematography and editing and does it all one better. He uses light and shadows to prelude and point out several points of the film (Declaration