Analyzing Orson Welles Film, Citizen Kane

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Citizen Kane is an American film directed by Orson Welles, where the audience learns about the life of a man who went from being a journalist to a newspaper tycoon hungry for power. The man, Charles Foster Kane, is first shown at the beginning of the film where he is at the end stages of his life. Mr. Kane as he breathes his last breath says the word "Rosebud" and drops a snow globe to crash on the floor. This scene sets the mood of a very mysterious atmosphere and raises the question as to who this person is exactly and what his last words meant. From there on out, the audience follows a reporter, Mr. Thompson, as he tries to find out the meaning of Kane's last word by interviewing people that knew him. Through his interviews with these other…show more content…
At this point, his power is at his peak due to his ability to use his newspaper company to fully manipulate the public. This high profile presence in the media, however, means that when his affair is discovered, his political downfall is immediate and severe. In addition to this, this was also the part where his self absorbed personality started to come out more drastically. In the beginning of the story, he was an idealistic journalist always looking for the truth and serving the people. However as he built up his newspaper company he started to become more controlling and power hungry which was the cause of his own downfall. Everything Kane did was for him and no one else but himself because that's what was important. It was what people could do for him and not the other way around. The main significance that comes from this is that this mentality was the reason that he could never form a lasting bond with anyone. Kane had all this power and wealth and instead of using it for a good cause or good deeds, all he did was try to buy the love of other people or abuse his power to make people just as depressed as he was. The point that this brings up is that the idea of the American Dream doesn't entail all that it's cracked up to be. Kane had all the money and power he could ever need, but one thing he could never buy was genuine
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