On Citizen Kane

     The very beginning slowly goes reeling you into only the edges of Kane's personal territory. We are zoomed into a grand castle's window after seeing a " No Tresspassing" sign. This sign functions as the audience's announce to entering into the controversial, foggy, almost impenetrable persona of Charles Foster Kane. The eerie dark atmosphere commences the mystery that will continue for the rest of the film. The audience without even seeing the past relays of his life, gets to know that this man was a very powerful and influential one to his time. Maybe he even possessed more power than what he should have ever had. Only the director's techniques, like the interplay of shadow, matte paintings, and others apart from the actor's work, sets a very informative yet strange beginning that surely captures any viewer's eye.

      In the breakfast scene, the 'dissolve' transitions allow Mr. Bernstein's account of Mr. Kane's life with his first wife to be smoothly and flowingly portrayed in a manner that specifies their changing relationship through a series of mornings. All the mornings are similar, Mr. Kane at one side of the table and his wife at the other end, yet different in tones. The first mornings their relationship seems recently blossomed and all-around charming, however as time goes by it seems Mrs.Kane feels bothered by her husband's constant absence at other times and also by his immoral affairs as a leader  journalist magnifying stories of serious political issues. Through the progression of along time, showed only in a few minutes, they both get more distant, cold, and bitter with each other. The ending of the montage is adequately finalized with a zoom out of the table, marking the distance that has developed between them because of lack of true emotional connection. 

          The word Rosebud suggests nearly the opposite of all that defines Mr. Kane's mystifying hard exterior and cold, private persona.  When I think, of rosebud I think of the color pink of course, which reminds me of healthy and happy things, rosy childhood memories and such. This thought connects instantly with the literal meaning of rosebud, the sleigh he played with before being taken away from his home and submerged into the active, non-rosy, greedy, real world. The meaning of Rosebud makes me think that his childhood was his most beloved period, which was maybe the last in which he expressed raw emotion since he clearly did not want to be disrupted from his carefree childhood fun. 

    " Rosebud" also has a variety of different meetings that branch out from the aforementioned one. Kane's childhood is the only time when he lived at his potency, bring truly happy. When he is taken away of his home, his emotional security is exchanged by financial security and it turns out to not be that satisfying. Since "rosebud" is the essence of Kane's only fulfilling life moments in childhood, the word recurs through out the film further highlighting how Kane cannot relate or connect with his reality, and even with himself in the present. The snow globe that falls at his death links with the snow in which "Rosebud" was played with. The word is said at his death and then showed burning. If there were other more subtler references I guess maybe I was not attentive enough to notice them. 

     The ending of the film is quite satisfying as the circle of stories of Kane's life is concluded with the displacement of furniture in the Kane castle. The angle of this scene is very captivating since all of Kane's statues, luxurious furnitures and others resemble the view of an incredible city with skyscrapers. The city looks abandoned and lifeless just like Kane was with inner desolation, trapped inside his own luxurious possessions. The literal meaning of "Rosebud" is revealed which ignites other connections further disclosing little by little on Kane's character.

     I enjoyed seeing the film very much. The technical aspects do not particularly impress me themselves because these are very common in modern films. I do value this film is the cause of that; its technical and story-line innovations it brought transformative significance for the film industry in general. The story-line's theme deal a lot with the exterior influences, like money and social status and stigma, strong effect on the psyche of the raw individual. Aesthetically, it is very intriguing and even beautiful, the angles and light and juxtaposed shadow inter play do not cease to be striking and subtle at the same time. The film manages to combine casual, everyday scenes ( such as the breakfast one, although lavishly) and dramatic ones as well; not being too real, for it to lack entertainment, or too fantastic, or too active, as in with too much drama.

     I agree that we are not very aware of them, but I think its because were fairly used to them in modern films.I wonder if people when the saw the film at its release felt the same. As the statement says, modern films demand that we notice their special effects because most are not looking out for what is visually exciting.  Most, or some, I am not sure what the surveys would say, would seek for the substance, in other words, all the different things the film may express, and sometimes how these connect with the viewer's personal associations. In judging a film wholly, the content is what must impact or affect, emotionally even in some way the viewer.  Special effects are an addition to the medium, I don't feel they are to be the center of attention. For that, anyone person who knows the techniques could be admired.