Citizen Kane, Sarah Poeppel
Citizen Kane presents viewers with a
puzzling mystery of the life of Charles Kane.
Since Kane had been such a powerful newspaperman and politician, the
world became fascinated by his death, and the mystery that was Charles
Kane. Upon hearing Kane’s last word was
“Rosebud,” the media formed a slight obsession over finding out what exactly
Kane’s last word meant, believing that discovering the meaning of his last word
would reveal some great truth about Charles Kane. As the reporters get entwined in the mystery
of “Rosebud,” viewers also get mixed into the puzzle of Kane’s life. While the non-linear storytelling does add
some confusion to Citizen Kane, the
various filming techniques—lighting, editing, camera angles, etc—also add to
the overall puzzle that is both the film and Charles Kane. As the camera pans up over the ominous “No
Trespassing” sign on the Xanadu fence, viewers, of course, get the feeling they
are about to embark on a journey they are not necessarily supposed to be
on. The mysteriousness of Charles Kane,
and the way he kept to himself are emphasized by this sign and the foggy,
darkness of Xanadu. Beginning the film
with a sense that we as viewers are trespassing into Kane’s life, and while we
may think going behind the private fence will reveal something about who
Charles Kane really is; however, this is not necessarily the case.
Citizen
Kane presents viewers with two main themes or “lessons” by the conclusion
of the film. The first of these lessons
has to do with the acquisition of material goods and looking for love and
happiness in life, but the second lesson—which is explored in interesting
ways—is showing viewers how we can never truly know a person; instead, we are
only shown glimpses of people, certain aspects of their complete being
(Permenter). Although we as viewers
embark on this journey to discover Charles Kane and the meaning of “Rosebud”
along with the journalists, beyond hearing a dying Kane say “Rosebud,” we never
hear anything else from Kane himself.
All we learn about Kane comes from other people’s memories—people who
both loved and hated Kane throughout their relationships with him. Both audience members and the journalists in
the film may feel we slowly begin to uncover layers of who Kane was, but these
layers are only revealed by other people’s interpretations of who Kane was,
which only adds to the message that we do not necessarily ever know people as
well as we think we do. In our search for
the meaning of “Rosebud,” we discover some jaded views of who Kane was, but we
never get a true look into who he was
since all our interpretations of him come from people who knew him. At the very end of the film, the audience
gets a small glance at Kane and what was important to him, but even then this
insight is limited.
On top of the general mysterious
nature of Kane’s life, the filmmakers add more mystery through filming
techniques. It is very rare to see any
of the characters’ faces up close and fully lit up, since the filmmakers used
lighting as one of their main ways to keep viewers from knowing too much. Viewers never see Mr. Thompson’s face clearly
as he always remains in the shadows being a character that is heard but never
clearly seen, which could imply the power the media has over the public. Although Thompson was the one investigating
Kane, he remains just as much a mystery as Kane himself despite being a
relatively important character to the film.
The fact that he remains unseen relates directly to the unseen nature of
the media; there are people linked to the media—like Kane—who the public do see
frequently, but there are often many more people working behind the scenes to
investigate and write the stories who go completely unseen even though their
influence is felt by the public. This is
the sort of power Thompson has; he always remains in the shadows, and yet,
without him and the interviews he conducts, this story would not exist for
public consumption.
The lighting in Charles Kane’s
scenes adds another layer to the mystery and puzzle of his life. At the beginning of the film, a small light
in a window of his palace at Xanadu reflects Kane’s distinguishing life. Initially this light is on, but after Kane
dies, viewers watch as this light slowly fades until the window is completely
dark, signifying Kane’s death and a new scene in the film. As the flashbacks begin, viewers quickly see
a difference between the Kane’s youth and his older years not only because of
Kane’s appearance but also because of lighting.
In some of Kane’s more youthful scenes, he is often depicted in light
where viewers can clearly see his face, but as Kane becomes embittered, older,
and lonelier, the lighting changes to reflect the character change in Kane. Later on in life, Kane is kept in the shadows
with only a few shots where his face is lit to reveal an expression. This harsher lighting makes Kane more
mysterious, but it also adds to the sadness of his character. No one is allowed a clear look at who Kane is
any longer, because despite wanting love he does not know how to give it;
essentially, Kane’s “No Trespassing” sign has been taken from his “pleasure
palace” and been applied to Kane himself.
The sign is not only meant to scare off the public from entering
Xanadu’s grounds, but it has also become the reality of Kane’s personal
life. Kane no longer allows people to
“trespass” into his life in part because he fails at returning love to those in
his life. Kane’s story really is one of
how he lost everything despite his immense wealth.
The concluding lines of the film
are spoken by Mr. Thompson and really sum up the story very well. As Mr. Thompson says, “’Mr. Kane was a man
who got everything he wanted and then lost it.
Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn’t get, or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn’t have explained anything.
I don’t think any word can explain a man’s life. Well, I guess Rosebud is just
a piece of the jigsaw puzzle…a missing piece’” (Citizen Kane). As Mr.
Thompson says, Kane really did go through life acquiring every empty possession
he possibly could; he was a man who seemingly used his wealth to buy things to
fill the emptiness of his life and the love he was unwilling to give. In the end, it turns out that Rosebud was
both something Kane lost, and something he couldn’t get. He lost the happiness of his youth, and the
love his parents gave him by being taken in by Thatcher, but he was also never
able to get this sort of love and happiness back into his life. At any opportunity Kane had to be happy and
have love, he ended up losing it, just as he lost his childhood. Although it may be truly that “any word” can
explain a man, it turns out that “Rosebud” really does reveal something about Kane and his personal
longings. “Rosebud”—Kane’s youth—was something
that was always missing from Kane’s life; it really was a missing piece of his puzzle,
and one that he longed to have back, but never quite could.
Viewers do feel for Kane because of his
childhood and the way being essentially sold away from his parents could have
left him with psychological damage where he really did not know how to be truly
happy or give love instead of just taking it; however, it is difficult to feel
completely sorry for Mr. Kane when he does not seem to be a very good man based
on the opinions of others. Still, even
Susan feels sorry for Kane at the end of the film. Kane himself said that, “’…if I hadn’t been
born very rich, I might have been a really great man,’” which is seemingly true
considering he did originally appear to want to help the public by providing
them with the truth; unfortunately, longing for more love, and having so much
power and wealth got in Kane’s way of truly being happy (Citizen Kane). As Tim Dirks
writes in his review of Citizen Kane, “Kane’s
life was corrupted and ultimately self-destructed by a lust to fulfill the
American dream of success, fame, wealth, power, and immortality,” and he simply
realized too late—if at all—what it was that truly mattered to him: Rosebud, and
his childhood (4).
In the end, viewers are left with the
image of the “No Trespassing” sign once again, reestablishing the fact that we
are back at Xanadu, but this time we have already trespassed as much as we possibly
can as viewers, knowing even more than the media does about Kane’s life. As we leave Xanadu, we are still left with questions
surrounding both Kane and “Rosebud,” but we do know that Kane seemingly longed for
the love and happiness of his childhood, his parents, the little log cabin, the
snow, and his sled all of which are excellently signified in different ways throughout
the film.
