A really intriguing aspect to Citizen Kane was the brief reference to communism in the beginning of the film. For whatever reason, it really stuck out for me while watching and interpreting the film. Taking this into consideration, the atmosphere of Citizen Kane, centered on the use of deep focus and skewed camera angles, could be reflective of communist paranoia and fear existing historical when the film was made. Allowing everything in the film to be in focus, possible symbolic meaning and importance could exist in every object. In this fear, society analyzed every detail in an attempt to find “truth”, much like the characters of the film search for the significance of “rosebud”, believing this will solve the mystery of Charles Foster Kane. The experience of the viewing audience is similar to that of the characters in the film. I found myself searching for clues in deep focus shots, trying to eliminate any insignificant visual details to discover reference to rosebud. Roses are prevalent in the film; when Susan marries Kane, one stage with Susan after a performance as well as in a vase next to Susan’s bedroom door, which the doctor brushes against as he exits in the scene when Susan overdoses. The search for truth, rosebud, doesn’t answer any of the questions brought up by the mystery of Kane. Trying to force importance into irrelevant detail to prove Kane to be a more dynamic character is much like how society at the time of this film and after tried to accuse people of being communists based one aspect of that person.
Thinking of Citizen Kane as suggested by the reading, a presentation of the problem, the mystery of Kane, instead of a solution is a compelling way to consider the film. This can lend another purpose for the “showy camera tricks” and dramatic lighting, to remind viewers that the reality presented is a construct created through memory. Perhaps Wells isn’t trying to answer questions, but instead leave us with an opened ended mystery that asks more questions than it answers. In this constructed reality, events no longer have to occur in a linear narrative, but instead events can stack on top of each other, which wouldn’t have been possible if Kane wasn’t dead.
The had a very postmodern feel to me and really reminded me of the novel The Crying of Lot 49, which involves a female protagonist’s search for truth in a mysterious post horn symbol. Anyone who enjoyed the film would be interested in the novel, which explores many of the concepts brought up by the film.
>>The search for truth, rosebud, doesn’t answer any of the questions brought up by the mystery of Kane.
ReplyDeleteYes, this is a very good point, and for the most part, I really like how you build up to this. I think you're right about the paranoid atmosphere created by the various cinematic techniques, and I'd have liked more about that. But you pull the reference to communism out of context, which weakens the force of your overall discussion. Kane was perceived, according to the fake newsreel, various as communist and fascist, everyman and rich predator. Were _any_ of these valid descriptions, and what do you make of the fact that the newsreel itself was a kind of fake-out on the audience?
More on why you see this as postmodern, and more of the reading would have given you a stronger framework for the very sharp observations you're making.