An Analysis of "Citizen Kane"

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes Orson Welles' film, "Citizen Kane", and describes the plot of the story and the personality of the main character in the film. The paper specifically focuses on Mrs. Kane's boarding house scene and how it affected the childhood of Charlie Kane, the main character in the film. The paper then describes how this four-minute scene displays Welles' artistic talent in an exceptional manner.

From the Paper:

"Orson Welles created a masterpiece in his film Citizen Kane and the four-minute scene of Mrs. Kane's Boarding House displays Welles' artistic talent in an exceptional manner while creating the image of Charles Kane as a happy, playful boy that becomes raged at everything about his new guardian, and leads to Kane being in a lifelong search of what he lost that day. Welles painted a canvas that showed how inspiring Charlie's mother was to Kane and that Charles was committed to being in control of his environment just as his mother was. The love and affection that was lost as boy from Kane's mother was sought after by the radiance that Charles demanded from his empire. Welles' depiction of Kane's childhood showed what Charles wanted to replace in his life as an adult by the wealth and empowerment gained. Through the uses of camera angles, character placement, sounds, and symbolism, Welles brought about the undiminished story of Charles Kane's life in this one scene. As Charlie's sled of security and love of his childhood lay alone, cold, and lifeless in the snow, he had much wealth and many people with him as his journey with Thatcher began. As Kane died an old man, he also was alone, cold and lifeless with great wealth and many people."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Citizen Kane. Dir. Orson Welles. Perf. Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Everett Sloane, Ray Collins, George Coulouris, Agnes Moorehead, Paul Stewart, Ruth Warrick, Erskine Sanford, William Alland. 1941. Videocassette. Turner, 1996.

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