"Citizen Kane"

Film Review # 105305

Film > Analysis, Criticism, Etc.

"Citizen Kane"

An analysis of the techniques used in the film "Citizen Kane" by Orson Welles

1,128 words () | 5 sources | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses the film "Citizen Kane" by Orson Welles and analyzes its style and structure. The paper shows how the various elements used in telling this story contribute to its symbolism while centering on the mystery of the nature of Kane's character.

From the Paper:

"Citizen Kane is a rich film in which one can find a wide variety of American values reflected or subverted in the actions of Kane and others in the film. The film also reflects a sense of the history of this country in the first four decades of this century, a period of change in the economic and political realms embodied in the changes in Charles Foster Kane himself. He begins as an idealist in the American mold, a man who wants his newspaper not merely to report the news but to provide a forum for the truth. However, this entails the accumulation of a good deal of power, and the growth of this power becomes a rationale for trying not merely to report the news but to make it."

Sample of Sources Used:

Cook, David A. A History of Narrative Film. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996.
Bordwell, David, Jan Staiger, and Kristin Thompson. The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style & Mode of Production to 1960. London: Routledge, 1988
Howard, William K. The Power and the Glory. Paramount Pictures, 1933.
"The Power and the Glory." TV Guide Online - Movie Database. http://www.tvguide.com/movies/database/ShowMovie.asp?MI=10992.
Welles, Orson. Citizen Kane. RKO-Radio Pictures, 1940.