Some ‘Citizen Kane’ in us all

Undoubtedly one reason why Orson Wells’ 1941 film ‘Citizen Kane’ is considered to be one of the best films of all time is due to the dramaturgy of Charles Foster Kane an American newspaper tycoon, portrayed by Wells, based on William Randolph Hearst.

The storyline invites the audience to look for clues as to what Kane’s’ final words on his deathbed “Rosebud” mean, as a newsreel producer searches for answers by talking to people Kane had associated with in his life, only to discover the answer lies in the smallest of details; the word is inscribed on a sledge Kane is playing with in his final moments of childhood.

As this childhood ends the dying begins, perhaps knowingly to Kane who as the protagonist seeks throughout to fulfil his desire to love himself. Alone, but the opposite of desolated visually, also suggests the need Kane has to feel surrounded and protected by the objects as well as lack of freedom in being tied down to owning and carrying so many pieces.

This use of staging in what Kane has at the end of his life mirrors eerily with the opinion of Bradshaw who writes that with the film we are left with “a pointilliste constellation of gleaming moments from which we can never quite stand far enough back to see the bigger picture in its entirety.”

Kane has more things than moments to enjoy so at no point does he have a view of the bigger picture of his life. His possessions are burned, including the sledge from his childhood, suggesting that key childhood memories are held on to for all our lives until, like us, becoming smoke and ash.

Kane serves as a mentor in his own life because he numbs emotional responses to his first wife and son dying which in the film we see no reaction of. He is playing the part of his own guide by being impulsive and charismatic like a grown up child. These elements are performed in aspects of our own lives to varying degrees and is why this dramaturgy stands the test of time.