Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Exposing Citizen Kane

After viewing Citizen Kane for the second time, I was able to pay attention to more details than I was able to during the first viewing. Already knowing what "rosebud" meant gave me a chance to pay attention to the journalistic aspects of Citizen Kane.
Kane appears to be a man obsessed with control. Since he was was given away by his mother as a child, it seems like he has been desperately trying to regain control over his life, which has led him to behave in a selfish manner, and put his own needs before the needs of others in his life.
When he first enters the office of the Inquirer, he immediately takes control of the office. He sends orders, and makes promises. He seeks to make all other papers obsolete compared to the Inquirer so that he can control the news.
The second example of journalistic control in Kane is when he abuses his power at the Chicago Inquirer. He throws his best friend, Jeb, to the side when he fires him for writing a bad review of Kane's wife, Susan, and her singing performance. Kane can not loose control of his writers. He writes the review himself. Though he wrote the review from Jeb's negative point of view, he seemed to be shaking with fury knowing that he was loosing control in Jeb's office as Mr. Berstien read the review to him.

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