Citizen Kane

- What is the film about? -

The main story of the film 'Citizen Kane' (1941) revolves around the character and life of Kane Foster, a man who we are told from the beginning has died. Throughout the film's runtime. we are shown important moments of Kane's life, his legacy left at the newspaper 'The Inquirer' and his family life, all shown through interviews with people who were close and/or important to him and his life story, with the main motivation of the reporters within the story being to find out what the significance of his last words were immediately before he passed away- this simply being the name "Rosebud".

- What is / what happens in the very first scene? -

The very first scene of the movie is quite a abstract one, showing us the death and last words as they are uttered by who we are later told is the late Kane Foster himself. The audience is shown many shots of the land, until Kane appears on a wheelchair, about to die. Once his last words are said, the snow globe being held in his hand is dropped and smashed on the ground below him, acting as a transition into a woman seemingly within the globe putting somebody to bed, who we can assume may be the body of Kane.

- What is / what happens in the second scene? -

The following scene is another one which does not take the form of a regular, linear scene structure, instead taking the form of what seems to be some sort of news report or documentary. This report in question is reporting on one particular story; Charles Foster Kane, the newspaper tycoon, has passed away. The voiceover from the report explains some details Kane's life and biggest, most notable life achievements, such as his newspaper company and when he ran for office, two things which will be touched on more in depth later in the movie. Kane's (apparently quite strange) funeral is also said to be taking place in Xanadu, a place which apparently held much importance to Kane and his life/

- What narrative structure does the film employ? -

'Citizen Kane' does not follow the regular narrative structure expected from most typical movies that are released nowadays. In particular, the movie decides to take the form of a 'non-linear' structure, showing the audience events out of order in terms of when they took place in the universe of the film's plot and story. From the start, we are told that Kane is dead, with scenes of his life then shown to us in a chronological order in between interviews that are conducted with people he knew or the news report at the beginning.

- How is the narrative presented to us (how do we get the information)? -

From the start, we are told that Kane is dead, with scenes of his life then shown to us in a chronological order in between interviews that are conducted by the reporters researching 'Rosebud' with people he knew or the news report at the very beginning. For each flashback scene, it goes deeper into the events of his life, starting by the questions that are asked by the reporters to the member of Kane's past that it is related to in some way, answered by them and brining on the flashback scenes to begin, none being shown from anyone's point of view in particular - other than Kane himself.

- List 8 main characters and briefly describe their age (estimate), gender, role in narrative and dramatic motivation -
- Charles Foster Kane, male, 60+, as of death, shown throughout the ages
- Walter Thatcher, guardian of Kane, previous owner of The Inquirer,
- Susan Alexander, female, woman Kane cheats with/2nd wife
- Mr Bernstein, 60+, male
- Jedediah Leland, 30+, male
- Emily Monroe Norton, female, Kane's 1st wife
- Reporter(s) - Mr Thompson,
- Mr Gettys, 60+, Male, Kane's running competition

- Which characters give us an insight into Kane’s life (whose accounts do we hear / see)? -

Throughout the movie, multiple characters from Kane's life are shown to us who are shown to be very important in shaping who he became as a person and why he became as such, what may have brought on certain decisions he made in his life and so on, most of which are noted above. However, only a few of them are brought into the 'present time' segment of the plot, in terms of them getting interviewed by the reporters and teaching us more about him. The characters who do are as follows: Walter Thatcher, Mr. Bernstein, Mr. Leland, Susan Alexander, and the house's butler, Raymond.

- “Rosebud” – at the end of today’s lesson, make a note of what you think Rosebud might be. Don’t worry about being right or wrong, it’s about your interpretation of the text.

Before watching this movie for the class, I had not yet seen it beforehand. However, I did have a guess of what 'Rosebud' may have been due to hearing it beforehand online, so was not able to make a proper guess based on the events of the movie unfortunately, instead going into it with the expectation of it being a sled from the beginning...

- “Rosebud” (after the full screening) what was Rosebud? -

Once the film was over, 'Rosebud' was shown to simply be a sled. We are shown this in the final scene of the movie, where people are sorting out Kane's possessions and throwing ones which they believe to be of no value into a fire, one of which ending up being a sled with the name 'Rosebud' printed on it.

- (After the full screening) in your opinion, what is the significance of Rosebud? -

Personally, I saw the significance of Rosebud as a symbol of his childhood. In particular, the sled is likely the one we saw him playing with in his front garden the day he got taken away from his family, changing his life forever and encouraging all of the events of his life from then on - some good, but some bad.