The Point Of Citizen Kane
...Sixty years ago, a young energetic man, dared to take on a media tycoon who not only influenced but controlled peoples thoughts, opinions and values. This man was Orson Welles; he based his mockumentary on the life of William Randolph Hearst portraying the central character as a man, who was never satisfied emotionally, who longed for his mother love, whose life was determined and dictated by a moment in his childhood. The presentation of the film, in terms of psychoanalysis is rich and layered, never before has a film had so much to say about a man's life.
There are two critical scenes that are shaped around the satirical basis of Hearst . The Boarding House scene and the "News on the March" scene. The News on the March a newsreel, traditionally they are a short film commenting about current events. The use of the Newsreel was to allow the audience at the time to leave their world and to enter the world of dreams as Bates puts it. This created a deeper effect for the audience at the time. As you would all be aware during this time American tycoon Hearst was reigning his power and this movie is a satiric spin of life. Bates also commented the satiric nature of the attack on Hearst; ‘Writing Hearst's private nickname into the film is in part a "good old boys" joke'. As you would all know this private nickname was Rosebud. Kane the main character had a fetish to collect anything and everything, as the News on the March demonstrated his immense collections. Why did he collect so many things? Kane wanted love; he grew up with out a maternal figure, a love from a mother. Freud would say that if an individual does not find emotional satisfaction how can this individual mature? Welle's is ridiculing Hearst in a way that his childhood was robbed from him, that a man that has everything he wants can never buy his mothers love back. Buying everything and...
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