Certified Secondary English/Language Teacher B.S.Ed Secondary Education & English; M.Ed. Education Administration; Ed.S. Education Administration
Citizen Kane is the story of the life of the fictional newspaper magnate, Charles Foster Kane. The movie begins as Kane dies while holding a snow globe. Just before his death whispers one word, ''Rosebud,''. As newsrooms are deciding how to present the life and death of Charles Foster Kane, one newsroom has chosen to focus on that one word to reveal Kane's true character. A reporter is sent out to interview acquaintances of Kane's to uncover the story behind Kane's last word.
The reporter is followed as he interviews Kane's ex-wife, Susan, and Kane's childhood guardian, Thatcher. Thatcher has passed away, but the reporter is given access to his memoirs. These writings provide a flashback to Kane's youth. This memoir describes the first time Thatcher met Mary Kane, Charles Foster Kane's mother. Mary owns a boarding house in Colorado, and had accepted payment from a tenet in the form of stock in a gold mine. Thatcher called on Mary Kane to inform her that the stock listed in her name had made her extremely wealthy. Mary Kane chooses to send the young Kane to live with Thatcher. Kane is upset by these events and strikes Thatcher with the sled he has been playing on in the snow since Thatcher's arrival.
The next time the audience sees Kane, he is older and has bought the New York Inquirer, a small newspaper. Kane remains under the advisement of the same banker from his youth who met with his mother. The banker and Kane rarely agree on how to invest Kane's large inheritance. The newspaper is no exception. As the Inquirer grows in circulation, so does Kane's popularity. He eventually lures the writing staff from the most successful newspaper in New York and expands the Inquirer across the country. With the help of a college friend, Jedediah Leland, and the newspaper manager, Mr. Bernstein, Kane grows into a larger-than-life celebrity in New York, even entering into politics after marrying Emily Kane, the niece of the current President of the United States, President Monroe.
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While campaigning for governor, Kane, a married man, is caught in an inappropriate relationship with a lounge singer, Susan. Kane refuses to end the relationship with her leading to a divorce from Emily and a loss at the polls. Eventually, Kane marries Susan and pushes her to become a renowned opera singer. He believes she is talented and becomes obsessed with everyone else seeing Susan the way he sees her. This pressure leads to Susan's attempted suicide. The two leave the city and build an oasis on nearly 50,000 acres in Florida, where Kane constructs his castle, Xanadu. Susan misses the social activities of New York and tired of remaining isolated in Xanadu. Frustrated with Kane's inability to truly give her anything in their life together, Susan leaves Kane. He erupts in anger and finds a snow globe that reminds him of his early years in Colorado and he whispers the word '' Rosebud.''
While interviewing the butler of Xanadu, the reporter learns of the only other time that Kane breathed the word Rosebud. As the reporter is leaving Xanadu, convinced that he will never uncover the mystery behind the word, some of Kane's lesser valued belongings are being placed into a fire. One of those items is the sled that Kane was playing on in Colorado the day that Thatcher visited his mother. The word emblazoned across the sled is Rosebud.
The cast of Citizen Kane is comprised of multiple major and minor characters.
Citizen Kane was released to theaters in 1941. Before its release, there was significant controversy surrounding the film, specifically the parallels between Charles Foster Kane and newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. To avoid anyone offset from learning of details depicted in the film, Orson Welles, the lead actor and director of Citizen Kane, demanded that the crew maintain a closed set and lied when asked about the topic of the film, telling interested parties that the play centered around Faust. The feud between Hearst and Welles continued as the film was waiting to be released when Hearst refused to allow any of his newspapers to run advertising for the movie. Hearst specifically disagreed with Welles' depiction of Kane's second wife, Susan. The role too closely resembled Hearts' personal life and the life of his companion, Marion Davies, a former showgirl whom Hearst aided in becoming a famous Hollywood actress.
Rosebud is the last word uttered by Charles Foster Kane just as he dies. A reporter looking for a unique angle to use in the news footage of the death of Kane interviews those closest to Kane in hopes of unraveling the mystery of that one word. Only as the reporter leaves Xanadu and some of Kane's lesser valued possessions are being destroyed does the audience learn that Rosebud is the word that was displayed on the sled that he was playing on the day that he was forced to leave his childhood home and family to live with his guardian, Thatcher.
Citizen Kane was actor and director Orson Welles' depiction of the life of a fictional wealthy New York Inquirer owner, Charles Foster Kane. The production and release of the film was shrouded with controversy as newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst believed that the plot too closely resembled his own life and that of his companion-turned-movie star, Marion Davies; a similarity that Welles hid from the public until the film's release.
A newspaper reporter sets off to learn the significance of the dying words of the one-time icon, Kane. Following his downfall in New York, Kane moves with his second wife, Susan, to Xanadu, an expansive property in Florida where he has constructed a fortress-like castle. Surrounded by all that Kane has collected throughout his life, Susan rejects the way Kane treats her and leaves him alone at Xanadu. During his rage-filled destruction of Susan's belongings, Kane finds a snow globe that reminds him instantly of his home in Colorado and his mother, Mary Kane, who sent him away to live with a guardian, Thatcher. Kane's butler hears him whisper the word, Rosebud. Not until the reporter, intent on understanding the meaning behind the same word that Kane utters on his deathbed, leaves Xanadu does he accept that he will never uncover the mystery behind Kane's final utterance.
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The main story of Citizen Kane is the life of fictional wealthy newspaper magnate, Charles Foster Kane. At the time of his death, Foster whispers the word rosebud. A reporter sets out to discover the meaning of the mysterious Kane's last word.
Rosebud was Charles Foster Kane's final word before dying. The audience learns that rosebud is the word that was emblazoned on the sled that he was playing on as a young child the day that his mother sent him away to live with his guardian, Thatcher.
Hired men who are destroying Charles Foster Kane's useless belongings toss an old sled into the incinerator to be burned and destroyed, the audience can make out a word that is written across an old sled. The word on the sled is rosebud, Kane's final word.
The central message of Citizen Kane lies in the relationships that Charles Foster Kane lacks despite all of the material wealth that he gained during his life. Kane learns that it is not what you have around you as you grow old, but who you have around you that truly determines a man's worth.
At the time of Citizen Kane's release, there was a great deal of controversy surrounding the film. William Randolph Hearst, a wealthy and well-known newspaper magnate objected to what he believed to be a depiction of a character that too closely resembled his own life. Hearst and director and star of Citizen Kane, Orson Welles, embarked on a ruthless mission to destroy each other as a result of the movie.
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