Due
to the thematic significance of memories in Citizen Kane, this blog post
will critically analyze the use of flashbacks and its effectiveness as a
story-telling device in the film.
While
the use of flashbacks in films was not particularly new, the quality and
smoothness of their implementation into Citizen Kane was truly avant-garde.
Indeed, the flashbacks allowed the weaving of two stories into one; the primary
of which taking place in the present, the secondary existing solely in the
past. The interviewing processes in which the flashbacks primarily take
place create a link to this past.
Each
individual flashback is subject to bias by the person reminiscing, highlighting
the fragility of the past and how we analyze it. For example, when Susan
was being interviewed about her time with Kane, she describes when she walked
out on him and the events leading up to that instance. One scene shows a giant, open room where Kane
and Susan are talking, which demonstrates the distance she felt was between
them. In the scene where she leaves him,
she describes herself as the victim and is proud of her actions. This exhibits the idea that each interviewee’s
flashbacks are subject to bias and describe how each of them remembers Kane.
Furthermore,
Welles may also be suggesting that people are only what people remember us to
be, shown by the differing opinions of the interviewees and their role as the
primary source of information about Kane.
In each flashback he is portrayed as a different kind of person. As the movie progresses, the audience
realizes that Kane is all of those people, depending on who he’s with. To each person he was remembered as something
different, and after he dies, he became only what those people remembered him
to be.
This
theme produced by the flashbacks is reinforced by the quest behind the meaning
of “rosebud”. In hopes of encapsulating the identity of Kane into his
last dying word, the reporters were denying the enigmatic nature of
people. Their attempts to disregard the past as a complicated mechanism
strictly conflicts with the theme of the flashbacks. That is, the
flashbacks show how complicated an individual Kane is, while the reporters want
to simplify him to one word. Welles shows that the past (and thus, a
person) can be more complex through the film’s ending.
Thompson’s
final words, that Rosebud is simply a puzzle piece, and not the puzzle,
finalizes the significance of the flashbacks. Hence, the viewer realizes
that the flashbacks are the true gateway into Kane’s life, the true
story-telling of Kane’s life, not just an instance or word. Welles is
critiquing the way that we view people, especially in retrospect. Often
times we label people based off of one thing he/she did in their life.
Christopher Columbus is known only due to his genius in exploration, but
nothing is left of his humanity. His hobbies, love interests, and
favorite foods, for example, are forgotten in history. Should the
reporters found a satisfactory answer to “rosebud” Kane’s existence would have
been labeled into that explanation, his humanity forgotten.
The way in which flashbacks are utilized in this film truly is genius and the work of the camera to portray to the viewer these flashbacks are occurring is monumental for the time. I believe it is true how people are known after there death for what they did, not who they are. To the public, Kane was known as a millionaire hermit who led a scandalous life. By interviewing people who knew Kane more closely and using flashbacks in this film, we are able to get more intimate to who Kane is. Through the eyes of the camera we are able to get deeper insight to Kane in the final scene when we figure out that Rosebud is a sled. No one knew Kane enough to know the meaning of Rosebud, just Kane himself and eventually the audience.
ReplyDeleteAll in all I agree with this post, and its analysis of flashbacks and the emphasis they created throughout the film. I do agree that it was interesting to see how Welles intertwined current memories, of past events. Each person gave their own biased opinion of how they remembered one person, which allowed the viewer to then make their own opinion of Kane himself. However the reference to Christopher Columbus distracted from the entire post. There are many people that this happens to on a daily basis. Christopher Columbus is remembered by many people, and will forever be remembered. Kane on the other hand will be lost forever, once all of the people with memories of him pass on as well.
ReplyDeleteThe way in which flashbacks are utilized in this film truly is genius and the work of the camera to portray to the viewer these flashbacks is occurring is monumental for the time. I believe it is true how people are known after their death for what they did, not who they are. To the public, Kane was known as a millionaire hermit who led a scandalous life. By interviewing people who knew Kane more closely and using flashbacks in this film, we are able to get more intimate to who Kane is. Through the eyes of the camera we are able to get deeper insight to Kane in the final scene when we figure out that Rosebud is a sled. No one knew Kane enough to know the meaning of Rosebud, just Kane himself and eventually the audience.
ReplyDeleteThe camera is another character in the story as it goes to places and times throughout the film where other characters wouldn’t think to go to. Evident in the first scene is the camera’s ability to go places on its own and give the audience more insight as the camera is showing the audience Kane’s mansion Xanadu. This establishing shot lets the audience know that they’re entering a mansion and when inside witnessing Kane’s last words and death are able to be involved in that private and pivotal moment. The audience is then able to determine that an important figured has died. The audience is able to gather much more insight than all the other characters in the film by the use of the camera. Even though we largely follow Thompson throughout the course of the film, we are able to get more insight than him through the use of flashbacks and certain camera shots.
I agree with this post and how that the use of flashbacks was a truly effective story-telling device. If not for the flashbacks, the audience would be stuck with the reporters views of Kane. Thompson is never fully shown in the film which shows him to be a typical reporter trying to figure out the secret to Kane’s last word by going through his past. Thompson is never able to find out the words meaning but is able to learn a lot about Kane’s life. I agree that Thompson’s last words about Rosebud being a puzzle piece does signify the use of flashbacks through the film. If flashbacks were not used, we would not be able to see different points of Kane’s life which defined who he came to be. And in the final scene, with the camera going out on its own to reveal what Rosebud was, the audience is able to accept that it was just a puzzle piece and that the true story was that of Citizen Kane.