Orson Welles once said, "I want to give the audience a hint of a scene. No more than that. Give them too much and they won't contribute anything themselves. Give them just a suggestion and you get them working with you. That's what gives the theater meaning: when it becomes a social act." The film Citizen Kane directed by Welles is a story of life after death for Charles Foster Kane. The entire film is searching for the meaning behind Kane's final word, "rosebud". Though you never truly learn the meaning behind this hidden phrase the film leaves you with an unsettling and incomplete feeling with a final shot of a sled with the word "rosebud" enscripted on it being thrown into the fire with the rest of the burnables.
My question is...why does Welles leave you with the questions at the end of the film in such an unsettling way? As seen in his quotation he likes leave an audience guessing through out the film. Doing so allows the audience to take part in the making of the film, giving the viewer the power to interpret the film as they see it. This method of film directing is powerful and effective. Only, Welles leaves you with that same unsettling feeling at the end. What were we supposed to grasp from the film? Now-a-days you see film-makers leave a desolate ending in order to lead you into the next film a sequel if you will. But there is no progression, no new film. The film only leaves you guessing. What did Kane mean by "rosebud". Society as a whole desires the full circle effect, beginning, middle, and end. We like the see the result. Welles definately stepped ahead of his time with the film Citizen Kane. He is not a man to be in step with Hollywood. And by not truly giving a full circle ending he began a whole new genre of film. He uses suspense, displacement, flashbacks, and mystery to decipher Kane's life on the way up and back down leading to his eventual demise. Even more so unnerving we do not even know if the flashbacks we see are the real truth or just the truth as others saw it. Memory is subjective and you never really get everything your looking for. The people in Kane's life may only be depicting their memories as they saw it, not as Kane saw it.
Welles for sure created a movie that is everlasting. Kane had the American dream, money, "love", and power. Was it his loss of innocence on his rise to the top that drove him to early death? Was it loss of heart and mercy? The film drives you to think and continue thinking long after the credits have rolled. That makes Orson Welles, Citizen Kane, a true classic.
This is very nicely written. But what makes assume that the movie is really about Kane at all, or that Rosebud is actually significant?
ReplyDeleteConsider the reading, and some of the visual complexity that the movie presents. There are some intriguing layers to it, and very possibly not a lot of answers.