The Thirteenth Friday-- I'll Bet You 5 You're Not Alive if You Don't Know His Name

So, I've been wanting to do this post for a really long time, pretty much since I started this blog, I've just been waiting for the right time to do it and now seems like a perfect time... I don't know how long it will take me to finish but I hope that it is up to the standard that I want it to be (and the standard you all deserve). Finally I'll be discussing what is probably the most important American film ever made (disagree with me if you would like), Citizen Kane. (I've actually been wanting to talk about this film since my film class).

If you have not seen Citizen Kane, stop reading now. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to ruin the ending of the film in order to talk about the importance of Rosebud. Now, we all know Citizen Kane, whether you've seen it or not. It's generally rated the top American movie of all time (The White Stripes even have a song called, The Union Forever, and all of the lyrics are lines from this film). Anyway... If you have not seen the beauty that is Citizen Kane, you need to stop right now and either buy or rent it, but mainly just watch it!! NOW... Seriously!! I will hunt you all down if I have to (he'll do it!! he's crazy!!)

Anyway, for the rest of you that know the story (because I'm positive that the rest of you 'x'ed out of this blog when I told you to), we know that the mysterious and infamous Rosebud was Kane's childhood sled. Now why would Kane, a powerful and successful man, beloved by some, despised by others, call out the name of a sled as his final earthly words? Well Rosebud is a very important "character" in the film. I'm sure if you like to analyze film and plot like me, you may have your own ideas (either the same as mine or different), and if you do, I'd absolutely LOVE to hear them so post them up!

Rosebud stands for everything Kane wanted but could never be. Everything that was taken from him when his parents gave him up. Rosebud was Kane's only wish in life, he had everything, power, success, fame, anything money could buy... Yet all he really wanted was Rosebud and the simplicity it symbolized. Of course, during Kane's life he lost sight of what he was truly after and Rosebud was lost in his mountains of possessions, this symbolizes that the world had gotten to Kane and buried what he truly wanted. It wasn't until the end of his life that he finally remembered what was important to him and what he really wanted. This is also symbolized in the breaking snow globe, that resembled his childhood home. It's just another way of saying that everything he wanted in life shattered when his destiny was altered. Throughout the film a reporter tries to find out the identity of Rosebud, and goes around to the people who were closest to Kane to get information, no one knows who Rosebud is. This further shows the distance and separation between what Kane has and what Kane wants. He separated his ideal life from the life he ended up with by burying his childhood and not telling anyone about his favorite toy. This also shows Kane's relationship with people, he doesn't let anyone too close to him and certainly would tell no one about his childhood. He's alienated and it's a result of what he lost so young. A great line in the movie that pretty much sums up Kane's entire character is when Mr. Thatcher asks Kane what he would have liked to have been and Kane responds, "everything you hate." This pretty much sums up his feelings toward the man who took him away from his parents, his life and his feelings toward mist everyone who attempts to get close to him. What I love about the character is the fact that by the en of the film, you're not sure if Kane is a great man or if you hate him. I think that's an important character archetype in cinema. Kane is a good man who can't get close to people, and who does many appalling things. I could go on and do many more analysies of Rosebud, BUT... there are still other things I want to talk about concerning this movie (but like I said, if you guys have any analysies of your own, please post it).

Now, for those of you sneaky monkeys who stayed on this post without watching the movie and are probably like, "well I kinda get it but I wish I knew the plot" here's a plot summary... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033467/synopsis.

Now, as I've mentioned, Citizen Kane is a very important and innovative film.  It's usually voted the greatest American film of all time and largely due do it's innovations (you may wonder why I specify "American" film... that's because a lot of European films were using a lot of these techniques already... The More You Know!)

Now, one interesting shot in the film is at the end, a scene of a warehouse filled with crates with Kane's possessions.  This shot was redone later at the end of Raiders of The Lost Arc, just one out of many iconic scenes from this delightful piece of cinema.  ANYWAY, let me get on to the actual technical innovations (and stop wasting your precious time, you could be out riding a bike or playing some kind of organized sport after all).  Deep Focus is the name of one of the inventive techniques Orson Welles used on Citizen Kane.  This is where everything, foreground, middle, and background is in sharp focus.  This was all done with the manipulations of light and lenses.  When this couldn't be done, they would often film a scene with the background in focus and then roll the tape back and double it with the foreground in focus also, or use of a machine called an optical printer, or in-camera effects.  One technique that wasn't used much in American film up until that point was low angle shots.  Where the camera was set down and looking up at the actors, one reason for this was the fact that everything at the time was done on a soundstage and no set had roofs.  To remedy this, they used a opaque piece of cloth to make it look like the room had a roof, they also dug a ditch in the floor to get the big bulky camera down lower.  In terms of storytelling in Citizen Kane,  the entire story is told as a flashback as the reporter questions people close to Kane.  This, of course, is very common in film today, but at the time it wasn't done so often.  Another thing that Welles did was change narrators throughout the film.  Each person interviewed takes over as a new narrator and one way of transition that was uncommon at the time was have one character pick up a word or phrase from where the character before them left off.  This wasn't really done before this film and neither was the idea of starting a new scene visually before the old scene's dialogue ended.  The use of curtain wipes and miniatures (namely for Kane's Xanadu) were pioneered in American film with this movie.  The makeup effects to change Orson Welles from a dashing young man to a horrible old man were revolutionary.  Even the soundtrack was unique and new in this film.  So much about this movie was so innovative and started a new and experimental wave in cinema.  Welles, more or less, took multiple styles of film making and mashed them all together to make something new.  You know your favorite movie? well, a lot of experimental techniques used in it came about or where started in Citizen Kane.  I pretty much can not tell enough good or awesome things about this film, it's one of my favorites, and you should watch it posthaste!! (seriously, do it!)

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi568630553/

In other news, I read the comic X'ed Out by Charles Burns, I believe it'll be part of a series, I would definitely recommend it, I wanna read the next section and find out what happens in the main character's drug induced fantasy world.  One thing I don't like much about it though, is the fact that a lot of the character's facial expressions just kinda look like they're sneezing.  Other than that it's pretty cool, I'd like to write a comic someday also (oh, dreams *sigh*).

There you go though, everything you need (for now), look up more if you're interested and feel free to shoot me a comment if you'd like.  I always wanna hear from whoever wants to talk.  Catch you cats later.

All apologies,

D James (sorry about the spoof)