Citizen Kane Talk (SPOLIERS; Citizen Kane Week: Day 3)

And so Citizen Kane Week comes to a close. (I decided not to review the documentary, I started it but then realized it was just an episode of a TV show). Today we're going to talk about the deeper elements of Citizen Kane, some of the lore that surrounds it and the overall effect on American cinema.

A quick note first: Citizen Kane has many layers and many ways to interpret them. This is how I see it. That said, let's start off with one of the more obvious questions. What was so important about that sled that Charles last words were about it? To me, it's that the sled represented what he could never have. He was incredibly wealthy and powerful and could by anything in the world, but he could of never had a childhood growing up with his parents. The sled was what Charles wanted more than all the statues and everything he had, because he could never have it.

Now I want to talk about some of the lore  that surrounds this film. It has a rich history, with lots of legend that surrounds it. For example, one account says that during filming, William Randolf Hearst arranged for a naked woman and a photographer to hide in wait in Orson Wells' hotel room in order to soil his reputation. Fortunately, someone warned him and Wells' spent the night elsewhere. Another bit says that in order to keep the execs off his back, Wells' started filming three days ahead of time when they were supposed to be doing camera tests. You can find a full list of these on the imdb web page for Citizen Kane.

Finally, let's talk about influence. It's hard to over state how much effect this has on modern film. For starters, it pioneered the deep focus technique, which puts all of the screen into focus. This gives the image a more 3D feel instead of being a flat screen. It also was the first movie to announce it' production studio, title and actors in an initial title card, which nowadays is industry standards. When looking at plot, at the time it was released, Citizen Kane probably had on of the most complex plots of the era. There are many interwoven subplots and layers, and that definitely has influence on the films of today.

So this brings Citizen Kane week to a close. I hope you enjoyed it. If you haven't already, go rent Citizen Kane and watch it. It's worth two hours of your time.