Answers
What were some innovations used in Citizen Kane? What was its cultural impact?
i don't know about cultural impact, but a huge part of CK's success was it's technical innovations. it was one of the first movies to utilize depth of field (the distance from the closest point that is in focus to the furthest, in frame) as an instrument to convey thematic elements. for examplpe, in the beginning, we see his mother talking to the adopter's and he is in focus way out in the yard. this reinforces the fact that even though he is geographically detatched, he is still important to the story.
there are a whole slew of other innovation CK is noted for.
i would suggest checking it out on wikipedia.com and also the links they provide at the bottom of the page.
The trailer for Citizen Kane, Orson Welles' masterpiece, as it was screened prior to its release, in 1940-1941.
How would you compare director Billy Wilder's SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950 to director Orson Welle's CITIZEN KANE (1941)? Are there any personal themes to it? How would you compare Norma Desmond to Charles Foster Kane? Be specific with detail and give some evidence that best supports your answer?
i wouldn't and neither should you.
I know there are tons of important scenes in Citizen Kane, but what is the MOST important scene and why is it the most important? I need some outside opinons for a project I'm doing. It'd help a lot. Thanks!
The ending scene, when we learn what Rosebud is and then, the whole film makes sense
What is a major conflict that the movie Citizen Kane represents?
major conflict · Kane tries to control press coverage of his political career and suppress his affair with Susan Alexander.
rising action · Kane’s political rival, Jim “Boss” Gettys, forces a showdown between Kane, Kane’s wife, and Susan Alexander in an attempt to force Kane from the governor’s race.
climax · Kane chooses to stay with Susan and sends his wife away while daring Gettys to expose him by threatening impotently that he’ll make sure Gettys goes to prison.
falling action · The papers are filled with the news of Kane’s “love nest,” and he loses the election.
themes · The difficulty of interpreting a life; the myth of the American Dream; the unreliability of memory
motifs · Isolation; old age; materialism
symbols · Sleds; snow globe; statues
foreshadowing
· The snow globe. Also known as the glass ball, the snow globe first appears in the dying Welles’s hand at the beginning of the movie and foreshadows the later flashback to his abandonment as a child. Chronologically, it first makes its appearance in Kane’s life the night he meets Susan. The snow globe belongs to her and is sitting on her dressing table. We see it next when Susan leaves Kane and he destroys her room. After this episode, Kane is left only with the snow globe, which foreshadows his lonely death.
· Rosebud, the sled. We don’t know its name when we see it at the scene of young Kane’s abandonment by his mother, but it foreshadows the film's final scene, when we finally learn the meaning of Kane's last word.
· Crusader, the sled. Given to young Charles Kane by Thatcher, this sled foreshadows Charles’s later crusading work against Thatcher and his business enterprises.
· Kane’s statement to Thatcher that if his paper lost $1 million a year he could still run it for sixty years. This cocky comment foreshadows Kane’s bankruptcy and the selling of his assets to Thatcher.
· The scene in which Leland, in conversation with Bernstein, questions the new staff’s loyalty to Kane. Kane has just stolen them from the rival paper by offering them more money. Leland wonders if this is enough to make them loyal to Kane. Leland’s doubts foreshadow the departures of Leland and Susan from Kane's life.
Citizen Kane is one of my favorite movies and The Fountainhead is one of my favorite books. I decided to ask an intelligent question that had nothing to do with Twilight for once. The best answer will get the points.
Thanks for answering, yes that was the person I was thinking of. It is so funny that when someone asks a reall question hardly any one can answer. Just shows how bad the educational system is today.
Charles Foster Kane is nothing like Howard Roark, that's for sure. I guess you're thinking of Gale Wynand?
And, thanks. Not only is this not about Twilight, it's not a homework assignment, either. :-)
Edit: In all fairness, it's not the educational system as much as it is the students and parents. It's hard to push reading in schools when kids go home and their parents don't read, either. And it's hard to design a decent educational program when you've got "inclusion" and the idea that everyone should be prepped for college, when, honestly, not everyone should go to college. Believe me, I'm not trying to excuse it as much as explain it, and society as a whole is what got it to this state. They say people get the government they deserve. I guess they get the educational system they deserve as well.
Our society does not reward or honor intellectual achievement. Nobody cares if you're illiterate as long as you can hit a baseball or throw a football. You don't see them coming out to cheer the chess team.
I do agree, and it's sad, that it's hard to find much good discussion about books in a section called "Books and Authors." I wish they'd give Twilight its own section--like the kids' table at Thanksgiving. :-)
BTW, The Fountainhead is one of my favorite books and contains one of the best lines in literature, when Roark tells Toohey, "But I don't think of you."