In the authoritative movie Citizen Kane. manager Orson Welles introduces the thought of the American Dream: a life of success and wealth. One’s formal outlook of this subject would be that of a perfect household life. big sums of money. a successful calling and finally. felicity. Welles redefined these outlooks through the mise-en-scene of the first flashback in which Kane’s parents bequeath him to Thatcher.
The scene opens with Charles Kane’s female parent. male parent and their banker. Thatcher. in the Kane embarkation house. Kane’s female parent is shown in the head of the scene. walking towards the camera with the two work forces following in the background. This is representative of the control Kane’s female parent holds over the remainder of the household. which is shortly confirmed by her determination to give Charles to Thatcher despite the reluctance of both immature Charles and his male parent. The scene so progresses to the three grownups discoursing the destiny of Charles Kane. In this section. Mrs. Kane and Thatcher are seated at the tabular array while Mr. Kane stands somewhat in the background. This shows Mr. Kane’s deficiency of laterality and his defeat due to this fact. As the scene progresss. the camera moves rearward for a deep focal point shooting. This shooting includes Kane’s female parent in the foreground. Kane’s male parent at the door. and Kane himself in the background. seen merely through the window.
The audience’s attending transportations back and Forth between Kane’s female parent subscribing the documents and the outside window. where Kane is running about and throwing sweet sand verbenas. This emphasizes how Kane’s female parent is subscribing the control of her son’s life off. Later in the scene. the camera zooms in on Mrs. Kane’s face for a close-up that shows the audience the complete deficiency of emotion Mrs. Kane has for giving up her boy. Through the combination of these cinematic elements. Welles alters the audience’s outlooks that Kane would hold grown up with a perfect household. Alternatively. Welles presents the audience with Kane’s conflicted childhood and a household with obvious control issues.
Welles surprises the spectator by utilizing the first flashback scene of Kane’s childhood as a direct contrast to the affluent life we antecedently saw Kane life at Xanadu. This scene is set in the Kane embarkation place. This illustrates the meagre means from which Kane sprang. The camera angles used in both this scene and the old scene at Xanadu are both low-angle shootings. used to contrast the differences in infinite. At the beginning of the scene. we see Kane’s female parent. Father and Thatcher crowded around the window. The audience’s attending is drawn to the obvious differences between the Kanes’ costumes and Thatcher’s. While Mr. and Mrs. Kane frock in simple. low outfits. Thatcher is dressed in a nice suit and tie. This clearly defines the difference in societal position between Kane’s parents and his new guardian. Welles furthers this differentiation by holding Thatcher speak with an speech pattern.
Even Thatcher himself serves as a metaphor for Kane’s passage into a new life of wealth and prosperity. Subsequently on. when the three grownups walk outside to see Charles. the blocking shows a division between Mrs. Kane and Thatcher. once more stressing the difference between the two characters. Welles uses puting. costume. characters and barricading in the first flashback to Charles Kane’s childhood in order to separate Kane’s childhood from his present. By making this. Welles draws the spectator into the narrative of Charles Foster Kane and transforms their outlooks of his life.
While there are many cases of both wealth and success in the movie Citizen Kane. there is simply once illustration of true felicity. This illustration is shown merely in the first flashback to Kane’s childhood. Throughout the first few proceedingss of the scene. Welles uses the technique of a deep focal point shooting so that the audience can watch Kane as he is being “bought” by Thatcher. Though Kane is hapless and has non yet been introduced to his new. alleged improved life style. the audience can see that he is holding merriment and is happy. This is an emotion we will non see in once more in Kane’s life. After Thatcher has been officially declared as Kane’s new defender. the puting moves to outside the Kane house. where it is snowing. This specific alteration to a white outdoor puting represents the artlessness and pureness that Kane will lose by go forthing his old life behind. Kane’s felicity is dependent upon these cardinal features that were lost in his childhood.
As the grownups move towards Kane to state him of his future finish. the histrions move in a manner that divides the viewing audiences attending between Thatcher. Kane. and Kane’s female parent. Through this screen division. it is possible for the audience to acquire a clear position of immature Kane’s facial looks. The audience can see that every clip Thatcher speaks or moves closer to Kane. his characteristics change to a unreassuring frown. This symbolizes Kane’s involuntariness to go forth behind his parents and unbeknownst to him. his felicity. The usage of actors’ motion around Kane besides denotes Charles’s solitariness and isolation. This is a direct contrast to the earlier section in which Charles was playing merrily entirely. The first flashback scene to Charles Kane’s childhood is really of import as it shows the one clip Kane is genuinely happy. By utilizing this scene to stand for Kane’s felicity. Welles has wholly changed the audience’s formal outlooks of the American Dream and therefore. Charles Kane himself.
Through the mise-en-scene of the first flashback to Charles Kane’s childhood. Welles efficaciously creates new outlooks for the audience. Welles offsets the 1940’s mentality on the American Dream with a much grimmer position of world. By expeditiously utilizing puting. sound. illuming. redacting and public presentation. Welles crafts a mise-en-scene that dashes the audiences hopes of the perfect American lifeBibliography: Citizen Kane. dir. Orson Welles. Perf. Dorothy Comingore. Joseph Cotten. George Coulouris and Orson Welles. Mercury Productions. RKO Radio Pictures. 1941.
