What are the main themes of Citizen Kane?
Citizen Kane Themes
- Power. When 25-year-old Charles Foster Kane first receives the list of holdings that comprise his fortune, the 6th-largest in the world, all he cares about is the New York Inquirer, an ailing newspaper that he wants to take over.
- Corruption.
- Vanity.
- The Media.
- Innocence.
- The American Dream.
- Public Vs.
What is the message from Citizen Kane?
Kane has the plutocrat’s obsession with trying to control those around him in the way that he controls his media empire, whose purpose in turn is to control the way people think. And this is the final unspoken moral of Citizen Kane: a terrible tragedy of ownership and egotism – a narcissistic drowning.
What are the two most important motifs in Citizen Kane?
The most important motif—that of Kane’s power—is given out in the very first two bars heard. The second motif which should give away the secret of “Rosebud” is also heard early in the film. The “power” motive is a very familiar motive in the film since it is heard so many times throughout.
What quote is Rosebud from?
This line is spoken by Charles Foster Kane in the film Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles (1941). Rosebud is the most famous sled ever. We’d put a spoiler alert on that, but there’s really no way to spoil Citizen Kane.
What did Rosebud symbolize?
“Rosebud is the trade name of a cheap little sled on which Kane was playing on the day he was taken away from his home and his mother. In his subconscious it represented the simplicity, the comfort, above all the lack of responsibility in his home, and also it stood for his mother’s love, which Kane never lost.”
Who heard Kane Rosebud?
The butler Raymond was there and heard him…but he wasn’t shown on screen. “That “Rosebud” – that don’t mean anything. I heard him say it. He just said “Rosebud” and then he dropped that glass ball and it broke on the floor.
Is Rosebud a motif in Citizen Kane?
Rosebud is the most potent emblem of Kane’s childhood, and the comfort and importance it represents for him are rooted in the fact that it was the last item he touched before being taken from his home.
What is the last line of Citizen Kane?
Rosebud
The ending of Citizen Kane The final word whispered by Kane is ‘Rosebud’ — as the film ends, no one knows what it means. But the camera shows the viewer, panning across the vast amount of material possessions Kane had amassed and hoarded over his life, which are being burnt and discarded after his death.