Themes of “Citizen Kane” and their Impact on Cinematic Storytelling

Citizen Kane is one of the greatest movies of all time and is very significant to the film. The movie has many themes, such as greed, love, happiness, and vanity. These themes contribute to the message of the story.

Deciphering Themes in “Citizen Kane”

The first theme is greed; throughout the movie, greed is shown after being taken away from his family until his death. As a boy, Mr. Kane was taken away and raised to be a successful, wealthy man.

As Charlie grows up, he begins a newspaper company called the Inquirer and becomes a very successful and wealthy young man. Mr. Kane is a self-made man with self-made wealth; Charlie acquires greed and becomes very selfish. Mr. Kane has a mistress that soon becomes his wife and suggests that “we are going to be a great opera star” and builds an opera house for her (Mr. Kane). Not only does Mr. Kane appear greedy for attention, but he is also taking credit for Susan’s talent.

Another example is when Mr. Kane builds his Xanadu; the estate is filled with antiques and goods that are not necessary. Mr. Kane has the mindset that whatever he wants, he gets. The second theme is love, Mr. Kane shows love as a boy, but as he grows older, the love he once knew vanishes. Mr. Kane wanted the readers of the newspaper to love him, he wanted the state of New York to love him when he ran for governor, and lastly, he wanted Susan to love him. However, Mr. Kane only wanted this love on his terms. Instead of loving others back, he would host parties, compete with other Newspapers so the media and the people would love him, and lastly, he bought Susan expensive things. This shows us that love is not only.

Searching for Genuine Emotion: Love, Happiness, and Vanity

The third theme is happiness; as love vanishes from Mr. Kane, happiness also vanishes. At the film’s beginning, we see Mr. Kane as a young boy playing outside in the snow with his beloved sled. After Mr. Thatcher takes him away, he becomes sad and angry at the world when searching for love. Mr. Kane does not have true happiness, so he creates his own. Mr. Kane buys and builds things hoping things and money will make him happy. However, the simplest things in life make us happy.

Lastly, vanity is shown throughout the story of Mr. Kane’s life. Vanity is excessive pride in or admiration of one’s appearance or achievements or the quality of being worthless or futile in the dictionary. The Bible’s definition of vanity in Eccsletialte 1:1-2 is referred to as breathe or wind. Because Eccsletialte 1:1-2 refers to vanity as the wind, it symbolizes that vanity is temporary and can not be grasped; it also displays vanity negatively.

In the film Citizen Kane, when Mr. Kane is building his mansion and purchasing servants and building gardens, and buying all these goods, it is similar to the preacher when he is building his house and plants “gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees” just for himself. Another similarity is when the preacher states that “whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them” Mr. Kane also bought or obtained anything he wanted, but this did not make him truly happy. In conclusion, Mr. Kane could not find something to make him happy because everything he invested in was temporary and disappeared.

References

1. Welles, O. (Director). (1941). Citizen Kane. RKO Radio Pictures.
2. The Holy Bible, New International Version. (1978). Ecclesiastes 1:1-2. International Bible Society.

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