Film Journal: Citizen Kane

1)  Relate what was discussed in class or text to the screening.
Last week in class, we viewed the film Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles, one of the biggest Blockbusters of the 1940's, but it wasn't always that way. Upon the release of the film, it was an utter failure. Welles spent a massive budget creating what he thought would be an instant masterpiece, but it instantly flopped. Right after the Oscars, it was thrown in a vault, never to be seen again. It was almost not released, yet time did tell. As the film grew in age, it gained popularity. Welles, who put the majority of his life into this film, directed, starred, and held many other aspects to its development. Sadly, he was never given as much control over a film again.

2) Find a related article (on the film, directed, studio, actor/actress, artistic content, ect.) You can use the library or the Internet. Cite the article or copy the url to your journal entry. Summarize in your own words the related article but do not plagiarize any content.
The article that relates most to Citizen Kane is its rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a film critic site. Because Rotten Tomatoes rated the film so high, I figured it would be a good example to use to point out the positive aspects that were not seen when it first came out. The article starts by bringing up Charles Foster Kane's death, and how his last audible word was "Rosebud." The rest of the article is basically a summary of the film, stating what direction the plot goes as far as going step by step through the movie. According to the article, Rotten Tomatoes rated the film at 100% with an audience rating of 91%. Both of those scores are relatively high compared to what the original audience of the film was when it had first came out.
That article can be found HERE

3) Relate the article to the screening.
This article, as mentioned before, is a step by step summary of what happened throughout the film. Because of the bad ratings that the film once received when it originally premiered in 1941, it's shocking that it has turned into such a revolutionary film that has been rated at 100% by Rotten Tomatoes. Citizen Kane is both controversial because of Hitler's appearance in the beginning of the film as well as incredibly in-depth because of the following of Kane's entire life.

4) Write a critical analysis of the film, including your personal opinion, formed as a result of 4 things: the screening, class discussions, text material, and the article.
Since this is the fourth time I have seen Citizen Kane, I am used to the twists and turns that occur throughout the film. I'll admit that the first few times I had seen the film, I had little to no interest in seeing the film, but then I absorbed the meaning behind it: the downfall of a man who had everything, and now has nothing. Because of that, I fell in love with the movie and looked at it very analytically, looking at the flaws of Kane, and where he went wrong with his life. In class, we talked about why it was an utter failure the first time it premiered, and now I understand why. Since there was a view of Hitler in the beginning, I'm sure it turned people the wrong way, but for those who are more interested in seeing a film for its visual aspects, I'm sure they're the ones who had some trouble. Citizen Kane has much more of a moral learning factor than a visual entertainment factor. To bring up the article one more time, it mentioned the Rosebud factor, where on his deathbed, Kane said his last word, which was "rosebud." As a man who had lost everything, his life, his love, his accomplishments, and everything he cared for, the last thing he had was a sled that was given to him as a child, which was his true love all along, his little Rosebud.

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM 

1) (X) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class. 

2) (X) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper. 

3) (X) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text. 

4) (X) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper. 

5) (X) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read. 

6) (X) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography. 

7) (X) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality. 

8) (X) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.