The film Citizen Kane by Orson Welles, opens with a picture of a castle with a window .
As the backgrounds begin to change into a closer view of the castle, .
then a view of the castle from the reflection of the water surrounding it, we are drawn into the .
window as a man falls dead with the last words "Rosebud" coming from his mouth. We are then .
brought through a maze of scenes that reflect one man's journey through life from his childhood .
with an abusive father, to the time he inherits the world's sixth largest fortune. .
Charles Foster Kane, is portrayed in the movie as a man who has everything one could .
ever want. Whatever he doesn't posess, he tries to buy. Power and wealth to Kane are the .
epitamy of success, and although he claims or atleast tries to be happy, he truly is not a happy .
person. As Kane begins to learn that the things he wants most in life he cannot purchase, so to .
do the people with whom he surrounds himself with. When Kane ran for governor, he tries to .
use his wealth to overpower his opponent, Gettys. This backfires on Kane when Getty's .
threatens to use information about an affair Kane had to thwart him from the race. Kane once .
described his wife as a "cross section of the American public". These sort of references provide .
us with an image of a man that is willing to do anything to portray himself as loving or able to be .
loved. .
Kane was truly never able to love someone. He was given everything he ever wanted, .
and when he couldn't buy something, he tried to create it. When Susan Alexander, Kane's .
second wife, wanted to be a singer, Kane got her a teacher, and began from there, to create a .
singer. He built an Opera house and made her into a glamourous star. Throughout the film, .
Kane used his paper, the Enquirer to manipulate the minds of the public into believing whatever .
Kane wrote. Kane also used his paper to show the public how politicians (Gettys) were corrupt .
and dishonest.
