Citizen Kane story
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film by Orson Welles, its producer, co- screenwriter, director and star. The picture was Welles's first feature film. Nominated for Academy Awards in nine categories, it won an Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Welles. Considered by many critics, filmmakers, and fans to be the greatest film ever made, Citizen Kane was voted as such in five consecutive British Film Institute Sight & Sound polls of critics, and it topped the American Film Institute's 100 Years ... 100 Movies list in 1998, as well as its 2007 update. Citizen Kane is particularly praised for Gregg Toland's cinematography, Robert Wise's editing, Bernard Herrmann's music, and its narrative structure, all of which have been considered innovative and precedent-setting.
22 total · 3 choice · 8 major · 11 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| coping with personal failure | choice | Kane with election; Kane with marriage; Susan with opera career; Kane with life |
| purpose in life | choice | time and again, Mr. Kane deliberated about what he should do or like to have done with himself |
| what if I was super rich | choice | Mr. Kane became the richest man in the world, perhaps, and yet he didn't quite find happiness or contentment, we think |
| disintegrating romantic relationship | major | we saw how Kane's marriage to Emily began with love and ended in divorce |
| figuring out what to do with one's life | major | Kane's story is of a man who has all the options open to him but can't figure out what is really important |
| husband and wife | major | Kane's parents; Kane and Emily; Kane and Susan (especially) |
| integrity | major | time and again we came back to the topic of printing truth in the news, shades thereof, or outright lies for this or that motive |
| romantic love | major | we pondered whether Kane actually loved any of his women, especially Susan - when she left him he was, perhaps, more concerned for his image |
| selfishness | major | time and again Kane was called selfish and self-loving |
| the need to prove one's self | major | we heard that Kane was constantly driven by a need to prove himself, one way or the other |