Meaning of Rosebud in Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane is an American drama movie released in 1941 with Orson Welles as the lead role, director, producer and a co-writer. It analyzes the rise and fall of a publishing magnate that resembles William Randolph Hearst. William fought for the production of the film from the start, and when he was unsuccessful in banning the film outright, he mentioned it in his newspapers. The film mystery is surrounding the Rosebud word which is revealed a sled of Kane’s childhood which made the word to be famous and get a cultural significance even behold the cinema.

The movie explores the legacy and life of Charles Foster Kane, with Welles playing the role (Cook, 2016). It is narrated through flashback whereby a news reporter seeks to solve the enigma of the newspaper “Rosebud.” The paper will analyze if the movie brings us closer or far from the truth and if some point of view of the film suggests, we will never know who Kane was.

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The multiple perspectives in the film bring us closer to the truth. The movie starts with Kane almost losing his life in his mansion at the palatial estate of Florida. He is holding a snowdome and dies after saying “Rosebud.” The water globe trips from the hand and shatters down the flooring. A newsreel eulogy gives Kane's life story as a wealthy newspaper publisher. The news becomes a sensation around the world, and the producer of the newsreel gives the reporter a task to discover the meaning of the word 'Rosebud.

' Jerry Thompson, the reporter, plans to interview his associates and friends to get the meaning of the word. He approaches Susan Alexander Kane but refuses to talk to him. He later goes at confidential documentation and finds out that Kane’s early days started in poverty at Colorado.

A gold mine is realized in Kane’s mother possessions, and Charles is sent to live with Thatcher so that he can be well well-informed. It also shows that his father would be aggressive towards the son a reason that made Mary sends his son away (Mulvey, 2017). While Thatcher and Kane’s parents converse the preparations, the little Kane plays contentedly outside his parents’ house. He is playing with a sled in snow, and he is protesting of being sent to live with Thatcher. He is furious about being exiled from his own family to go live with a stranger, and this leads him to hit Thatcher with the sled and attempts to flee away. It reveals the truth based on the Rosebud which us the sled Kane played with at his childhood. It symbolizes what cane lost when he moved away from home to live with Thatcher (Hofer & Busch, 2017).

At twenty-five years, enters in a newspaper company and begins his career of yellow journalism (Kolodny, 2016). It is a type of journalism associated with well-researched news rather than using eye-catching headlines to increase sales. The features include exaggeration of the report or sensationalism. A business manager interviewed recalls how Kane hired successful journalists to build his business and rose to power after manipulating the public opinion regarding the Spanish-American War as well as marrying a niece of the president, Emily Norton.

Kane later divorces Emily for Susan and amateur singer (Kolodny, 2016). Susan agreed to have a meeting with Thompson and remembers how she failed in her opera occupation. Susan leaves Kane after living in isolation and being dominated by the husband. Kane began destroying items in Susan’sroom, but he then sees a snow globe which calms him as he says the word “Rosebud.” Some perspectives such as Kane playing with the snow globe at their home bring us closer to the truth. However, the reason as to why Kane calmed when he saw the snow globe is a mystery. The word “Rosebud” will remain challenging to understand.

Different points of view in the film add to the understanding of cane and knowing who he was. For example, during his childhood when Thatcher and come to take him away, he was playing with the snow globe outside, he opposed being taken away by a stranger. It showed what family meant to Kane and symbolizes what Kane lost when he moved away from home. It was the last thing Kane was holding on that day when he moved from home and the last thing he held at his death bed. When his wife Susan leaves him, he begins to be violent by destroying the items in her bedroom which stopped when he saw the snowdome and says the word “Rosebud.” However, it is hard to understand the meaning of Rosebud which is the heart of the masterpiece. It makes it hard to understanding who Kane was.

In conclusion, some perspectives in the film such as the snow globe bring us closer to the truth. However, Rosebud is a mystery that draws us further from the truth. Some various points of the film such as playing with a snow globe and rejecting to be taken away from home show what family meant to Kane, but the word Rosebud makes it hard to understand whoever Kane was.

References

1. Cook, D. A. (2016). A history of narrative film. WW Norton & Company.
2. Hofer, J., & Busch, H. (2017). Why Citizen Kane was unhappy: Motive‐Goal Incongruence. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 11(8), e12330.
3. Kolodny, J. (2016). Diminishing Importance: Historians’ Evolving Views on Yellow Journalism and the Causes of the Spanish-American War.
4. Mulvey, L. (2017). Citizen Kane. Bloomsbury Publishing.