Citizen Kane: The Only True American
Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane stands out as one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of film, if not the single most influential and groundbreaking film ever made. Factors contributing to the trailblazing nature of the film include: innovative camerawork, such as extremely low angle shots; new adaptations of available equipment, such as deep focus lenses; employment of the storytelling device en medias res, or, more precisely, beginning at the end and proceeding to the beginning; and unprecedented use of the movie soundtrack to enrich the onscreen action. To these innovative vehicles Welles’ adds the depth of the title character, Charles Foster Kane, and the fruitless quest to unravel the mystery surrounding his final word, “rosebud.” Considering each of these factors, they collectively compose a truly remarkable film. One factor which could easily overlooked, however, is the significance of the film’s title.
Like every other part of the film, the title plays an essential role in the development of the film as a whole. From the outset, the viewer is armed only with knowledge that there is a citizen, Kane. What develops from this unassuming beginning is the indisputable irony that this Kane is no mere citizen. Instead, Kane is the denizen of his own kingdom, complete with his own palace, Xanadu, and his army of attendants and employees. To assert that Kane is a “citizen,” as the title of the film intentionally and directly does, is to bluntly contradict everything Kane actually is. Kane embodies the essence of affluence and power, wielding his power however necessary to achieve such ends as suit his whims, as with building the Chicago Opera House for his wife or hopelessly battling corrupt political opponent Jim Gettys. In his campaign against Gettys, Kane promises to “give the people their rights,” as if “rights” are something that he alone can give, exemplifying his status not as a “citizen,” but as something loftier, more powerful. These ironies throughout the film support the underlying theme of Kane’s failure to define himself, thereby precluding his actualization of happiness as he continually struggles to gain power and acceptance for himself as a “citizen” of the people.
Perhaps more intriguing than the implication of the film’s actual title is the possibilities created by the film’s original title, American. Welles clearly based the character of Charles Foster Kane on newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, thoroughly linking the two with a depiction antithetical of true citizenry. Similarly, supposing the original title remained, interesting possibilities arise. All the inherent contradictions between the term “citizen” and all the symbolic representations embodied by Kane remain. However, using the term “American” instead of “citizen” has the effect of diversifying the scope of who Kane is; rather than having the irony that he is just a citizen, now one could postulate that Kane embodies the spirit of an American, thereby implying that Americans are, on some level, somehow like Kane. Such a gross appropriation of malignant characteristics to as noble an ideal as being “American” causes the mind to balk at the transmogrifying possibility that an American could be sufficiently devoid of identity as to warrant comparison to such a grotesque figure as Kane. Welles’ rationale with the title American certainly did not disallow this conclusion.
Perhaps the most groundbreaking technique Welles used in the creation of Citizen Kane was irony, immediately, and ultimately primarily through the film’s title. Certainly previous films employed irony as a means of conveying a specific thought or idea to the audience, but Citizen Kane’s delivery of so powerful a theme through such a subtle and compelling vehicle as the title is truly ingenuous. Rightfully so, Citizen Kane is regarded as one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of film, for both its technical and thematic accomplishments, but just as significant an accomplishment is the method by which such powerful themes came to be disclosed, through the unassuming title of a masterpiece.