|
|
This is only a preview of the paper
Click here to register and get the full text.
Existing members click here to login
|
|
|
Citizen Kane: An Accurate Portrayal of William Randolph Hearst?
Many have called Citizen Kane the greatest cinematic achievement of all
time. ... Orson Welles, its young genius director, lead actor, and a
co-writer, used the best talents and techniques of the day (Bordwell 103)
to tell the story of a newspaper giant, Charles Kane, through the eyes of
the people who loved and hated him. ... This was all due to the pressure
applied by the greatest newspaper man of the time, one of the most powerful
men in the nation, the man Citizen Kane portrayed as a corrupt power
monger, namely William Randolph Hearst.
One cannot ignore the striking similarities between Hearst and Kane. In
order to make clear at the outset exactly what he intended to do, Orson
Welles included a few details about the young Kane that, given even a
rudimentary knowledge of Hearsts life, would have set one thinking about
the life of that newspaper giant. ... The scene comes to life in midwinter at the Kane boarding house.
Kanes mother has come into one of the richest gold mines in the world
through a defaulting boarder, and at age twenty-five, Kane will inherit his
sixty million dollars (Citizen Kane). ... Hearsts parents came by
their money through gold mines (Swanberg 5), so both Hearst and Kane were
raised with "golden" spoons in their respective mouths. Kane is unusually
devoted to his mother, as shown when he turns away from his father to
listen to his mother, and when he only pays heed to his mothers answers to
his questions (Citizen Kane). ... Also, Kanes dying word and the name of his childhood sled,
"Rosebud," (Citizen Kane) was the name of a town twenty miles east of where
Hearsts parents were born and grew up (Robinson 13). ... Kane ran over thirty newspapers, radios, and syndicates, had a
well publicized romantic affair, tried in vain to be elected to public
office, was totally and completely careless with his money, (always
expecting there would be much more coming), and built himself a pleasure
palace called Xanadu, which included a gigantic collection of statues and
animals (Citizen Kane). ...
After the opening newsreel on Hearsts life, the movie goes through the
boyhood scene where Thatcher takes Kane away from his parents. It then
quickly shifts to a point twenty years later, when Kane is about to inherit
the sixth largest private fortune in the world. Thatcher is concerned that
Kane wont know his place in the world, and his fears are affirmed when
Kane sends a telegram saying that he has no interest in gold mines or
banks, but, rather, he would like to take over a small newspaper of which
Thatcher has taken possession, the Morning Inquirer, because, "I think it
would be fun to write a newspaper." (Citizen Kane) The circumstances under
which Hearst entered the newspaper world were very similar. ...
Both Hearst and Kane immediately began to revolutionize everything
about their respective papers. Kane literally moved in to the office so
that he might be constantly around his paper, constantly able to redo it at
any hour, night or day. ... And
if there was no current sensation, Kane would create the news. ... " In a classic example of similarity, Kane nearly quoted Hearst
exactly: "You supply the prose and poems, Ill supply the war," (Orson
Wells, Citizen Kane) as Kane discussed what to telegram back to a man in
Cuba. ... "
(Swanberg 127) Such an obvious similarity can only have been deliberate,
as Kane practically quoted Hearst. ... Kane even used
his paper to attack a company of which he himself, along with Thatcher, was
the major shareholder. As Thatcher prepared to leave after his discussion
with Kane on what new is, he mentioned to Kane his enormous losses, which
totaled one million dollars for the year, a staggering sum to have been
lost by one person, especially at that time. Kane,. however, laughed it
off, joking that, at that rate, hell have to close down in sixty years
(Citizen Kane). ...
Right after taking over The Inquirer, as told now by Bernstein, Kane
ordered the editor to play up less "important" stories for the paper, the
kinds of things that the nation wanted to see and read about, not just
boring, plain "news. ... Kane went to the office
of The Chronicle, his main competition, to admire the best newspaper staff
in the world and its gigantic circulation, and soon after he bribed those
same men with large sums of cash to move from The Chronicle to his
newspaper, achieving in six years what it took The Chronicle twenty years
to accomplish.
Approximate Word count = 3753
Approximate Pages = 15
(250 words per page double spaced)
|
|
|
|
|
|