Philosophy in Film
Reflection on Vertigo February 23, 2016, Citizen Kane Reflection The film begins by showing the viewers an elderly man, Charles Foster Kane, on his deathbed. He is holding a snow globe, and he says, "Rosebud." He then dies, and the snow globes fall to the floor and shatter. An obituary tells the life of the man and how he was a wealthy newspaper publisher. His death is huge news to the entire world, and the newsreel who posted his obituary tasks the reporter Jerry Thompson with discovering what "Rosebud" means.
Thompson starts interviewing Kane's friends and associates. He begins with Kane's second wife, Susan. She is now an alcoholic with a nightclub, and she refuses to talk to him. He then goes to Walter Parks Thatcher, a banker, and through him, he learns that Kane lived in Colorado when he was a child, and also that his family was very poor. His mother owned property on which a gold mine was discovered, and she set aside a trust fund for him to receive when he was 25. Here we see him playing on a sled in the snow before he is shipped off to live with Thatcher.
Once he is 25 and gets his money, he takes control of the New York Inquire and starts publishing articles that attack Thatcher and his business. After the stock market crash, he sells the Inquirer to Thatcher. Much of what Kane does throughout the movie has a huge similarity to what many of the business moguls in today's society do. He comes across as heartless for the first time during this scene, but it continues onward from here.
Thompson then interviews Mr. Bernstein, Kane's personal business manager. He says that Kane hired the best journalists to build the Inquirer's circulation. Kane then rose to power by manipulating public opinion on different aspects, and then he married Emily Norton, the President's niece. His marriage seems to be staged, as do most things that Kane does throughout the film. Everything he goes through is just another step in eventually achieving his goal of total control.
Thompson interviews Kane's ex-best friend, Jedediah Leland, in a retirement home. Leland says t...
