Question on Citizen Kane

[Guest MideonMark]

I'm doing a degree in English and Film Studies at University and we have an exam coming up for Film Studies. Our tutor hasn't given us the exact question that will be on the exam but has given us a rough idea of what the question will be. There is a quote we must discuss and the quote is roughly: Citizen Kane embodies cinema, the film seems to exemplify cinema itself. It contains all that is cinema and when you're talking about the film you're talking about its historical significance in cinema history. The areas I plan to discuss in the essay are basically the films use of deep focus, the uniqueat that time anyway) use of narrative in that it doesn't follow the straight narrative story that Hollywood films used at the time, Welles use of sound, angles and lighting and so on. We must discuss this quote and find connections/contrasts with one other film on the course, the film I have chosen being Psycho.

 

I know there are a lot of film buffs on the board and help with this would be greatly appreciated.

[godthedog 0]

i don't understand. what's your question, exactly? are you asking us to compare 'kane' to 'psycho'?

[Downhome 0]

Let me get this straight. You are going for a degree in English and Film Studies, yet you are asking for help with a project such as this?

[Guest MideonMark]

The films we could choose to compare/contrast with Kane were limited. Bascially we had three films to choose: His Girl Friday, Psycho or TimeCode. However for the second part of the exam there is a question on His Girl Friday which I plan to do and as we cannot use the same film in the 1st part of the exam as we did in the 2nd part, it leaves me with Psyhco and TimeCode. The problem I have now is finding comparisons and contrasts between Kane and Psycho. The question is bascially why is Citizen Kane so important in cinematic history. We must discuss this in the essay but we must also discuss its connections with Psycho.

[Guest MideonMark]

My degree is in English, but Film Studies is one of the subjects I had to choose to fill up my list of modules (the other being history) and as I am pretty average at Film Studies, yes I am asking for help with a project such as this.

[Jingus 0]

Bascially we had three films to choose: His Girl Friday, Psycho or TimeCode.

That is a really random selection of films there.

 

Personally, I'd go against the grain here and write an essay about all the stuff that Citizen Kane DIDN'T accomplish, all the achievements that it gets the credit for but were actually done earlier (deep focus for one, but I don't recall the first movie to use it at the moment), and point out examples of how far the technical side of moviemaking has come since then.

[Kaertos 0]

Yeah Jingus, but that's not what they're asking for. Mind you, that's an essay I'd love to read, but if he turns that in, he's going to get marked of for not answering the question.

 

On the other hand, if you are doing the whole compare and contract thing with Psycho, then I have to think there is something that is done in Psycho that is unique, and example of Hitchcock building on Kane's foundation.

[Jingus 0]

Sure, there are a hundred little camera & editing tricks that Hitchcock invented, and weren't used in Citizen Kane. At least a couple of them had to pop up in Psycho. I dunno, it's been a while since I've seen that movie and I'm too damn drunk to remember any specific details about it anyway. But in conclusion, yeah, Psycho would be MUCH easdier to compare-n-contrast than either His Girl Friday (overrated) or TimeCode (what the fuck is that movie doing in a history of film class?!).

[Boner Kawanger 0]

I'm just gonna name some stuff off the top of my head to see if it helps...

 

Citizen Kane was the first film to show a celing and Psycho was the first film to show a toilet (and a toilet flushing).

 

Both films had twist endings that have been parodied to death and become a common part of pop culture.

 

Both films were based on the lives of real people.

 

Probably not exactly what you're looking for, but if I'm writing an essay, sometimes stuff like this will help something pop out.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

Citizen Kane is to "cinema" the same way that Hitchcock's "Psycho" was to "horror" at the time. You can't help but think of that shower scene when someone mentions classic horror, the same way you can't help but think of Kane when people mention classic cinema.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Essentially, Citizen Kane took all the technology available at the time, and fused them into one neat package. Yes, movies before Kane used deep focus, but Kane demonstrated the possibilities.

 

As an aside, pick up the dvd set of Citizen Kane if possible. Roger Ebert's commentary is an invaluable resource.

[godthedog 0]

TimeCode (what the fuck is that movie doing in a history of film class?!)

because the advent of digital film is part of film history, and this one is an important example of it. great movie for generating discussion about what can be done with DV, "constructive" vs. "realistic" filmmaking and where this movie falls on the spectrum, ways it guides your attention without editing, the kind of pleasure it generates in a viewer v. a conventionally shot film.

 

my prof showed it in my film history class, and it worked fine.

 

question at hand...

 

welles and hitchcock were both known for doing subversive, weird things with the camera, sound, narrative, etc., and slipping them nicely into an easily watchable package. the shot of norman carrying his mother upstairs in 'psycho' is weird as shit, yet he makes it nice and seamless. pick any deep focus shot in 'kane' and you could say the same thing about it.

 

also, think about the ways they construct space, and how faithful they are to the space in a scene. think about the famous one-shot scene of kane's mother giving him away, v. the shower scene in 'psycho'. what kind of "sense" does the space make in each of them?

 

they both have bernard hermann composing the score, making him a good fulcrum for comparison. how and where does welles choose to put his music in, for what moments, for what purpose? what is welles trying to make the music DO in relation to the rest of the film? what does hitch do with music, and for what purpose? what's the FUNCTION of the piercing strings in the famous theme music, and how does it compare to what welles does?

 

they were both bonafide auteurs who were able to get exactly what they wanted, working in a standardized system that allows for almost no individual voice. talk about the different ways they accomplished that.

 

they're both centered around very charismatic male characters who you're sort of supposed to like and sort of not supposed to like. also very unique for american movies, you could talk about the differing ways that welles and hitch make you sympathize with them in some moments & make you hate them in others.

 

basically, watch both movies at least twice and take notes.

 

look up what andre bazin says about welles and 'kane', then find out what he says about hitchcock. bazin is your god, and everything he writes is gospel.

Roger Ebert's commentary is an invaluable resource.

yes.

 

(deep focus for one, but I don't recall the first movie to use it at the moment)

any number of lumiere brothers films used it.

[DMann2003 0]

*BUMP* Hey Mideon Mark, how'd that essay end up going? Can you post it? I was just searching the board today for stuff on Citizen Kane and say this thread, kinda curious how it went. I had to write a paper in one of my many film classes about Psycho and how it connected to the changing 60's, so I feel for you man. Hope it went well.