Rosebud essays

Rosebud essays Like that shining window in the distance, Rosebud becomes the elusive focal point for a newsreel reporter's investigation into the life and times of Citizen Kane, an exploration that provides the plot framework for the movie. And like those shifting, sometimes inverted, initial images, each person reporter Thompson (William Alland) interviews provides a different perspective, a contrasting image of the same man: Charles Foster Kane. Rosebud serves as a very important motivation in the film. It creates Thompsons goal and focuses our attention on his delving into the life of Kane. Rosebud clues provide the basic motivation necessary for the plot to progress. Thompson searches for the meaning of Rosebud. As Thompson says near the end of the movie: "Perhaps Rosebud was something he couldn't get or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn't have explained anything. I don't think any word can explain a man's life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a piece in a jigsaw puzzle." It is possible that identifying the meaning of puzzle of Rosebud solves the mystery of Charles Foster Kanes life. All parts of the great jigsaw puzzle that is his American Life. The mystery of Rosebud- combined with the mastery of Orson Welles and his collaborators-draws the audiences focus back to Kane again and again. The sled itself is not the answer.Thompson explains what Rosebud is, but not what Rosebud means. The film's construction shows how our lives, after we are gone, survive only in the memories of the living. In the viewers mind, there is the Kane who made shadow figures with his fingers, and the Kane who hated the traction trust; the Kane who chose his mistress ove r his marriage and political career, the Kane who entertained millions, the Kane who died alone. There is a parallel between the two major lines of action: Kanes life and Thompsons search. Rosebud is a summary of the things Kane strives for through his life. His ina...