Citizen Kane

1) Relate what was discussed in class to the screening:

In class we discussed that Orson Welles had never made a movie before and that this movie he was given complete control over things like the script, producers and directors.  The main character in the movie was Charles Foster Kane who was based off of a real life newspaper creator William Randolph Hearst.  William Randolph Hearst was wealthy from his father's fortune, some of it he made mining.  We then discussed that Hearst's mansion called San Simeon was where Xanadu was based in the film.  

2)  Find a related article and summarize the content:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kane2/

This article discusses a couple of things.  It states that before Orson Welles created Citizen Kane in 1941,  "there was a buzz about the movie and the "boy genius" who made it."  The article also discusses that when Hearst heard of the movie being made, to protect his reputation he set out to have the movie shut down.  Hollywood executives which included and was run by Louis B. Mayer tried to fight Hearst to purchase the film to "burn the negative".  The article states that Hearst was successful in keeping his reputation in tact for a quarter of a century before Citizen Kane was brought about.  William Randolph Hearst and Orson Wells were both talented men with strong opinions who were almost too intelligent for their own good.   

3) Apply the article to the film screened in class:

The article explains that Hearst did not want his reputation to be ruined and seeing the events that took place in the movie, you can understand why.  It states that Welles was out to "dethrone" Hearst and he was successful at making him look like an arrogant man that thought many people were below him in life.  For Citizen Kane to be his first movie, it was successful and got the attention he wanted.

4) Give a critical analysis of the film:

Citizen Kane was not truly something I would ever watch again.  I think that the plot was interesting, finding out what the underlying meaning of his last word was, but the events that took place felt dragged on and uneventful.  Even though I found it not something I would watch again, the actors were quite talented and he did a great job at choosing a cast while having full reign over the movie.  The mystery aspect could keep someone actively engaged.

   (x) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class.

    (x) If I reused any information from other papers I have writing for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper

3(x) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text.

4(x) I have not padded the bibliography.  I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper.

5(x) I have cited in the bibliography.  I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper.

6(x) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way.  I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography

7(x) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality.

9(x) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.

Name: Laura Mazzola_________________________ Date: 4/13/14_________