citizen kane

Charles Foster Kane was a very wealthy newspaper publisher whose life is the subject of the movie. He grows up to be an arrogant and callous man, but very powerful. Kane has many actions in the film that seem contradictory and unexplainable, but they are really not. If you take a look at his childhood most of his actions can be explained. When Kane is only eight years old he is sent away to live with his mom’s banker, Thatcher, because his mom comes into a big fortune. This sudden separation from his mom keeps Charles from growing past the needy and aggressive behaviors of pre-teens and always keeps him longing for some type of emotional attachment. He could never get close to Thatcher, Kane kept pushing him away when he tried to act parental, or anybody else. That is why as an adult Kane’s obsessive spending and collecting reveal that he is trying to fill that empty space inside him with objects instead of people, because everything he buys is for the sake of having it, not because it gives him joy. All Kane really wants is something that he can love. An example of this is when people kept talking about Rosebud and wondering who or what it is but nobody could figure it out. Finally it ends up being his sled from when he was younger and got it taken away from him, but then he got another one named Crusader. Though it was not the same because Kane was just trying to fill that hole.

Film Noir

Film Noir is a stylistic movement/sub genre type of film that came about after World War II. The absence of light; characters that striking in their absence of good, or light, motives and attitudes; and the special plots with there lack of upbeat endings, light-hearted moments, or happy times are what make up the “Film Noir” form. The past couple of weeks in class we have watched Laura, The Maltese Falcon, and Touch of Evil. All these movies are great examples of Film Noir because they are all different forms of the genre but they are still alike.
The movie Laura is said to be one of the most stylist, elegant, moody, and witty classic film noirs ever to be made. With a great cast of unique characters, like the shadowy Laura, a dim-witted and slithery Vincent Price, and a unconventional and puzzle playing dectivie Dana Andrews; interesting plot points; and the lighting through out the film make up its traits for a film noir. There are many film noir plot points that make up the movie like the anything but upbeat ending where Vincent Price tries to kill Laura and ends up dying, the unlight-hearted moment when people find out that Laura is not really dead so now they have to figure out who died, and the many unhappy moments were people deal with the death. Also the lighting in this movie is very classic to the Film Noir type because it was rarely that light and always very shadowy.
The Maltese Falcon is one of the most popular and classic detective mysteries made, also considered one of the first dark film noirs movies. This movie leaves the audience with a distinctly down-beat conclusion and bitter taste witch is classic in film noirs to have a lack of upbeat endings. The Maltese Falcon characters that play corrupt, deceitful villains, low-life crooks, and tough heroes are classic to the making up of the film genre. Yet again the light is shadowy and dark through out the movie.

Charlotte Warder