Analyzing Orson Welles Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles, is considered to still be one of the world’s greatest movies ever produced. Citizen Kane is a powerful dramatic tale about the uses and abuses of wealth and power. It's a classic American tragedy about a man of great passion, vision, and greed, who pushes himself until he brings ruins to himself and all around him. From the scene depicting Kane’s meeting Jim Gettys, the audience observes that Kane has aborted his youthful ambitions and has become self-absorbed, which leads to his downfall. Welles conveys this to viewers in this scene by mise-en-scene, camera angles, movement, and lighting.
From an Interview with Kane’s oldest friend, Jebediah Leland, provides the necessary exposition on Kane’s personal life and becoming a victim to his professional life. It begins with series of dinners Kane has with
Over a short period of time the passion Kane once had for his marriage had simply been transferred back into his newspaper. His dissolving marriage had placed him in the situation to come in contact with the young Susan Alexander. As the two invested the time into one another, Kane convinces Susan to perform on the piano for him, in which occurs more than once. Kane’s quiet applause for her private piano recital for him dissolves into a similarly rhythmic applause during Leland's campaign speech for Kane before a small crowd. Leland introduces Kane ideology on a workingman's ticket to a small outdoor audience, describing him with mythic proportions: “the fighting liberal, the friend of the working man, the next governor of this state, who entered upon this campaign...” The scene jump cuts to the echoing and booming of Kane voice finishes Leland's words in a