Separation
Something that I found really interesting was the short time Kane and Susan were in the palace. Kane supposedly built the place for Susan but it was obvious that Susan did not care for it and she wanted to return to her old life style. I think that something that was very interesting was the fact that the only thing we saw Susan do was try and solve jigsaw puzzles. This represents all of the movie. The plot is to try and figure out what “Rosebud” means. Thompson says at the end that this whole thing was just a jigsaw puzzle and he was just finding one of the pieces. I also found this interesting because of the fact that Susan has this amazing home and yet she only does one simple thing. Granted the size of the puzzle is noticeably big, she still does nothing with what is provided for her. It is also noticeable in this scene the distance that is in between Susan and Kane. Kane is sitting so far away from Susan that it is almost impossible for them to hear each other. This symbolizes two different things but they both have to do with separation. First this is the downfall of Kane and Susan’s relationship. After the move, nothing was the same and Susan ends up leaving Kane. But this also symbolizes the separation of Kane and what should be important. Kane is no longer in touch with his newspaper, his friends or his family. Rosebud is for his family and his childhood, the one thing he lost and couldn’t get back. It was the final piece to his jigsaw puzzle.
I think that what you focus on is very thought-provoking. In part of my own response, I focused on the "No Trespassing" sign that both opens and closes the film. I said that this had metaphorical significance to the behavior that Kane exhibits throughout the progression of the film. I think that, as you have seen, the jigsaw puzzle can represent Susan's place in life, and how she often feels lost. I think that when you combine these two metaphors, it shows why, as you captured in the scene that you chose, the relationship between Susan and Kane was not as effective as they wanted it to be
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ReplyDeleteDear Todd,
ReplyDeleteI agree. Susan is clearly unhappy with her marriage and life. All she truly wants is Charles love and affection. She has everything she could every want at her finger tips, but she's still not happy. I think that is a huge theme in Citizen Kane. The idea that money can't buy happiness is shown in multiple characters. Charles moved in with Thatcher at a young age to live the American Dream and move up in social class. He went to nice schools and got everything he ever wanted. But, what was truly missing in his life was affection. Thatcher was nothing but a business deal and his parent's weren't around to care for him. There was something missing in his life and like the reporter trying to solve the "jigsaw puzzle", Kane spends his time trying to find the answer. He tries buying statues, building palaces, and running for mayor, but nothing can buy the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle.
In my response I touched upon the idea that Kane and Susan had everything needed to be happy with each other yet the love was gone, both wanting something they were unable to get. Kane himself never appeared as fulfilled and when he lost what he held close to him, it greatly had an impact on him. I didn't really look into the jigsaw idea that you mentioned but now that you have i feel like it applies to everything about this movie. Something is missing in everything in this movie
ReplyDeleteTodd,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis of how Susan and Kane are extremely distanced from each other, and that it leads to the downfall of their relationship. It is clear that through the scenes you pointed out, the puzzle and the talking scene, as well as other scenes such as the overdose one, that Kane does not truly care for Susan and his fame and how he is viewed is more important. I also agree with your connection between how that downfall of Kane and Susan's relationship leads to Kane's own separation form his newspaper, and ultimately his death. Kane's poor relationship with his wife is definitely one of the key factors in developing the plot of the story and how Kane's life progresses. I think you illustrate this in your post extremely well.
I like how you connected the whole movie plot into a puzzle and everyone major character in the film had their own puzzle to solve. And how they spent the whole movie trying to figure them out. I found interesting how you said that the puzzles help to drive the kane's apart because Susan was so involved in her puzzles that she didn't really pay attention to Kane and how Kane was so involved in his work that he didn't pay attention to her. I thought that the puzzles led to one another because the kanes where so involved in solving there own puzzles that they gave up on each other and once they split and Kane died another puzzle started in trying to figure out what rosebud was.
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