Citizen Kane

The film starts with a dark, ominous view of Xanadu, Kane’s mansion.  This is only to be contrasted suddenly by white snow.  It later forms into a snow covered house.  The viewer then realizes that the house is inside a snow globe.  Shortly after this, the snow globe breaks and Kane (the viewers don’t realize it is Kane yet) whispers Rosebud.  The opening scene of Citizen Kane is particularly striking because it represents the theme of the entire movie that the pursuit of the American dream has been destroyed in about two minutes.

        The eerie mansion and depressing music lures the viewer in.  The darkness represents unhappiness that Kane feels at the end of his life.  While Kane has a massive mansion and loads of material possessions, he does not experience happiness, but in fact the opposite.  The white snow suddenly contrasts Xanadu leaving the viewer confused.  The snow and white represents childhood innocence.  Based on interviews, the viewer realizes that Kane grew up in a snowy area.  This means that Kane wishes to go back to childhood, when he was innocent and happy, before he was taken from his parents and the corrupt pursuit of wealth, a time when he still had the idea of the American dream of not being poor.  The fact that the snow covered house is in a snow globe means that this dream is unobtainable and fake.  Wealth, material possessions, and happiness cannot all occur at the same time.  When the snow globe breaks, the American dream is broken.  

The only words spoken in this scene was the word Rosebud which starts the plot of the entire movie.  One single word sparks the entire plot.  This word is particularly impactful because the camera zooms in on Kane’s lips to the point where one can see individual mustache hairs.  Throughout the movie, people are searching for the meaning of this word.  Just as they cannot find the meaning of the word Rosebud, Kane cannot achieve the American dream of affluence and happiness.

While initially the viewer may be confused while watching the opening scene, it peaks the viewer’s curiosity and sums up the movie as a whole.  It is not until the end of the movie that viewer’s realize the full impact and symbolism of the first scene that the American dream is no longer obtainable.