Citizen Kane - Katherine Lung
I wouldn’t list Citizen Kane as one of “the best of all time�. The appeal of the American Dream is not as relevant as it was back then, and I believe it’s just harder for the majority of the population to relate to this as the middle class families have been growing steadily. Although I enjoyed the movie to a certain extent because I do believe that there is much more to life than the American Dream. It is not about the quantity of materials, but the quality and significance of holding such materials, whether it is excessive or not. The difference in the adult’s (Kane’s parents) idea of what happiness is (wealth) compare to a child’s (Charles Foster Kane) idea of what happiness is (family), is significant in the movie as at the end on his deathbed when he mentions the name of his sledge, brings us back to the notion that all the wealth he acquired and the love he bought never filled the void of leaving his family and the simpler times during his childhood. As he acquires wealth and spends money ruthlessly throughout the movie, it is fairly apparent that he was becoming farther and farther from affections he desired. In his final home, his palace, the large fireplace was sparsely furnished, normal conversation was hard to hold (they were shouting in the grand hall or … living room?) and everybody was unhappy. It was ironic how Charles Kane thought wealth could buy back what lacked from him but at the end what mattered to him most was considered worthless when he died and was burnt. It was a good movie and the irony forces people to rethink the concept of the American Dream.