Power: Kane's Goal and Ultimate Demise

Citizen Kane is the story of Charles Foster Kane, who is a massively wealthy and famous media personality, and who dies at his estate while holding a snow globe and uttering the words “Rosebud”.  Kane’s death makes newspaper headlines, and reporter Jerry Thompson attempts to unravel Kane’s life and to discover the meaning behind his last word. Thompson interviews all the former members of Kane’s life, and is able to reconstruct the celebrity’s past.   He learns that while Kane enjoyed enormous financial and professional success, he was incapable of leading a cohesive private life for a significant time period. After two divorces and the strange absence of his son, Kane dies alone in his cavernous palace.

Consistently present in the film is the inclusion of thunder and lightning. This ominous foreshadowing is characteristic in drama films and film noir, and represents the dark and elusive life of Kane.

Charles Kane’s enormous wealth leads to his power, and to his abusive nature in his second marriage and his ultimate demise.  Kane himself remarks, “If I hadn’t been really rich, I might have been a really great man.” His drive to succeed and own property was a vicious cycle: once he started buying, he couldn’t stop. Everything for him was about power. He then needed attention, because he was too busy for any personal relationships. Gary Simmons writes in his article Smoke and Mirrors in Citizen Kane: “So the film can also be viewed as a psychological drama, or psychodrama. It is clearly located in the psyche of Kane… The film is a case study of a number of psychological characteristics such as megalomania, hubris, narcissism and delusion…” Leland, Kane’s former employee and friend, remarks about his boss later on to Thompson: “He married for love -- that's why he did everything. That's why he went into politics. It seems we weren't enough. He wanted all the voters to love him, too. All he really wanted out of life was love. That's Charlie's story -- it's the story of how he lost it. You see, he just didn't have any to give. He never believed in anything except Charlie Kane.” The truth is this statement is manifest at every turn in the story. Kane loses two wives because of his inability to reciprocate love. Kane’s first wife leaves him because he never has time for her, but he expects her to shower him with unconditional love anyway. His second wife too divorces him, because it finally dawns upon her that when they married, they became one unit. And that unit was Charles Foster Kane. He forces her to sing, even when she protests and pleads with him; he berates her enjoyment of doing puzzles, and he forces her to accompany him on a picnic. When she finally tries to leave, he slaps her. Although Kane is seen as an enormous success story by the media, in truth, he isn’t. He is physically and publicly a strong character, but emotionally, he is weak and power-hungry, and it leads to his tragic solitary death. He has no friends or family by his side when he dies, and no one personally cares. Ultimately, this film is a story about the corruption of wealth: when Kane became wealthy, he became powerful, and desperate for love and approval.  When he couldn’t reciprocate love in his shallow relationships, his personal life went to pieces, and he died a lonely man.   

The Maltese Falcon and Film Noir

The Maltese Falcon revolves around its namesake, a long-lost valuable bird statuette, and how three devious schemers plot to finally lay their hands on the bird. While researching the so-called disappearance of client Brigid O’Shaughnessy’s sister, private investigator Archer is shot. His partner, Spade, continues his research, when Thursby, the man suspected to be behind the disappearance of O’Shaughnessy’s sister, is also shot. Through dealings with various shady characters, Spade uncovers the mystery behind the murders: a long-lost black falcon statuette. He eventually discovers that O’Shaughnessy is not the innocent schoolgirl that she seems to be; rather, she was behind Archer’s murder in the hope that Thursby would be eliminated, and she would not have to split the proceeds from the falcon with him. O’Shaughnessy tries everything to ingratiate herself to Spade so he won’t turn her into the police when he discovers her schemes, but he is determined to reveal her, and she is taken into custody along with several other crooked men.

The Maltese Falcon emphasizes elements of film noir, which are crime dramas involving cynicism and mystery. Spade is the quintessential “hard-boiled” detective of film noir who has a characteristically tough attitude. He mocks Wilmer and plays on his low self-esteem, and recommends that he be framed as the perpetrator of all the crimes committed and turned in to the police. Additionally, Spade “plays” all the women in his life, and manipulates them all so he can attain his goals and fulfill his personal agenda. For example, he has several pet names for Effie, his secretary, and she is always running at his every beck and call, like when she delivers the falcon to Spade at an ungodly hour. He sleeps with Iva, the wife of his partner, Archer, but when Iva comes to him for help after Archer is shot, Spade ignores her and asks Effie to send flowers to the family as a way to brush off Iva. Last but not least, he “plays” O’Shaughnessy the most. He casually asks for her love, and manipulates her into thinking that he loves her, and so she reciprocates. But he is just after her looks; her schoolgirl, mysterious, untruthful character frustrates him. At the end, when O’Shaughnessy begs for mercy and reminds Spade of his love for her, he kisses her quickly, and turns her in to the police. Although Spade solves the mysteries, he is the ultimate manipulative, devious, hard-boiled detective.

Abigail Jaffe

"What wives don't know won't hurt them."

 Jerry Warriner told his wife Lucy he was going to Florida, but he then vacations somewhere else, while Lucy Warriner is involved with her voice instructor in her husband's absence. Both return to their home, and an argument quickly escalates about the whereabouts of the other. Divorce is suggested, and is quickly pursued. Jerry and Lucy both engage in external, artificial romantic relationships to make the other jealous. Eventually, the couple find themselves together in a cabin, and Jerry apologizes for his foolish behavior. The ending strongly implies that they will reunite and remarry.

The title is one of the first utterances Jerry makes in the film. Jerry's phrase forms the entire fabric of the story, and  foreshadows the forthcoming events of the abrubt and carefree end of the couple's marriage. The essential problem in their marriage is that they don't truly trust each other and live cohesively as a functional unit. They are both leading their own lives while living under the same roof. Jerry takes a solo vacation to "Not-Florida" which is shrowded in mystery and suspicion, while Lucy spends the night at a hotel away from home with her voice instructor. The title embodies the attitude that Jerry has about his marriage, the idea that "I can do my thing, and she'll do hers, and we'll both lead our own independent lives while still being members of the institution of marriage". This kind of attitude in their relationship was so destructive for them, and led to  immense suspicion of the other. The idea that suspicion cannot be sustained in a marriage is constantly repeated by varying parties throughout the film, and Jerry even apologizes for his suspicious behavior at the very end. Thus, the couple living side by side but leading independent lives led to mistrust and suspicion, which quickly culminated in divorce.

42nd Street Response, ENGL 245

            Set in the heart of the Great Depression, the musical “42^nd Street”  represents those living the “better life” during difficult times. The star of the film is Dorothy Brock, whose “angel” Abner Dillon is the show’s financial-backer.

The film begins when Peggy Sawyer, a prospective actress, misses the audition for the performance of “Pretty Lady”.  Sawyer meets women who utilize their connections with Julian Marsh, the broke, ill, and determined producer, and consequently Marsh allows Sawyer to participate in the show. Right before opening night, the star Brock fractures her ankle and is unable to perform. Dillon wants Ann Lowell to be cast as the star, and she in turn convinces Marsh that she is not talented enough to play the role, but that the greenhorn Sawyer is. Brock arrives shortly before the performance begins and wishes Sawyer good luck, and even gives her some advice on how to play the role.

The setting is crucial to the film, as it represents a magical beacon of hope with happy dancers and actors in the turbulent times to which many of the film’s views were subject. But the film is reflexive, with the film’s audience watching a stressed audience of producers viewing the performance. This situation reminds the film’s viewers that they are not alone, that there are so many others out there like them who are suffering too.

Some iconography that can be noted in the film is the dangling cigar and the mustache, indicating wealthy, dissatisfied, and powerful men.

“42^nd Street” was a film which intended to give hope and optimism to its viewers, who were probably seeking catharsis from their plight when they saw the film in the midst of the Great Depression. Aside from merely providing distraction, the film emphasized the American Capitalism Ideology, in which hard work and perseverance can provide one with a happy, satisfying, and fulfilling life. In the film, producer Julian Marsh is just another who is stuck in the vicious cycle of the Depression, and yet through his tireless and vigorous efforts he manages to produce a hit performance in five weeks. Similarly, Peggy Sawyer arrives to audition, with no experience, and through hard work (and albeit sheer luck), she rises to stardom: a typical rags-to-riches scenario. Dorothy Brock continues to star in shows even though she was really only a one-hit wonder, and continuously performs in search of her second lucky break.

 Emphasizing the simple American message of toiling in return for a fulfilling life was encouraging to Americans, and provided them with temporary relief and optimism at seeing the simplicity of the former ethic in “42^nd Street”.