Citizen Kane analysis
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Orson Welles produced, directed and starred in Citizen Kane, the classic masterpiece which communicates its original narrative through ground-breaking cinematography, lighting, music, setting, sound and performances. The film has underlying symbols in every single shot, and uses innumerable cinematic devices to convey meaning. One of the many implications Citizen Kane makes is strongly embodied in the sequence of Kane and his wife Susan at their palace, Xanadu. Welles' choice of camera shots, mise-en-scene and movement in this sequence are used effectively to symbolize women's inferiority to men.
The manner in which Susan Alexander is shot in this sequence is perhaps the most obvious indication as to how females are portrayed in this film. The majority of shots of Susan are medium or close-up shots; in fact almost all of the close-up shots in the entire film are of Susan. These close shots, especially when taken in moderate to high key lighting, give Susan an air of youthfulness, vulnerability and emphasize her meekness. Compared to Kane, who enters the scene in shadows and is almost always shot in the long-range, Susan comes across as being fragile, small and weak. As the camera cuts to a long shot taken from behind Kane's left shoulder, Susan appears so small that the spectator must actually search the mise-en-scene for her. By choosing these particular camera shots and angles, Welles uses cinematic devices to portray women...