Fletcher Marchant

FLM 1023

November 11, 2018

Symbols play a huge role when it comes to the diegesis of a story. Symbols can range

either from the setting: A gothic castle tucked away from the outside world looming over a sea of

trees blanketed by the twilight sky underneath the full moon. It can even be the most obvious yet

overlooked details like color choice or a button on a shirt; it all depends on how both the

producer wants it to be interpreted and the audience’s interpretation. One notable example is Star

Wars. George Lucas utilizes color to determine who the good guys are and who the bad guys are:

the Rebel Alliance and the First Order. The Rebel Alliance is the one side who wants to take

down the First Order and stand up to the Galactic Empire to defend their honor, sort of being the

underdog in the story. The First Order on the other hand is the side who despises the Rebel

Alliance for their morals and values. They are the ones who have an iron grip on the Galactic

Empire and will seek to take down both the Rebels and the Jedi Order. The Rebels are set, or

shown in lighter, warmer, and neutral tones symbolizing that they only seek freedom, peace, and

hope. While the First Order is shown in more darker, cooler, and brooding tones showing a sense

of fear and power. In short, figuring out which character is on which side is pretty black and

white, with the exception of the Stormtroopers whom are on a neutral turf between choosing the

Rebels or the First Order. Little details like color choice are often very direct showing us what is

the meaning of the character’s actions, but not always are the symbols so easily spotted.

Sometimes the audience will need to watch the film all the way walking alongside with the

characters to really interpret the meaning of the symbols that play with said characters. Citizen

Kane has several symbols that play with the story; starting at different points, but coming all
together in a neat little gift. These are the symbols that will be analyzed: Rosebud, the Snow

Globe, the Statues, and Xanadu. Rosebud serves as a barrier for Kane’s transition from

childhood to adulthood, trying to preserve the fond memories Kane has had before he was taken

away. The Snow Globe represents the small quiet life Kane wishes to seek with Susan, the main

love interest, free from the demands of his complex life. The Statues represent Kane’s control

and having the power to either manipulate, place, or ignore. Xanadu symbolizes the fragmented

and unknown parts of human emotion, specifically Kane’s complexity.

During childhood a child develops a deep attachment towards a certain object that has

been in his/her life for many years, even to adulthood sometimes. That said object serves as a

defense mechanism for stress, anxiety, fear, etc. but the adult must sometimes forget the object

acting only an enabler to past problems that haven’t been resolved. It also serves as a fond

memory for the person something that he/she will never forget. Reminiscing about the object too

also serves as an enabler and Rosebud is no exception. Rosebud is Kane’s childhood sled he has

cherished since he was about the age of 6 years old. It is considered by Kane as one of his

happiest memories, something he will never forget nor choose to be forgotten. Even taken away

by Thatcher Kane pushes the sled against him acting like a barrier. This act shows that Kane

does not want to transition between from youthfulness to reality as he does not understand the

harsh reality. But to no avail he is still taken away to be educated, blended, and matured into the

man he is in the film. Thatcher then gives Kane a new sled named “Crusader” as a gift. Later on

Kane becomes resentful and rebellious towards Thatcher by leisurely spending the profits for

Kane’s newspaper, the Inquirer, for what is best for the company than Thatcher. Crusader is

important since Kane will spend most of his time on a vengeful crusade against Thatcher later on

acting as a weapon clashing against Rosebud’s innocence. Later on throughout the film the
reporter narrating the story, Mr. Thompson, tries to find out the case of “What does Rosebud

mean?” when Kane whispered the word as his final breath, but until the very end, he has found

himself with a vast array of luxurious possessions with no answer, very oxymoronic. The big

part that plays along is when the workers throw Kane’s items into the incinerator and the camera

zooms into a sled labelled “Rosebud” as one the very last shots. The burning of Rosebud

represents Kane’s youth and his happiest memories disappearing only to leave nothing but

loneliness and false pleasure. The trick of the sled being representational than finally

materializing plays a huge role in the film’s narrative structure; Rosebud is a main diegetic

element that misleads the audience into believing that is something of representation but rather

being something of presentation. When Kane drops the snow globe and whispers the word

“Rosebud” as his last word, it focuses all on the question of “Who or what is Rosebud?” while

leaving the snow globe in the shadows. This sleight of hand gives the audience the connection of

Rosebud been a major diegetic element, but finally the word Rosebud materializes into a sled

fixating that Rosebud was something of value to the character than it was to the meaning of said

word.

Another main diegetic element that is shown in the very first shots is the unspoken snow

globe; when Kane is shown clutching on to the snow globe while on the edge of death

whispering the word “Rosebud” the snow globe falls from his hand and shatters into pieces as he

dies. Later on in the film, the snow globe is seen with Kane’s mistress, Susan, and again with

Kane thinking about his mother. Finally it is shown in the last few scenes where Kane in anger

trashes Susan’s room for her leaving him, but only then notices the snow globe on top of the

dresser. Kane then walks out of the destroyed room passing through a corridor of two mirrors

facing each other creating the illusion of an endless number of portals to each mirror. The snow
globe in particular is pretty simple and idyllic: a small cozy cabin sits nicely in the middle of the

snow globe cover with a blanket of snow on top of the roof while ‘snow flakes’ float down onto

the ground. This simple and neat cabin symbolizes Kane’s wanting for a quiet life, free from the

prying eyes of the public, the newspaper, and the friends. Kane’s whole purpose for loving Susan

was to obtain a quiet life, even though having an affair seems very ironic. Kane having both a

wife and a son while dating a singer whom he had just barely met refutes the main purpose of the

symbolism of the snow globe. The snow globe metaphorically connects with both Susan and

Kane’s mother, Mary Kane. Him being a child raised by his parents in the small town of Little

Salem, Colorado Kane had control and complete knowledge of where his parents were and how

we was going to spend his life; he wasn’t tossed to the wolves and forced to survive, he knew

what coming and that’s what young Kane wanted most. When Thatcher took him away, that

lifestyle was then questioned and it changed Kane to resenting Thatcher for most of his

adulthood. It was only then when Kane met Susan that the simple-quiet lifestyle was founded

again. This new founding has changed Kane into being controlling in every manner imaginable.

From forcing Susan into continuing her opera performances to the sudden move to Xanadu being

isolated from the outside world. This scare has made Kane push to the edge of desperation when

Susan leaves him due to his control-problems. The snow globe, Susan, and Kane’s mother all

connect that he is not able to have the simple life and in return, Susan and his mother abandoned

him only leaving the husk of a lonely man.

Statues have always been appreciated throughout history for the pure nature that appeals

to the common man. Many notable examples: David, Aphrodite, etc. have been sculpted to

epitomize a concept such as Love or Man. But there are times when people get too attached to

the statue, such as Pygmalion, a man who fell in love with a statue made of ivory. But
metaphorically speaking, these deep attachments that are developed towards statues morphs into

an obsession leading to control. After Kane leaves New York with his mistress, Susan, they find

residence in a monumental palace known as “Xanadu”. Here Kane is able to collect statues all

over world leading to the point of collecting duplicates of the same statue. One of Kane’s

colleagues urges him to stop collecting the statues since it is overflowing in his office, but Kane

disregards the comment and still collects even with neither joy nor discrimination. Statues are

easily manipulated because they are inanimate objects; they neither can do nothing nor say

anything. Statues play as a conversation starter and as a trophy to boast to rivals. When a

sculptor makes a mistake they are able to fix it easily, and that is what Kane is: the artist. His

pattern of controlling the people around only further distances himself and his love ones to the

point of leaving the outside world to the reclusive palace that is Xanadu. Eventually the Statues

will be replaced by living people and Kane will die while being surrounded by these statues.

The Xanadu is the monolithic fortress Kane resides to escape the demands of the public

to “spend time” with Susan and no one else. The first scenes of the film focus on a both a sign

labelled—NO TRESSPASSING—and the camera running alongside with the fence that

surrounds Xanadu. Then the audience will find themselves peering through the eerie fog to

gazing on the lone castle that stands looming over the valley. The symbolism of the sign and the

fence means that Kane does not want anyone else to know about his privacy, keeping something

in the dark for the sake of his own reputation possibly. The far off distant shot of Xanadu means

that when we interact with Kane we only see the outside, but Kane would rather have different

motives of distancing himself to keep his life private. After the still of the distant shot is finished

the camera slowly zooms in focusing on Xanadu and a moat that surrounds the castle. This moat

acts as a barrier so Kane can keep his life private, but it makes the person reflect on the motives
Kane has to make these extra precautions. Next shots focus on two ferries docked in the pier;

symbolizing in Greek mythology the entrance to the underworld is guarded by Chiron the

ferryman whom carries the dead to their eternal damnations. These two ferries convince the

audience that Xanadu brews something more sinister than meets the eye, something that is not

meant for the faint of heart. Finally to the last shots of the film, the shots are in reversed order,

but it still focuses on Xanadu, the fences, and then to the NO TRESSPASSING signs

symbolizing that we have fully seen what Kane has to offer, but there is somethings Kane would

rather take to his grave than to be exploited.

Citizen Kane is highly praised for its take on the human complexities of the unconscious,

but I believe that this take seems too dark for something to be critically analyzed, yet I digress. It

is still an exceptional film that utilizes deceitful tricks, metaphorical items, and human emotions

to describe how some climatic moment in Kane’s childhood warped him into hiding in the

shadows like a phantom of the opera: Always in control of the show and never truly understood.

Kane’s connection with Rosebud really plays with his emotions from knowing what to expect in

life into a vengeful crusade against his own legal guardian just to spite him. It’s childish, but it is

a childishness that connects to what it really means. The snow globe’s comfy abode is very

subtle about what it means, but it gradually becomes more prevalent till the very end, being

highly clever about the truth of a quiet life. The statues and Xanadu are also subtle throughout

the film, but are brought more into the light to being seen what they truly are. Citizen Kane has

this use of contradictions starting off as a huge question mark to the audience, but through

detective work, we come more into light to see how we interpret the meaning of that question

mark with more questions, ultimately having no straightforward answer.

1. Eberle, Scott. “The Real Puzzle in Citizen Kane” Psychology Today. 4 Oct. 2012. Web.

12 Nov. 2018

2. Gottlieb, Sidney “Citizen Kane: American Heroes and Witnesses” North Dakota

Quarterly. 1992. Web. 12 Nov. 2018

3. Damasceno, Paula. “Rosebud” and the “Glass Ball” Two Tricks to the Myth-Making of

Citizen Kane” University of North Carolina Greensboro 7 Apr. 2016. Web. 12 Nov. 2018

4. Wood, Greta. “Citizen Kane: Narrative Style and Kane’s Character” 21 Feb. 2018. Web.

12 Nov. 2018

5. Burgo, Joseph. “Citizen Kane: Before We Called It Narcissistic Personality Disorder”

Psych Central 11 Jan. 2012. Web. 12 Nov. 2018

6. Leech, Charles. “The Storm Trooper Effect: Semiotic Complexity in White Packaging”

SemiotiX Web. 12 Nov. 2018

7. Hawthorne, Christopher “Rosebud Remix” Slate 19 Oct. 2001. Web. 12 Nov. 2018