Rosebud is perhaps the most famous symbol in movie history. What is the significance of the name "rosebud?" What is the significance of the sled? Is it the key to understanding Kane's life or just one missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle that does not explain much at all? A meaningful symbol or a MacGuffin? Are there other symbols in the film that are more meaningful or complement you reading of the sled (such as statues, jigsaw puzzles, Xanadu, etc)?
The symbol of rosebud in Citizen Kane is significant because it is used to push the story forward so that we can learn more about Kane throughout the movie and then in the end it is the final piece of information that brings together Kane's character. The movie starts with Charles Foster Kane's death and then proceeds to tell his life through the searching of Thompson the journalist to find out what rosebud means. One of the first scenes in the movie with Kane is when he is a child playing out in the snow with his sled before he is taken away by Thatcher. Although we do not know it yet, the rest of the movie shows Kane straying farther and farther away from that moment in his childhood, and farther from the last time he was able to be himself. The journalist trying to find out what rosebud means after Kane's death is analogous to how Kane was searching for it his entire life. An example of this is when he first meets Susan Alexander and says that he was searching for his childhood walking through the rain on the street. This scene where he is wandering in the rain contrasts deeply with when he was playing in the snow as a kid and shows how far away he is from regaining his childhood. Rosebud also refers back to the sled which symbolizes how his life went downhill with more money and power and the farther away he got from his childhood.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Rosebud was just the name of a sled in Citizen Kane, the meaning behind the name actually allows readers to relate the development of Kane as a character all the way back to him as a kid. Throughout the movie, Kane continues to gain massive amounts of materialistic wealth, yet he never seemed to be satisfied. Starting off as an owner of a newspaper publisher, Kane participated in political elections and gained more authority throughout the process. He married twice, and attempted to use his wealth to satisfy his loved one. Unfortunately, Kane’s character development had shown that not only was he unsuccessful as a caring husband, he jeopardized his election. All of this seemed to the audience that he was an egoistic man blinded by wealth and power. Towards the end of the movie, Kane fell ill and had nothing but stone cold statues by his side. As he passed away, he was holding a snow globe and said “Rosebud”. Although it may not have appeared to have any sort of significant meaning, the final shot of revealing the sled Rosebud tied everything together. Kane wasn’t as much of an egoistic man as it may have appeared. In his last few days, all he wanted was the happiness from his childhood shown in the beginning of the movie. Perhaps he had always desired this happiness as it was stripped away from him at such a young age. Kane tried to fulfill this emptiness with success in the newspaper industry, with one or two lovely wives, with political power, with fame, or maybe with a gigantic mansion on the top of a mountain. In the end, nothing could’ve replaced his childhood happiness, it has been a downhill trend ever since the beginning, just like sledding down the hill in front of his house. His actions weren’t simply motivated by blind selfishness, he was simply a man that was lost in his path to find the joy he never got to experience as a kid.
ReplyDeleteRosebud plays a significant role in the understanding of Kane’s life, and although it is a small piece to Kane’s puzzle, it is the most crucial. Citizen Kane is all about extravagant representations of wealth and status, and after Kane’s death, reporters instantly began trying to solve the puzzle about what Kane’s last word, Rosebud meant. There was a general consensus amongst the journalists that, for a man of Kane’s wealth and prominence, Rosebud must be a part of Kane’s life that could produce an eye-catching headline. While the journalists are busy trying to find what Rosebud is, they let it slip under their nose, as they deem the object to them as insignificant enough to be burned with several of Kane’s belongings. Rosebud turned out to be the name of a sled from Kane’s past, and a representation of the childhood he dearly misses. When Kane is on the verge of death, he destroys a room in his massive Xanadu palace, and decides to spare a small, seemingly meaningless snow globe. This concept of objects that represent winter having a place in Kane’s mind is alluded to earlier in the film, when a dissolve cut shows a snow-covered Rosebud overlapping with a young Kane’s head. From this moment in his childhood, to his death, memories of winter were engrained in Kane’s mind. To Kane, Rosebud was a physical representation of simpler times during childhood. Similar to a sled, Kane’s life went downhill and never recovered proceeding this treasured memory. In addition to Rosebud offering material meaning to Kane, there is symbolic meaning too. The meaning behind the name Rosebud signifies Kane’s life insofar as the name is Rosebud, rather than rose. Similar to Kane, a rosebud is an un-blossomed flower, whose life was never fully lived, experienced and fulfilled. Rosebud is the piece of Kane’s puzzle that means the most to him, and without it, the puzzle goes unfinished. Rosebud is a vital part of Citizen Kane’s overarching commentary on materialistic living, as it represents a small remnant in the life of one of America’s most prestigious. The material belongings in Kane’s life bring no meaningful value to him, but instead a nostalgic object that provides good memories is what matters the most to Kane. Throughout the film, Kane purchases statues, art, and property to try to fill the void left by the passage of time. However, the stark reality is that although many believe that “time is money”, money couldn’t let Kane control the passage of time.
ReplyDeleteThe rosebud sled is an essential part of Citizen Kane in two different respects. One, it is a key driving point of the plot to find out what Rosebud means, and two, it is a critical part of understanding Kane's character. As the movie starts, we are greeted with the death of Kane, who mentions the word Rosebud. This confounds the reporter, as he does not know what this means. After this, the reporter goes on to discover more and more about who Kane is and why he acted how he did in hopes to discover what Rosebud meant. This demonstrates that it's the mystery which is Rosebud that moves the plot forward. If Rosebud wasn’t such a mystery, there wouldn’t be as much of a need for the reporter to go around questioning people about Kane, as his death would be seen more as a tragedy and less of mystery. For Kane’s character, Rosebud was a symbol of his childhood, something which he hoped to return to. During the movie, Kane is presented as an ego-driven man who wants nothing but status and wealth. Due to this, before he died, Kane was surrounded by nothing but his status. His wife had left him, and he had lost everything that had mattered to him. However, before dying, he held up a small snowglobe, a nod to what winter and rosebud meant to him. This showed to the audience that all along Kane just wanted to return to his childhood. Additionally, Rosebud also could be interpreted as a metaphor for how Kane’s life went downhill, much as a sled does. Throughout the film Kane’s wealth and status which he amassed are taken away from him, leaving him with ultimately nothing, hitting rock bottom before his death. This is very similar to how sleds work since they only move downward, showing the metaphorical connection Rosebud also has to Kane’s downfall. Overall Rosebud represents the mystery that was Kane’s life, a driving point of the plot of the film. Rosebud also represents the tragedy of Kane’s character through his desire for his childhood and his downfall from the top.
ReplyDeleteI believe the significance in the name “rosebud” has everything to do with the notion of blossoming. A bud is simply a flower that has not yet blossomed, or grown into its adult phase. A rosebud that’s picked prematurely never gets the chance to grow or blossom into what it’s supposed to be - and I think this is a metaphor for Kane’s life. From a young age, he was taken from his home, and never got the chance to mature. He was very wealthy, so it’s not unreasonable to assume he often got his way and didn’t behaviorally mature, or was maturing far more slowly than other people due to his lifestyle. This is seen in the movie when he tries to control everyone around him like they’re his servants. The primary example of this is when he’s talking to Jebidiah and he remarks “the people will believe what I tell them to” as if their entire existence and perception of the world is centered around him. This is quite a childish notion and is further expanded on when he has a tantrum after Gettys exposes him for his affairs with Susan Alexander. Instead of replying calmly and rationally, he ends up screaming “I’ll send you to Sing Sing! To Sing Sing!” which is a New York jail famous for executions. These examples illustrate how whenever he doesn’t get what he wants, he reacts similarly to how a child does, thus showing how he didn’t get the chance to mature into the kind of person he could have been. The significance of the sled is twofold: it represents how he spent his childhood, carefree and unfamiliar with his later luxury. Unfortunately, it also represents how his life went - starting out high as a young adult as he had a loving wife, was a multimillionaire, and had a very successful newspaper, later he lost his political career and a lot of his public image after his scandal with Susan Alexander, and at the end of his life, he dies alone with nothing but statues to accompany him. The sled is a vehicle that only operates going downhill and is thus a fitting metaphor for Kane’s life. The rosebud sled is important to understanding Kane’s life because it symbolizes how since Kane wasn’t able to grow into the kind of person he had the potential to be, he was always destined to go downhill and fall into disgrace, no matter how high he started.
ReplyDeleteKane’s life story is embodied in the symbolism of his beloved childhood sled because it represents his longing for youthful innocence and simpler times. The sled itself reflects the uncontrollable downhill track Kane’s life had been put on when he was forced to leave his childhood home. From that point on, Kane’s life became defined by material possessions and a race to fame. The more Kane accumulated material wealth and fame, the more shallow his relationships became. One example of this is highlighted in the Hollywood montage of Kane and his wife at breakfast where they are depicted farther and farther away from each other in each scene both physically and mentally. Their perishing relationship came as a result of Kane’s misplaced values regarding material wealth. At the end of the movie, before Kane dies, he says rosebud implying that the most important thing to him on his deathbed was not one of his many valuable statues or giant estate, but rather a simple toy with sentimental value. In essence, Kane’s reference to his childhood on the verge of death illustrates the realization of his misunderstanding regarding the definition of wealth and fulfillment. The name rosebud also depicts his life as an unlbloomed flower. Kane’s life was lived with unfulfilled potential since he came to realize the value of intangible wealth too late in life. The reference to Kane’s childhood sled reflects the reason for his inability to achieve trie happiness. Rosebud is a meaningful symbol in the film because it highlights the value of intangible wealth.
ReplyDeleteOrson Welles used the concept of “Rosebud” both to propel the story (as a catalyst for the reporter to look for a deeper perspective of Kane’s life), but also as a meaningful symbol of Kane's last fond memories of his childhood before it was stripped from him. It is the use of “Rosebud” as a plot device that could lead some to think of it as a MacGuffin, but it is certainly not.
ReplyDeleteUltimately, the reporter, and to a larger extent, the world (within the film) are never let in on the secret of “Rosebud’s” identity. It is only us - the audience - who it is revealed to at the end of the film. It is in this retrospect, after having watched the film that we can reflect on its meaning.
“Rosebud” is the mystery needing to be solved and it is in both an ironic and anticlimactic sense. If we look at films and books in the murder mystery genre, for example, when we learn who the killer is at the end, we can reflect back in the same retrospective way and see how things “all made sense” or “added up.” But this reveal in Citizen Kane - “Rosebud” - is not dramatic, or straightforward. It doesn’t give the audience that sense of closure or relief one typically gets from solving a mystery. Because it is only revealed to the audience and not any other character in the film, except of course Kane, who is dead, it feels secret. It makes us think more. Why would a sled (“Rosebud” is the brand of the sled company) be so important? It wasn’t the sled or it’s name that mattered most to Kane. But, Rosebud was a trigger for Kane’s memory of his childhood (sledding and in particular his desire for a normal family and for love. This illustrates that regardless of his past fortune and fame, he could never return to his childhood. It shows the audience that everyone, whether rich or poor, has the same very basic needs.
Although Rosebud is essential to the plot and represents Charles Foster Kane’s childhood, it is not necessarily the most meaningful or symbolic object in the film. Rosebud is Kane’s sled from when he was a child. The sled brought him joy, and after leaving his home and being raised by Thatcher, he couldn’t find the same true happiness he once felt as a child. But, just because Kane’s final words were “Rosebud” doesn’t necessarily mean that the sled defined his life and who he was, for example, it could have just been the first thought that came to his mind in his dying moments because he simply remembered his early childhood. Rosebud partly helps in understanding who Kane was, but the symbol primarily represents Kane’s childhood, which could or couldn’t have been crucial to the rest of Kane’s life. The viewer doesn’t have enough evidence to firmly conclude that Rosebud was a representation of his whole life as it was only shown on screen twice and mentioned by Kane once. As a child, a person has not yet completely matured and their true identity hasn’t totally blossomed, therefore, a symbol which is persistent throughout the prime and final years of Kane’s life, or throughout the majority of the film, is more significant as it better represents who Kane truly was. One of such symbols is his vast collection of statues from around the world. Throughout his life, Kane has consistently tried to control the public through attempting to become governor and creating a massive chain of newspapers. During the famous breakfast montage, Kane’s first wife, Emily, begins to say “really, Charles, people will think…”, to which Kane concludes, “what I tell them to think”. This example goes to show how Kane truly wanted to control what people thought, especially what they thought of him. So, just how might statues capture Kane’s essential life mission to control others? Throughout the film, Kane amasses an extravagant and innumerous collection of statues of people. Throughout the film, Kane slowly loses the people who were once close to him such as Emily, Leland, and Susan. Kane buys more and more statues in an attempt to replace the people he has lost in his life which symbolizes Kane’s life story— a man who was on the path to having everything who became into a man who lost everyone on the way there. Furthermore, Kane has complete and absolute power and control over the statues as he can place them wherever he sees fit, and he can amass more statues, unlike what he could do with people. Kane couldn’t even successfully become governor. Kane had a very strong influence on what people believed, but he never completely governed everyone. Since Kane discovered that he couldn’t dictate people the way he wanted to, he resorted to collecting statues in order to feel a sense of dominance and authority, which is what Kane had always wanted. Overall, since Rosebud primarily refers to Charles Foster Kane’s happiness as a child, statues are more emblematic symbols than Rosebud because they truly capture the essence of Kane’s life mission over a greater and more crucial span of his life.
ReplyDeleteThe famous symbol of the sled “Rosebud” in the 1941 film Citizen Kane, plays a deeply significant role in understanding how Charles Foster Kane experiences a feeling of loss and nonexistence in terms of his childhood. The term rosebud is one used to describe a flower that has not yet blossomed or matured into the final adult phase of the plant growth cycle, similarly to how Kane never got the chance to grow up properly or mature emotionally into an adult. Although the metaphor of “Rosebud” may be insignificant ultimately to other characters in the film, it truly gives the viewer an insight into how Kane’s upbringing and lack of childhood led him to be deeply emotionally immature. Kane was taken from his home as a young boy and never got the chance to settle down in his childhood home and live normal experiences like other children. On top of that, his affluency enables him to get essentially whatever he wants without him having to bargain or toil for his particular desires. Instead of dealing with situations rationally and regulating his emotions, he uses his wealth and power to take advantage of others and get what he wants paralleling how a child might react in similar situations. The way in which Kane acts upon things in this irrational way is a bi product of him not fully growing up and maturing. The significance of Rosebud being a sled is that it is metaphor for the downward trajectory of Kane’s life. A sled starts at the top of a hill, just as Kane started his career a very powerful wealthy married man. Eventually, a sled stops at the bottom of a hill, similar to how Kane his rock bottom when his relationship with Susan Alexander crumbled and he was left to die alone.
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