Scene In Thatcher's Library example essay topic

Citizen Kane In the movie Citizen Kane, young Charles Foster Kane is very energetic, optimistic and has a very positive outlook on life. At the same time he hates his old and bitter guardian, Mr. Thatcher, who has secluded himself from the everyday man and the only thing he is after is money and stature. Later on in life Charles Kane turns into an exact carbon copy of Mr. Thatcher, even though that is exactly what he wanted to get away from. In this essay I will prove how the used of sound, in the scenes in Thatcher's library and Xanadu, as compared to the earlier scenes in young Kane's newspaper office, help establish this development in Kane's character. The scene in Thatcher's library starts off with the attendant being on the phone when the reporter walks in to talk to her. The non-dietetic sound is scary and creepy at the same time.

It sounds very unwelcoming and gives the impression of Mr. Thatcher as being the bad guy and his library not a good place to be. At first glance we can see that it is a big hall with a huge statue of Mr. Thatcher. The floors are made out of marble and the first impression the audience gets of the room is that, it is very dark, cold and has a gloomy feel to it. The voices of the reporter and the attendant echo in the hall that gives us the impression of the place being very uninhibited and very uninviting, just as the personality of Mr. Thatcher. Once the reporter goes through the giant vault doors into the main library, we seem to be in more of a personal space of Mr. Thatcher, with a huge cold marble table and the same dark and cold atmosphere. The attendant gives a journal of Mr. Thatcher to the reporter and tells him only to read a specific number of pages in a limited amount of time.

Even in death Mr. Thatcher's want for control and his bitterness is shown through the library attendant, and it feels like he had given her instructions prior to his death as to how to deal with people seeking access to his library. In the second scene we see Charles Kane and his Friends pull up in a horse driven carriage in front of his newspaper building. The non-dietetic sound in this scene is very happy, upbeat, and energetic. There is a bit of humor and with Kane's positive energy everything seems very lively. The sound itself tells us that he is not anything like his guardian Mr. Thatcher. He has a positive outlook on life and wants to do exactly the opposite of what his guardian wants him too because he still does not like him and will do anything to get under his skin.

The third scene starts with a non-dietetic sound, which has a close resemblance to that of the sound in Mr. Thatcher's library. It is very creepy and bone chilling compared to when we first meet Charles Kane. The hall is dark and gloomy looking just as Mr. Thatcher's library. Kane and his wife seem to be sitting at the opposite ends of the room, showing us the distance that has come between them since they first met. The room seems cold and alienated with no sign of enthusiasm or lust for life. Kane's way of talking and acting shows us that he has lost himself and has unwillingly become like Mr. Thatcher, the very man he despised all his life.

In conclusion, we can say that the non-dietetic sound plays a major role in these three scenes as well as through out the movie. The sounds, the sets and the acting are very well intertwined with each other, where one is completely empty without the other. The director does an excellent job with his use of Mise en scene. I personally liked the movie because the story line was very powerful and it made me think that in life money and power are not everything, sometimes the simple things in life, like (friendships, love, laughter, parents etc.) make a person richer than having all the money in the world.