Critically evaluate the four approaches to film history with reference to Citizen Kane

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Critically evaluate the four approaches to film history with reference to Citizen Kane

In order to critically evaluate the various approaches to film history with reference to Citizen Kane consideration will be given to the aesthetic content of the film by looking at how the themes and ideas of the film were conveyed by script, acting, direction, editing, and photography and also whether the film is a work of art in its own right. Reference will also be made to the films social history, i.e. why the film was made, when it was made and how it related to the political and social situation in which it was produced. Issues such as how the film was received in terms of box office returns, newspaper reviews and audience reaction will be analysed along with an evaluation of the technological aspects of the film within the evolution of cinema.

Aesthetic film history has often been written in terms of outstanding films which have made a significant contribution to the development of the art of cinema; this is known as the "masterpiece tradition". The assumption of aesthetic film history is that film is an art form, though not all would agree. Many film critics and film historians distinguish between art cinema and commercial or mainstream cinema and this approach has been used in accepting that some films might be works of art whilst others may not. The distinction between art cinema and commercial or mainstream is not always clear. Citizen Kane was a product of Hollywood but also bears certain similarities to the tradition of art cinema. Orson Welles was given unprecedented freedom in producing Citizen Kane, he was allowed total control of the picture in which he co-wrote, acted, produced and directed and because of this Pauline Kael states that Citizen Kane "is one of the few films ever made inside a major Studio in the United States in freedom", and stated that Orson Welles had a persistent struggle against the interference of the film industry. In this context she states that Orson Welles asserted "the value of art against commerce".

There are certain criteria that can be applied in determining what constitutes film art. The formative approach maintains that in order to be considered art, film must go beyond simply re-producing images of the real world, the artistic properties of film arise from the way in which the film maker uses and manipulates the raw data. In particular this approach favours the montage technique. Lev Kuleshov states that, "It was not important how the separate shots were taken. What mattered was how they were arranged...we proclaimed (montage) as the cornerstone of cinematography", (Lev Kuleshov: Selected Works, 1987, pp.134-35). Orson Welles used montage throughout Citizen Kane. In particular the scene between Kane and Emily at the breakfast table each morning, gradually growing older and showing their marriage slowly dissolving over time. This scene was shot separately with the actors and the stage been changed slightly each time to give the effect of ageing, all the shots were then arranged together in a montage to create one scene. Montage was also used in the scene showing the reviews of Susan's opera and at the beginning of the film when Kane is a small child being taken away by Thatcher, where is wished a "Happy Christmas" in the first scene and "Happy New Year" in the next scene almost ten years later. The montage effect allowed the film to skip years in just a few seconds.
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Another approach that challenged the formative was the realist approach which emerged in the 40's and 50's. One of its chief proponents was French film theorist Andre Bazin. Bazin argued that film art depended upon the film achieving as close a representation of the real as possible. Basin said that, "Cinema attains its fullness in being the art of the real". (Andre Bazin, What is Cinema?, 1967, p13). Bazin did agree that a "total cinema" which fulfilled his ideals of realism was not completely possible, but did propose that there were certain techniques that came close to fulfilling ...

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