Critically evaluate the four approaches to film history with reference to Citizen Kane
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.
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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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 his ideals and they were long takes and deep focus photography. Bazin says that these techniques make the structure of the film more realistic. One of the most innovative technical aspects attributed to Citizen Kane is that nearly every scene in the film is shot in deep focus, where the foreground and the background are all in sharp focus. The scene with Kane as a child on his sled outside the house and Kane's parents with Thatcher inside is all in clear focus as too is the scene with Leland drunk over the typewriter, even the bottle on the table is in focus. Susan's suicide attempt shows Susan in bed, whilst Kane is hammering on the door; the whole scene is completely in focus. Kane is reported to have been keen on capturing a scene in as few shots as possible so he used the talents of his Mercury actors and the cinematographic expertise of Greg Toland. The actors were used to acting on stage so could play long scenes and deliver their dialogue with naturalness and skill and with this level of skill Welles was taking the responsibility for the films pacing out of the hands of the editor. Had this been shot in traditional Hollywood style the scene could have taken up to six or seven set ups according to film historian Ken Barnes who provides the commentary on the Citizen Kane DVD.
Another aesthetic theory is that of "authorship". This theory is based on the notion that great films are made by great film makers, usually the director. Orson Welles was given unprecedented artistic freedom on Citizen Kane and this goes some way in endorsing the assumption that great masterpieces are the result of the vision and creativity of one individual. Orson Welles supports this view himself, he is quoted in Pam Cook's "Authorship of Cinema" as saying that, "Theatre is a collective experience, but cinema is the work of a single man, the director". Many critics do credit Welles with this masterpiece; however Pauline Kael challenged this theory in 1971 with her essay, "Raising Kane". Kael does agree that Citizen Kane is one of the great American films but she completely disagrees with the auteur theory in relation to Welles. She writes in response to Welles own quote that, "This is an extraordinary remark from the man who brought his own Mercury theatre players to Hollywood and also the Mercury co-producer John Houseman, the Mercury composer Bernard Herrmann and various assistants" She also quotes that "he found people in Hollywood, such as the cinematographer Gregg Toland, to contribute their knowledge and gifts to Citizen Kane". She claims that the script was actually written by Herman J. Mankiewicz, who was officially credited with co-writing the script, she claims that Welles deliberately set out to deny Mankiewicz credit in order to further his own legend as a creative genius.
In 1996, film historian Robert Carringer challenged Pauline Kael's theory on the authorship of Citizen Kane. He claims that the script was in fact a joint collaboration with Mankiewicz. He states that Mankiewicz provided the basis of the story, the structure and characters, but that it was Welles who contributed most of the "narrative brilliance - the verbal wit, the stylistic fluidity and such stunningly original strokes as the newspaper montages and the breakfast table sequence".(The Making of Citizen Kane, 1996, p35).
In terms of social and economic history, Citizen Kane cost RKO pictures $840,000. George J Schaefer, RKO's president wanted to invest in a production that would win critical acclaim for the studio and would also be a box office success. Because of Welles's involvement with the Mercury theatre and his radio adaptation of "War of the Worlds" his talents were recruited in a bid to bring artistic prestige to RKO. Welles decided to produce a biopic of a fictional newspaper magnate, which it later transpired was based on William Randolph Hearst the newspaper magnate. When Hearst found out about Citizen Kane he offered RKO money to destroy all prints, he also banned all of his newspapers from reviewing the film. In an extract from an article published by Deborah Ube she cites from Thomas Lennon the producer of a documentary on the life of Orson Welles called, "The battle over Citizen Kane". He states that Hearst waged a very public smear campaign in his newspapers about Welles, claiming that Welles was a communist.
Citizen Kane did not do as well as was expected at the box office and was the sixth grossing box office film in the year of its release. It was nominated for nine Oscar's but only received one for best screenplay. This has in some way been accredited to Hearst's ban, however in David Nasaw's book, "The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst", Nasaw claims that the film could never be appreciated by a popular audience due to "the innovations Welles made with narrative, as well as the dark message at the heart of the film". Lennon claims that Hearst did great damage to Welles's career and to the initial success of Citizen Kane. But he also claims that Hearst became a victim of the film and was inexorably linked to the character of Kane. When Hearst's son died the headline in the newspapers read, "Son of Citizen Kane Dies". Lennon claims however, that the film took its toll on both men, he says, "That film weighs on both men even in their graves".
David Bordwell claims that Kane has been acclaimed because it is a "triumph of technique". Technologically the techniques used in Citizen Kane were not new as many had been used before but on an individual basis. Richard Maltby states that never before had there been such a "full blown emergence (of these techniques) in the combined work of Welles and Toland". The use of deep focus shots, long takes and low angle shots were all used within the film and Richard Maltby states that Greg Toland applied improved technology to develop these innovative techniques.
Welles use of black and white in Kane accentuates his dramatic lighting effects. In the opening scene the light in the window remains in shot throughout all the dissolves and his use of shadows creates an eerie mysterious opening scene. The use of lighting is cleverly displayed in the scene with Thompson in the phone booth and when Thompson reads Thatcher's manuscript in the library the book is lit up spectacularly. Black and white served to create a sensational effect and allowed Welles the opportunity to show off his other innovative techniques. The use of sound in the film shows certain stylistic features such as the use of echoes in large interior spaces such as Thompson's visit to the library, Kane's campaign rally, Susan singing at the opera and Kane and Susan talking in the huge hall at Xanadu. Welles also used sudden discordant sound such as the thunderstorm that introduces the billboard image of Susan at the nightclub, Thatcher banging on Kane's desk, Kane raging at Geddes and the thump of the typewriter carriage just before Kane fires Leland. Sudden discordant sounds were striking because they contrasted well with the noise directly preceding. Welles has been credited with creating new techniques for capturing sound such as in the party scene at the Enquirer; the noise of the actor's talking, the music and the dancing girls was captured live. The ceilings were very low and covered in muslin to hide the microphones that had to be near the actor's faces to pick up their voices.
Citizen Kane combines elements of both the formative and realist approaches which is why in terms of aesthetic film history it complies with the criteria in determining whether the film is art. It also complies with the "masterpiece tradition" and the "auteur theory", in that Welles was given complete artistic freedom to do as he pleased and has been celebrated as the genius behind the film The acclaimed use of deep focus photography is attributed to Greg Toland which challenges the assumption of the auteur theory, however this aspect of aesthetic film history does intersect with the technological theory of film history. The development of technology in cinema involved the arrival of sound and deep focus photography, according to Richard Maltby. Film theorist Andre Bazin saw this not as a solution to a technical problem but out of a search for style. He celebrated Orson Welles for taking cinema closer and closer towards the complete illusion of reality.
In 1941 Citizen Kane did receive some critical acclaim but did not do as well at the box office as RKO pictures expected. It was re-released in Europe in 1946 where is gained considerable critical acclaim especially from Andre Bazin, but it wasn't until the 1950's that it was received and acclaimed in the United States, where even now the debate continues as to whether Kane is "the best film ever made".
Julie Quayle
R711282X
Bibliography
Aldgate, Tony, "Social Film History" in AA310 Book 1 Approaches to Film History, Milton Keynes, The Open University, 2002.
Bordwell, David, "Citizen Kane" in AA310 Resource Book 1, Milton Keynes, The Open University, 2002.
Chapman, James, "Aesthetic film history", in AA310 Book 1 Approaches to Film History, Milton Keynes, The Open University, 2002.
Chapman, James, "Economic film history", in AA310 Book 1 Approaches to Film History, Milton Keynes, The Open University, 2002.
Coyne, Michael, "Technological film history", in AA310 Book 1, Approaches to Film History, Milton Keynes, The Open University, 2002.
Maltby, Richard, Hollywood Cinema: An introduction, 2nd edn, Oxford, Blackwell, 2003.
Uebe, Deborah, Heavyweight match: Welles takes on Hearst, 1996.
Web links
www.current.org.hi.hi601.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_Kane
Filmography
Citizen Kane (USA, Orson Welles, 1941) DVD, with audio commentary by film historian, Ken Barnes
