Simple Stereotypes in Citizen Kane

In 1941, Orson Welles released one of the great films of all time: Citizen Kane; a film that has not only been compared to great writers of the past, but also was voted as the best movie of all time by the AFI (American Film Institute). The film begins with an amazing sequence, showing the final moments and the death of the famous newspaper tycoon Kane (Orson Welles), and captures his last word: "Rosebud." Then a newsreel reporter named Jerry Thomson (William Alland) is sent to find out the meaning of "Rosebud." To this end he interviews people from Kane's past, and he searches through Kane's enormous collection of property, which leads the view through a retrospective of Kane's life, told by flashbacks of the people closest to him. Even with the beautiful narrative by Orson Welles, one can still find stereotypes, such as the relation between upper and lower economic classes, graven into the spine of the story.

A stereotype is a construct that humans use to unclutter our overly complex lives. Expanding on this, Walter Lippman quoted John Dewey as stating, "All strangers of another race proverbially look alike to the visiting stranger" (Lippman 31). This quote illustrates the idea that as people we see our sounding world as simply as possible, to allow us to function in the ever more complicated world we live in. To further this problem in movies there is the constant lack of time, and pressure to keep the story moving. William Goldman, the famous screenwriter of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the Presidents Men, Absolute Power and The Princess Bride, writes, "GET ON WITH IT-that is what the camera demands, and when we write movies, we have no choice but to obey" (Goldman 209). The usual forces that we use to unclutter our lives, coupled with the restraints of film lead to a very stereotyped world, within which Citizen Kane is no exception.

One instance in which Citizen Kane shows stereotypical images is in the relation between Charles Kane's mother and father. They are only briefly shown in the movie, one shot, but a great deal is explained in it. The viewer learns that Kane's parents live in rural and snowy Colorado where his mother has inherited a fortune, and that his father has none of it. His mother is depicted as being emotionless and cold, and fits our stereotypical definition of wealthy. To this end she is shown as being important, for stereotypically wealthy people are more important. To show her as being important, Welles opens the shot with a close-up of her, then using a long dolly shot, he always keeps her in the center of the shot and closer to the camera then all the other present thespians. To show her as being cold and emotionless, another stereotype of the wealthy, Welles gives her short lines that the actress gives in emotionless monotone; she is also dressed in all black, effectively distancing her from the white snowy background. Conversely, Kane's father, who inherited nothing whatsoever, is indicative of the stereotypes of the lower classes. Unlike his wife, he is shown as being unimportant; he is far back in the shot, or even behind some furniture. He also speaks passionately against his son being signed to a guardian, but he does so with bad grammar and is not paid much attention to as a result of this. Lastly, unlike the mother, the father wears lighter colors, showing him as nicer and more open, as well as being less removed, more native to the snow and the area where he lived. The different depictions of the two classes in this shot show the presence of stereotypes in Citizen Kane.

Another character that is shown to us through stereotypes is Susan Alexander Kane (Dorothy Comingore). She is Kane's mistress and then second wife, and is obviously from the lower working class of America. This can be seen, for instance, in that the first time we see her she is obviously drunk. She abusively speaks to Thompson, telling him to "Get out!" Also, when she meets Kane for the first time, she does not know who he is; Kane being famous and well known finds it comforting that she does not know who he is, but it also shows that she is ignorant, another negative stereotype of the lower class. In all her scenes she seems to be the more passive or less mature person. She is often pictured sitting on the floor, and the shot of her uses a high angle view to show her as submissive. Overall, Susan Alexander is seen as a stereotypical lower class individual who cannot ever seem to function adequately in the same world as Kane does.

Stereotypes seen in Citizen Kane are nothing new or old to storytelling; almost all narrative involves some form of stereotyping, but in films it is even more present. Goldman points out the films must move quickly and it can be seen that Citizen Kane is no exception. The differences in the way the classes are shown is how Orson Welles showed some of his stereotypes; from the difference the way Kane's mother and father were shown to the behavior of Susan Alexander; Citizen Kane is replete with stereotypes.

Works Cited
1. Citizen Kane. Dir. Orson Welles. Perf. Orson Wells, Dorothy Comingore. RKO, 1941
2. Lippman, Walter. "Stereotypes; Codes and Their Enemies." Multicultural Dimensions of Film: A reader. 6th ed. Ed. David C. Simmons and Jennifer Freeman-Bessey. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000. 31-40.
3. Goldman, Walter. Which Lie Did I Tell? New York: Pantheon Books, 2000