A magnificent mansion, a remarkable 'Rosebud' and a fragmented crystal ball opened the heavy curtain of ‘Citizen Kane’. ‘Rosebud’, such a beautiful but plain word, is associated with the death of a famous newspaper tycoon. In the whole film, it becomes the cause of the story, but it is like a kite with a broken thread, instead of linking up any secrets that have been hidden for many years, it brings the important people who appeared in Kane 's life into the realization of the public. The newspaper chairman Bernstein, Kane's former friend, Kane's first wife and second wife, these seemingly plain narratives represent the brilliant and legendary life of a newspaper tycoon.
Kane is a big man in American journalism, at the age of 76, he knows he has entered the last years of his life. After holding a snow glass ball and muttering 'Rosebud', Kane quietly left. Around Kane's last words, 'Rosebud', people launched a long-term investigation and cracking. The 'Rosebud' runs through the whole film and eventually appears on a bobsled that is about to be burned down, it represents neither a person nor an object, but has a symbolic meaning that belongs exclusively to Kane. He never told anyone about these meanings, but hid them silently in his heart and became a bloody scar that could never be healed. The hobby of collecting human-shaped sculptures may be that they can completely belong to Kane. They have no thoughts, will not change, and will not leave, or they may represent Kane's former friends, who still have memories of Kane. He is not only collecting statues, but also collecting memories. In my opinion, the 'Rosebud' in the film tells me the meaning of Kane's identity exploration, which represents loss and gain, childhood and love.
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‘Rosebud’ is the tag that Kane lost and gained. Kane has gone through a series of losses: as a child, he lost his parents and was raised by a bank; as a publisher, he lost the idealism of young people; he lost the chance to become governor; he lost his first wife and son; he wanted to make Susan a singer, and he lost Susan. Because ‘Rosebud’ is not only a thing, but also a symbol of the innocence, it has a strong emotional impact on the audience. In the film, Kane lives most normally only in his childhood with his parents, he is deviant in college, cynical in in adulthood, self-expansion at middle-aged, and lonely at the old age, to be sure, Kane's last 'Rosebud' was accompanied by some sighs. At the end of the film, a person who is doing a jigsaw puzzle says that he can't be perfect without a part in the jigsaw puzzle. Perhaps in Kane's mind, he has been searching for the lost piece, whether it's running for governor or funding Susan to become a star, he wanted to make up for what he had lost. Maybe life can't be so perfect, for someone like him, all he needs is the constant greed in his heart, the decay of capital, and never the time to be satisfied. Rosebuds are endless ambition and greed, he lives under his own control all his life, thinking that everyone is under his control, and the things that left him cannot be relieved. The crystal ball is like his love, he holds it in his hand at last, just hoping that it is complete and not broken like love. In fact, it does not necessarily mean that he is still in love with Susan, but for her departure, not under his control, has always been unable to let go. In short, everyone has his own ‘Rosebud’ in his heart, but we should have some control, not be imprisoned by the curse of desire.
The sled with ‘Rosebud’ symbolizes the loss of parental love and the acquisition of money. Kane's first choice in life was forced, forced to get money out of love and money. Then, in the face of friendship and love, each time in the struggle with money and power or self, Kane subconsciously followed the first choice of childhood and abandoned love. Deeply speaking, ‘Rosebud’ represents his pursuit of desire all his life, his inner fear, and even his hesitation to make a choice between the two. Until his death, he did not know whether his choice had been right or whether he had followed his inner voice. This is what everyone will think about all his life. Life will eventually have regrets, and eventually will be like the end of the film, into smoke.
Secondly, 'Rosebud' symbolizes childhood innocence, hope and security. Back when Kane and Susan first met, Susan, who had toothache, laughed when she saw Kane with mud on his back and invited him to come to her house to provide him with hot water. In order to alleviate Susan's toothache, Kane played some tricks to make Susan laugh, and those tricks also revealed the image of Kane's inner child. Susan didn't know Kane's identity, he asked her whether she still like him even though she doesn't know who he is, Susan replies that she knows very few people, while Kane goes on to say that he knows too many people, but they are all lonely. This reflects Kane's deep loneliness and lack of security. Kane also told Susan that he was looking for the remains of his mother before he came to his home. He said he is going to look for his youth, but he did not succeed, probably because he wanted to find it himself, but he was powerless, because his childhood was very difficult to find it back. It happened that he met Susan at this time. He made Susan laugh and praised her for her sweet smile. Perhaps he thought Susan's laugh was as innocent as a child, Kane retrieved her childhood innocence from Susan. Therefore, when Susan insisted on leaving Kane, Kane retained her, but eventually, she left. When she first met Kane, Susan also mentioned that her mother wanted her to be a singer, but she didn't think her voice was so beautiful, but she thought they were all like that. It was a subtle change in Kane's expression when he heard it. I think he was reminded of his childhood mom when she sent him away, and the image of his own mom. As far as I am concerned, Kane's mother also has a great influence on Kane's character building.
Susan's departure was the collapse of his childhood innocence and sense of security. On the one hand, I think ‘Rosebud’ represents Susan, the woman Kane loves deeply. On the other hand, it is Kane's spiritual sustenance, representing his childhood. Indeed, for Kane, both are true. The beauty and innocence of his childhood had been lost, and when he wanted to find it, he could not find it back. ‘Rosebud’ may be something he can't get, or something he has lost. The sled that Kane used to play with as a child appeared slowly in the camera, and the words 'Rosebud' appeared slowly as he pushed closer. The film seems to imply that it is too early to leave innocent and beautiful life and make Kane like a ripened apple. It still misses those free and astringent days, but the past has not been able to reproduce. Once he entered the adult world, he had to compromise and hide the innocent side, but because he regretted it from time to time, he applied it to everything he could control with his unintelligible evil childlike personality. At the end of the film, 'Rosebud' is engraved on Kane's favorite sled in his childhood. At the beginning of the film, when Kane was sent to New York, his favorite sled lay on the snow, and the snow slowly covered it. This also means that Kane's childhood is fading away.
In addition, ‘Rosebud’ represent love. The last boarding should be to remind him to leave his mother as a child. Before that, Susan also stressed that all he wanted was to be loved by others. He did not really give what meant to him (his love), so he never got the true love of others. But think about his newspaper, politics, and singing to Susan before, it seems that he didn't just mean love, there should be more or a bigger concept (Hofer, 2017). Also, the skis hinted at his alienation from his mother. If he did not grow up without his mother's company, then childhood, snowboarding, home can only be regarded as a general pain. But if, on the contrary, he loses those and his mother's love, the dull pain will be magnified infinitely and become unbearable. If there is complete and perfect maternal companionship in the growing period, nothing can be neglected. If there is no one to comfort those pains, they will naturally accumulate in the heart. Kane cried out a word before he died, ‘Rosebud’. Maybe what he really wanted to shout was another word, Mom.
Kane's lack of childhood motherly love has deprived him of the ability to love and feel loved, the election has failed, and he has lost the opportunity to let his rights and what he thinks voters 'love' him. He really feels empty, and it begins here. ‘Rosebud’ should refer to all the other love Kane can't get, like his wife and his beautiful childhood, which he wants to control but can't control. Kane is a self-centered standard man. His strong self-esteem makes him always want to control everything in his life, but he can't. In the end, the things he cares about most in his life have not been preserved, such as the sled with ‘Rosebud’ burnt out in the fire, which inevitably returns to dust. ‘Rosebud’ is his concern for the love he did not get in his childhood. He is rich and powerful, and has got a lot of money. But in his childhood, his parents 'abandoned' him and lost his mother's love. He lives in money and snobbery. When he was young, he thought of resisting, but eventually drifted with the tide, money also made him empty. He hoarded and collected very much, there are many things, but they can't fill the gap of love in his heart. His love for Susan may begin with her loveliness and beauty, but he decided to attach importance to her because she talked about her mother's expectations for her opera. Kane thought of her expectations for him, so he hoped to help Susan realize her mother's wishes, yes, not Susan's wishes.
Kane pursued a lot and got a lot in his life. But in the last days of his life, what he never forgot was the sled he played in the snow on the day when he left his parents in his childhood. The love he most wanted was never pursued in his life.
At the beginning of the film, 'Rosebud' and finally take care of each other, we can also see that, even though he has made numerous achievements in his life, he still misses the most unconstrained toys in his childhood at the end of his life, which is the happiest time in his life. At the end of his life, stayed in the palace where man came, he lived a lonely life. Kane must have had a lot of reflections on how he would choose to spend his life if his life were to be repeated. What is 'Rosebud'? It's the dream of childhood, the softest part in everyone's heart, the tenderness under the strong exterior, the sincerity that we can't afford to lose everything, and the sincere love that each of us is unwilling to let go in the torrent of thousands of lives. If we can hold them tightly, there will be fewer regrets in their lives. No matter how successful or unsuccessful their careers are or how much wealth they have, Kane will never give up on his deathbed.
Skateboards were thrown into the stove and burned, the words 'Rosebud' faded away, Kane's story and his heart disappeared with the flame. People in the social torrent to pursue the true heart of the past, and the loss of a sled called 'Rosebud' will eventually be frustrated. ‘Citizen Kane’ is a great biographical film of life, through which we can see our hearts.
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