Citizen Kane Part 1

Currently in Mr. Bennetts film class, we're watching a historically significant movie, Citizen Kane. While we haven't finished watching the movie yet, at the very least, the plot is about the mystery of the death of Charles Foster Kane, a relevant newspaper magnate.

Throughout the movie, one motif has stood out to me immensely. The motif of the windows, to me, represents the revealing of more beyond the surface. Each time a window is shown, when Kane is shown bedridden with his snowglobe, or when Kane, Leeway and Berstein are discussing matters in the office, the window is always shown to reveal the inner thoughts, conscience and emotion.

For example, the first occurence of a window is when Kane is shown at the moment of his death with the snowglobe in his hand. The window is shown first, and then the camera zooms in upon Kane himself, as the window indicates the entrance of more than meets the eye.

When Kane, Leeway and Bernstein are discussing matters within the office, the camera zooms in from the window as they continue to talk amongst themselves. The motif of the window speaks true again because when we enter the scene from the window, it reveals their hidden motives, allusions, foreshadowing and so much more.

The motif of windows will surely stand out as the film continues on.

Stalin Quote

I forgot to post this a couple days before but I found this interesting.

While we were browsing through Mr. Bennetts pictures of his trip to Europe, there was one quote that particularly interested me. This quote was:

"The death of a million people is a statistic, the death of one is a tragedy."

Stalin specifically said this quote, and I find the meaning of the quote very profound. I think it's appalling that the death of millions of people is just regarded as another fact of life. While death is eminent regardless, why do we treat the death of so many as another daily occurence. I'm not saying that it should be a public tragedy for these people, but death is death, and it's heartbreaking, at the very least, that the death of so many would be significantly more important than one person.

Just a thought.

Film Class Post

It's been quite some time since I previously wrote on this blog. Yet, lets cut the pleasantaries and get straight to the point.

History Film Class still continues to fascinate me, especially with the movie, Quiet On The Western Front. (Or is it "In?" My brain doesn't work so early in the morning) There was one vivid part that really stood out to me today, and this was the scene where Paul temporarily goes into insanity after he kills a man. It really shows the dehumanization as the moral character of Paul.

While this was a short post, Quiet On The Western Front still continues to be a movie that still fascinates me endlessly as the story goes on.

Post

Witty post.