The Use Of Motifs In Citizen Kane

In the film, Citizen Kane, the director put a lot of intention into what was being shown. It may not have been obvious on the surface, but once you look more in depth you see that everything the director did had meaning and a purpose. One thing the director, Orson Welles, did to bring more depth to the film is incorporating the use of motifs. Motifs are repeated narrative elements that support the theme or idea of the story. They can be seen through sounds, objects, costumes, the lighting, and even the camera angles. In this case, one motif that stuck out to me in the film was the repetitive nature of low angle shots. For a film that came out in 1941, the cinematography and camera work are incredible and very thoughtful. To capture the low angle shots, the camera would be

For example, this occurred when Kane and Susan were at their house, and they were arguing about the fact that he would let Leland write a bad review about Susan’s opening performance at the Opera House. When they were in this intense argument, the director used a low angle shot to make Kane look like the stronger, more powerful person in this situation, diminishing the strength of Susan. Another example of this is when Kane and Susan were again arguing in their house, but this time the argument was about how Kane doesn’t do anything for Susan or doesn’t buy her anything. When Kane got angry and stood up, the director used a low angle shot to project him as being superior to Susan in this conversation. In both scenarios, by using the low angle shots to make Kane look larger, it helps the viewers characterize him as a very powerful and confident character that has great influence over others. Not only does this help characterize Kane, but it also helps reflect and better understand one of the main points of the film; to show the luxurious and influential life that Charles Foster Kane