Thursday, April 2, 2009
Faulkner, and Joyce and Eliot -- Oh My!
Citizen Kane has a distinctive narrative technique in which Welles tells Kane's story from multiple perspectives and uses flashbacks rather than a chronological order. Do you see any connection between Welles' storytelling and modernist fiction? Why do you think he tells his story using these innovative techniques rather that just a straightforward narrative?
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Honestly, I have been trying to block As I Lay Dying out of my memory, so I (personally) don’t see any connections (probably just cause I don’t want to see them). But I think there are many reasons why Welles used the narrative structure that he did. Starting with Kane’s death gives the viewer a purpose. It sets the mood, the viewer instantly wants to know who he was and why they are being shown his death, as well as the significance of ‘Rosebud’. Starting with his death also adds uncertainty and excitement to the story.
ReplyDeleteThen, by using a newspaper reporter to try to figure out what the significance of ‘Rosebud’ is, Welles gives the audience an active part in the story. The reporter is asking the questions that the audience wants answered, so essentially, the audience IS the reporter. This means that they have to be engaged throughout the entire film and they are not just having the information spoon-fed to them.
Also, I think that it is important that Welles used multiple people from different parts of Kane’s life to tell his story. This is critical because nobody has one person that is close to them during their entire life. You are bound to grow apart at some point, or even just be physically apart for some time. By using multiple people that all had different relationships with Kane the audience is able to get a more complete picture of the man he was. Also, getting information from multiple sources will reduce the bias, and get a more truthful representation of Kane.
Furthermore, I think that Welles made the media/newspaper play a large role in this film because Kane was a ‘newspaper man’.
While I don't remember much of William Faulkner's As I lay Dying, I do recall his novel, A Light in August which really illuminates the similar techniques of Welles' methods of storytelling with Faulkner's. Light in August is a story about a half black murderer named Joe Christmas who the audience understands and even sympathizes with through the many flashbacks of his unfortunate and lonely life integrated into the progressing story. The novel storytelling techniques used by Welles makes it possible to extract more information in this flashback-driven story rather than the same one told linearly because by knowing the ending first (Kane's death and final words), the past becomes more relevant and easier it becomes easier to look for meaning when you know what the outcome will be. Also by knowing what others think about the ending, and all of the reporters believing how important his last words must have been it allows for the audience to have sympathy for the luxurious yet lonely life of Charles Foster Kane that ended with a personally important cry for a childhood pleasure that none of his companions or colleagues could know or understand. Both Welles' and Faulkner's use of multiple narrators ( Faulkner's use of Lena, Byron, Christmas..., Kane's use of the reporter, Susan
ReplyDeleteAlexander, Mr. Leland and others provide breadth and context for the story being told.