Almost six years ago I started this venture to write an article on every single movie in the AFI top 100 list. Whatever possessed me to do such foolishness, I knew in the back of my mind, if I could get past the halfway point, I could get through the full thing.
So we’re on pace to wrap this thing up in the year 2030, and maybe by then there will be flying cars and a newly updated AFI list. But anyway, I’m celebrating by taking on a movie I had been putting off: the number one movie on the list, and the movie considered by most to be the greatest movie of all time.
No light task.
Here we are with 1947’s Citizen Kane, written and directed by Orson Welles.
What can I say about Citizen Kane that hasn’t been said before?
Probably nothing.
Usually I try to find exactly what is so good about each film, while also talking about the underlying message. And maybe by doing the second I can do something at least somewhat interesting with the first.
I mean the movie is so associated with its cinematic breakthroughs, and that’s what is usually discussed, but to be the GOAT of all movies, it also has to have a rocksteady core.
And very very likely that core has everything to do with the meaning of Rosebud, since uncovering that mystery is pretty much the objective of the movie. So, I guess spoilers for Rosebud if you haven’t seen it yet, but…
IT’S A SLED.
There, I got it out, and it was already kinda spoiled if you saw the Mr. Burns Bobo episode of The Simpsons first.
So what does Rosebud symbolize? And how does that symbol take us to the film’s thematic core?
A popular answer is that Rosebud symbolizes the happy life that Charles Foster Kane gave up to have the more rich, decadent one.
But was his life really that happy? It is implied that his dad was abusive towards him and that Charlie needed to get away from him. And as cool as his mom seemed, that part can’t be ignored. Combine that with the poverty, and his early life didn’t seem all that happy.
Another big theory is that Rosebud symbolizes the simplicity of childhood. Afterall, it’s a toy often associated with childhood (long before videogames and Tickle Me Elmos).
But, then again, when he got to his new home, he was given a new, more dope sled (one he doesn’t seem to care that much about anymore). So Kane was allowed to still have a childhood, albeit a more lavish one.
Maybe we have to look forward in his life to see what he lost and why this sled was his dying words. He did wind up bringing a lot of misery into his life through his choices, inside his relationships, with his career, and due to his impact on the world. Him giving up his family and sled was his path down this snow-covered slope.
Then again, it’s hard to know whether his life would have faired better if he had continued to grow up poor.
So what is Rosebud symbolizing then? We’re getting closer…
Much of the movie is concerned with answering the question of who IS Charles Foster Kane. Jerry is trying to answer that, and the people he brings into his life, from Susan to Jedediah, also try to answer that.
And, I posit, Kane also does not know that answer. He tries to hang onto himself as he becomes an adult and pulls stunts like buying the best journalists for his paper, but he loses himself more and more throughout the movie.
The last time he truly did know himself was when he was a child when he was with his mom and his home, and, of course, Rosebud.
He goes from being sure of exactly who he is, to having as surface-level of an understanding of himself as that newsreel at the beginning of the movie.
Sleds are like a little rollercoaster taking us on an adventure, but one where we know where we’re going and where we’re going to end up. They’re steady and secure and do exactly what we know we’re going to do.
Charles might have been poor and had hardships but he had a certain grasp on his life. Given his new direction, he was expected to be the richest man in the world, to aspire to something he wasn’t, and this was the course his new sled took him towards. He became a legend but lost who he really was at the core. And after he died, his own private thoughts and last of his real identity burned away with him.
So this got dark, but self-discovery and authenticity is a journey we’re always on. We may think the most privileged people in the world are going to be instantly happy, but if they’re missing this, there will always be something they’re longing for.
So there we are, at least my interpretation. But the greatest movie should inspire interpretations like this and give us something meaningful to us.
And hopefully in 2030 when I do write the last of these, I can look back and be happy. Or look forward at the new AFI list, and accept that I’ll feel the need to keep on doing these.
What will I say instead of “Rosebud?” Maybe “screw the AFI list.”
But everyone will know exactly what that means.
Thanks for reading!