How Is Citizen Kane Socially Relevant

a.) I think that Citizen Kane is frequently selected as the greatest film ever made because it pioneered many important film techniques and it attacked the most powerful newspaper man in the world at the time. Lastly, the film is socially relevant and the film’s message. Citizen Kane is socially relevant because it showed American society of the time, the class structure and the nature of money.
According to an article posted on Spark notes, Citizen Kane made many cinematic advances, and its most significant contribution to cinematography came from the use of a technique known as deep focus. In the article it says, “Deep focus refers to having everything in the frame, even the background, in focus at the same time, as opposed to having only the people and things in the foreground in focus” (Spark Notes: Citizen Kane, “Filmic Elements”). I think that this technique was the most effective in scenes that show …show more content…
Other techniques that were used were deep space, low-angle shots, backlighting, flashbacks, and transition sequences. I think because of the lighting, it created a moody atmosphere to enhance the violent or mysterious events taking place. The movie reflected newspaper entrepreneur William Hearst. Hearst wanted to protect his reputation and he did so by trying to shut down the film. I think because of the feud, it advertised the movie more to the public. According to an article posted on PBS.org, “Threats of blackmail, smears in the newspapers, and FBI investigations were used in the effort” (PBS, “The Battle over Citizen Kane”). I think in the process of trying to shut the film down, Hearst directed more attention towards the film. Also, because the film modeled William Hearst, a bigtime newspaper publisher, people would have wanted to see the film. Lastly, the film is frequently selected as the