Xianfeng Mou, Spring 2009, Engl 267 World Literature 1,700-present
Rashomon and Citizen Kane paper
Possible areas to compare:
Both films employ multiple narrators or perspectives to construct knowledge about a murder or a man’s life. You can start from this common point and analyze the innovative techniques that both directors used to achieve the thematic, aesthetic, and cinematic effects they desired.
The multiple narrators and perspectives simultaneously illustrate that truth or reality is subjective; that each narrator, by telling the story, constructs his or her own version of what happened and reveals something about his or her own way of existence and character. You can choose to agree or disagree with this. You can go on to prove why you feel affinity with certain characters or adverse to others. You can choose to illustrate that knowledge is constructed and subjective, that objective truth is a myth. Or you can hold on to one version of reality and demonstrate that your understanding is more valid with proof from these two films.
Both films can be read as national allegories of their cultures during those particular historical moments (Rashomon was released in 1950, after Japan’s defeat in WWII; Citizen Kane was released in 1941, the time of Pearl Harbor and before the United States formally joined WWII). You can start from there and agree or disagree with the suggestion, using evidence from the films or academic sources you can find.
Between rationality, the unconscious psyche, and compassion from the human heart, we can safely say, if we are allowed hope at all, that eventually the two films locate hope in compassionate actions from individuals or critique against the lack of genuine compassion. Intellect or philosophy does not work at all. The priest was wise in Rashomon, lamenting his loss of hope in humankind. But it was the woodcutter, who though once erred, decided to adopt the orphan as redemption. In Citizen Kane, Kane, at the age of eight when his mother sent him off without her, suddenly became an abandoned child. Instead of becoming a compassionate adult, he never recovered from that emotional damage and became obsessed with himself. Feel free to agree or disagree with this, using evidence from the two films.
Both films also explore the power of psychology or of the unconscious. Examples abound such as the bandit’s sudden jealousy of the husband; the wife’s initial fierce resistance against the bandit but her sudden dizziness at being kissed and her subsequent decision to follow the bandit; the husband’s sudden, intense hatred of his wife when he saw her, when she was the most beautiful, wavering before the bandit’s declaration of love, and many others. The psychological expressionism in Citizen Kane is often indicated by Welles’s contrasting use of space including the spatial palace of Xanadu against Kane’s loneliness and isolation; Kane’s false sense of grandiosity at the moment of his political defeat when he is shown occupying the whole screen shot in extreme low angle; the extreme distance between Kane and Susan in Xanadu when they became so estranged, and many other scenes. You can compare and contrast the similarities and differences of the psychological depth and the director’s techniques.
If you want to explore the status of women in these two films, you are welcome to do that. The woman in Rashomon was riding on the horse but she could not decide her own fate rather she hinted that the two men must fight and that she would go with the winning party. In Citizen Kane, the women issue is not that prominent, except in Kane’s relationship with his mother, with his first wife Emily, and his second wife Susan. He lost his emotional connection in his extreme material worship. Susan once talked back to Kane that he never really gave anything to her that she really wanted. He slapped her and once she even attempted suicide. Comment on this.
Besides the last spark of human warmth when the woodcutter adopted the orphan, Rashomon focused on exposing human darkness. Kane, on the other hand, often started from idealism but often ended up in following the course of the twisted American dream. For instance, he started his newspaper pledging telling truth as it was but later on he stated if people wanted a war he would start a war; he ran for governor but at the crucial moment was taken down by his enemy by exposing his affair. He chillingly fired his truth-telling friend Leland with a token check because Leland told the truth. As a result, Leland never talked to him again. Explore the relationship between idealism and reality, and connect them to the mission of great artists.
An aspect of these two films of your own choice. Make sure you support your own thesis with ample evidence from these two films.
When writing these questions, I have consulted the following book.
Fabe, Marilyn. Closely Watched Films: An Introduction to the Art of Narrative Film Technique. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.
Specific requirements for the paper:
This is an argumentative paper in which you try to convince the reader to agree to your position or to consider your arguments seriously.
It must have an introduction in which you state your position in your thesis, telling the reader clearly which direction you are going, that is, whether you are arguing for or against a certain position.
The paper will also need to have a body composed of key paragraphs in which you use your observation or research (if necessary) to support your own ideas and to refute other’s ideas that you consider indirectly strengthens your points. Describe the scenes only when necessary for your argument, but avoid plot summery. When developing your ideas from one paragraph to another, pay attention to using good, pointed topic sentences as well as smooth transitions between paragraphs.
After you think you have given the topic adequate treatment, you will need to wrap up your major points in a concluding paragraph. You will also need to reinstate your thesis to stamp it onto your reader’s mind so that he or she won’t forget your point.
Your paper should have five pages, which means it must have at least four full pages in case you have citations. You can write more if your position demands it, but do not exceed seven pages.
This paper is aimed at showing me how well you understand and analyze artistic works. It is also aimed at showing me how convincing you are in persuading your reader to agree or disagree with you. You are mainly required to use your own observation about these two films, which means that it is not necessary to do in-depth research followed by citations. But if you want to get inspirations, you must give credit to other people’s ideas.
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Created by Xianfeng Mou, spring 2009, All Rights Reserved. Added on 08/26/09.
