Is Citizen Kane the G.O.A.T?

 Dominic Mayhall

Is Citizen Kane the G.O.A.T?

        The G.O.A.T debate is a strong opinion held by people who think they're right. People have every right to think they're correct, but everyone thinks differently on different subjects. For me, my favorite movie and what movie I think is the greatest of all time is "Ghostbusters". And not everyone would think it is the greatest film of all time. Now, you can call Citizen Kane ONE of the greatest films of all time and most people would respect that opinion. But if you say it IS the greatest movie of all time, that could cause controversy. 

        One thing about this movie that I liked just in the first 10 minutes was the realism that it brought to the table. Some things where over exaggerated for the big screen, but it mostly felt like the plot could be real. Almost like a documentary type the way they talk about Charles Foster Kane and what his ideals where and who he associated himself with. They even dug into Kane's personal life and talked about his marriages and divorces. But so far, I'm still not convinced it is the greatest film of all time.

        Even though it had this form of realism to it, it's imagery and backgrounds they used were extravagant to say the least. I was pretty amazed on how they made Xanadu look with all of the land and the nature surrounding it. All of those exotic animals in that large cage added to an already extraordinary palace that was shown. Plus, at the very beginning when they did all of those different close up action shots and when it zoomed in on Charles Kane's lips saying "Rosebud". I thought that seemed way ahead of its time. 

        The use of settings was another thing I was really impressed by. It looked like a lot of time and detail was put on these different settings. Like it was something Orson Welles wanted to look spotless. My two favorites were El Rancho and Kane's Campaign headquarters. The western and desert design on the back walls of El Rancho and the neon sign that was on top of the building were details of that setting I liked. For Kane's Campaign headquarters, I thought it was a nice touch seeing the streamers laying in and around the outside of the Campaign headquarters and the building being covered in the "Kane for Governor" posters. 

        The way movies were progressing in only a couple of decades, from the 20's to the 40's, is impressive to me. From watching M to watching Citizen Kane, it feels like a huge jump in videography. With the use of different angles and shots at different distances, it's no wonder movies are still one of the highest, if not the highest grossing form of media still used today.

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