Citizen Kane. I won’t go on about the technical influence this movie had; I’ll keep it to the themes I’ve been exploring of the American Dream. This movie is strangely the most timely of the three American Dream stories I’ve watched (There Will Be Blood, The Godfather I & II). Xanadu/Mar a Lago. The difference between Charles Foster Kane and President Tiny Hands is the former has intelligence and at least started with a modicum of compassion and decnecy. Of course Kane never did gain elected office. The voters nearly a century ago were obviously wiser than those of today. Don’t get me wrong, it’s almost insulting to Kane to compare him to President Cheeto Face. Kane starts his adult life with a silver spoon and a mission to make the world a better place. He stands up for his principles in the face of loss and embarrassment. But Kane’s motives don’t feel altruistic. Rather, they seem a desire to curry favor, to have people like him.
Ultimately, he’s alone. He’s abandoned his morals and all that he truly cares about to hold onto his wealth and power. He dies a legend, but also completely unfulfilled. We’re left wondering what is better: to be an idealist uncorrupted, but also without much influence, or to have the power and have that corrosion.
“If I hadn’t been very rich, I might’ve been a really great man.” I think Kane would’ve been a better man without the wealth, but he couldn’t have been as influential. Such is the dark side of the American Dream.