Theme through Music and Sound

Rating: 10/10 (3 December 2007)

The theme of this film is supported through its use of music and sound: The self-centered attraction for money, power and materialism leads to a loss of childhood innocence, pollution of family, empty and shallow values, and an inevitable self-realization of retrospective regret. The opening scene begins with a darkening minor bass-horn which produces a cold, mysterious, and empty atmosphere. The viewer sees a mega-mansion in the background perched on top of a hill with a luminous light spilling out through an open window. As images of the mansion move closer and closer towards the window, the music crescendo's louder and louder and finally climaxes with a sudden bass/drum roll as the light turns off inside. The tension and release of the parallel music here suggests that something dramatic has, or is about to take place inside that room. It is a musical cue to what the viewer is about to uncoverthat is, the light of the world's largest newspaper tycoon has just turned off, or died.
Diegetic and non-diegetic music is used frequently throughout the film to help convey the rise of Kane's empire of selfishness, his attraction for money and power, his manipulation on public opinion, and the pollution of his family. A diegetic song written specifically to hail Kane as a great newspaper publisher is sung during a banquet party his staff throws for him. Here Kane is seen as the center of attention as he dances with a group of women who flower over him and sing praises to his name. This song expressly demonstrates the rise of Kane's egotism. Even earlier in the film during the news reel sequence, a tapestry of events from Kane's life is displayed with non-diegetic drums and pompous horns to help reflect Kane's smugness towards money and power. During a time-lapsed sequence over Kane eating breakfast with his first wife, both mickey-mousing and non-diegetic elements are used to heighten the disintegration of his first marriage. Fast-paced camera swipes (accompanied with the tingling of bells and strings) are mickey-moused with the progression of each sceneshowing the further decay of their marriage each time. The non-diegetic music becomes more and more morose to enhance and foreshadow the inevitable divorce. Sound is also used to capture the empty and regretful life of Kane. During a particular scene with his second wife constructing a jigsaw puzzle, he engages her in a shallow conversation about not wanting to move to New York. As he walks through the immensely spacious halls of the mansion, their voices are heard deeply echoing off the empty and lonely wallsgiving the impression of isolation. This diegetic sound is to reflect Kane's inner emptiness and loss of personal childhood innocence to the debauchery of materialism.
Sound becomes dramatic and crucial in the scene where Kane's second wife leaves him. As he tears apart the materialized and wealthy room he has built for her, foley sounds are heard emphasizing the crashing of chairs and shelves, and the ripping of pillows and blankets. The sound increasing here reflects Kane's retrospective regret in all that he has lost and also that which was most dear to him. The intensity of these sounds then contrasts perfectly when he picks up the snow-globeall sounds vanish. In the midst of silence, the viewer then hears a faint and muffled, "Rosebud", from Kane's mouth. The sound of this word resonates with the viewer; echoing forth Kane's long-lost childhood to when he was first taken from the innocence and youth of his home and forced into the scandalous and corrupt world of politics and media.