Carringer ch. 3 & Naremore

The first thing I'd like to discuss is the Naremore article. I have to say that when watching Citizen Kane (as this was the first time I'd seen it) I feel like I didn't quite understand or rather appreciate the film. However, I think that reading the Naremore gave me a deeper appreciation for the film and especially for ending of the film. I thought that the duality of the film that Naremore discusses is very interesting because I did not notice it while I was watching the film but now it is so clear with the two wives, two friends, and importantly two sleds. The ending of the film when we finally understand what Rosebud means is kind of an interesting experience for the audience I feel. On one hand I thought to myself that the whole time we had been waiting on that information for the whole film and it seemed anticlimactic, but on the other hand it did make me think. I thought that it was interesting how it seemed like such an unimportant piece of the film becomes the answer to the films big question. The second thing I'd like to talk about is chapter 3 of Carringer's book. This chapter revolved around Art Direction and looks at artist sketches of scenes and then what we see onscreen when we watch the film. I thought that it was interesting to think about how the artist usually has a very different sketch than what we are actually presented to us onscreen. I think as audience members we never really take that into account and so I thought it was an interesting point to make. I think that this is another point where we can see the director being the author of the film in that while artists give these sketch drawings it is ultimately up to the director as to what the scene will look like, where the shadows of the scene will be, etc. Ultimately, I thought both readings for today brought up interesting points about Citizen Kane.