One of the key narrative elements of Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941) is its non-linear storytelling. Because Charles Foster Kane is revealed to be deceased in the intro sequence, the film heavily relies on foreshadowing to convey the story of Kane’s life and his influence on society. Even though the personal accounts of Kane’s acquaintances are what truly piece together the details of who he was, transitional elements such as the dissolve and superimposition give subtle insight into the film’s pacing and temporal structure. The main purpose of a dissolve is to signal the passage of time during the transition to a different scene, however there are many instances in this film where it adds additional context to what is happening.
For instance, in the scene where Charles Kane is telling Herbert Carter that he is going to move into Carter’s office, Carter tries to reason against it, but he is constantly interrupted by the people going in and out of the office. Welles dissolves to a different shot despite ongoing dialogue from Carter. This not only has the effect of making his words feel insignificant as they audibly fade into the distance, but it also shows the futility of his efforts to stop Kane from getting what he wants. This also provides insight into power dynamics between the two conversing characters, with Kane’s unwavering motives to gain authority being put on full display.
The use of superimposition in this film is much less pronounced. However, like the dissolve, it too adds meaning to a given shot. This can be seen in the scene where Leland, Kane, and Bernstein are looking at the circulation number of The New York Inquirer; the text on the screen and the people moving in the background seems to be overlapping with the characters in a superimposed fashion. This creates the effect of making these men seem extra attached to their affiliation with the newspaper. This is also seen in the next shot where they are congregated in front of the window of The New York Chronicle, foreshadowing Kane’s scheme to assimilate their reporters into his own newspaper.
Hi Zachary,
The transitions in this film seemed so ahead of their time, it’s crazy. I love the examples you gave about superimposition, as that’s a technique I didn’t really clock when first watching, but I went back and watched the scene you discussed and it feels so interesting seeing it being done in an older film like Citizen Kane. Viewing the film from a modern day perspective I feel does a disservice to the magic of the filmmaking, as these groundbreaking techniques being used are now so commonplace, we see them in almost every new film we watch. Another transition that you didn’t mention that I thought was very striking was the scene in which Thatcher tells Kane as a child “Merry Christmas” as he is opening his new sled under the tree. Suddenly, there is an abrupt jump cut to Kane dictating a letter many years later, with Thatcher finishing the sentence: “and a Happy New Year”. This is so striking because usually, we are used to a dissolve being used to signify the passage of time in film, but Welles makes the deliberate creative decision to forego tradition and compress the passage of time in one cut, drawing emphasis to the sadness of Kane’s youth. This felt so wildly unpredictable while watching the film that I actually had to rewind and watch the sequence again to understand it!