The document discusses the differences between story and plot in Citizen Kane. While story refers to the chronological sequence of events, plot refers to how events are structured and presented in the film. Citizen Kane's plot is nonlinear, using flashbacks to tell the story of Charles Foster Kane's life out of chronological order. Each flashback segment could be further broken down and analyzed on its own. The complex, nonlinear narrative structure raises issues and arguments in an implicit way.

1. Analyzing Narrative
in Citizen Kane

2. In Citizen Kane, it is easy to see the difference
between story and plot, since the movie is not
told in chronological order.

3. Story = all the events of the narrative as they
occur in chronological order from beginning to
end, including not only those that we see and
hear, but those that we infer.
Plot = the ordering and structuring of narrative
events as they are presented in the film.

4. If we were to put Citizen Kane into chronological
order, it would begin with Kane as a boy in
Colorado. The film actually begins with his
death.

5. One storyline is presented in chronological
order--Thompson’s investigation into the
meaning of Rosebud. But Kane’s life is told out
of order. The plot of Citizen Kane is the
structure of events in Thompson’s investigation
and in Kane’s life as presented in the film.

6. All narrative films have a plot, even those
presented in chronological order, such as The
Wizard of Oz, Toy Story, or Avatar. The events in
these films are presented in a particular order.
The narratives are shaped to give us the feeling
that they move forward, build to a climax, and
resolve.

7. A conventional narrative has the shape of a pyramid.

8. How would you draw the shape of Citizen Kane’s
narrative? Does it have a climax?

9. Segmentation of Citizen Kane

10. If you try to outline the plot of Citizen Kane,
what parts come to mind? You probably first
think of how the movie is narrated through a
series of flashbacks.

11. The flashbacks:
1. Thatcher’s notebooks
2. Bernstein
3. Jed Leland
4. Susan Alexander Kane
5. Raymond

12. Recall that the reporter interviews Susan first,
though he doesn’t hear her story until the end.
Thus, we have:
1. Susan interview
2. Thatcher’s notebooks/flashback
3. Bernstein interview/flashback
4. Jed Leland interview/flashback
5. Susan Alexander interview/flashback
6. Raymond interview/flashback

13. How does the movie begin and end? At the
beginning, we approach Kane’s castle. At the
end, in a parallel sequence, we retreat.

14. At the beginning, Kane utters the word
“Rosebud.” At the end, we see “Rosebud.”

15. If we add all the parts that frame the flashbacks,
we get the following outline.

16. 1. Prologue: Kane’s death
2. Newsreel
3. Premise: Discover the mystery of Rosebud.
4. Interview: Susan Alexander Kane
5. Flashback: Walter P. Thatcher
6. Flashback: Bernstein
7. Flashback: Jed Leland
8. Flashback: Susan Alexander Kane
9. Flashback: Raymond, butler at Xanadu
10.Coda: puzzle, revelation of Rosebud

17. What narrative patterns do you notice? What
meaning is there in the way this story is told?

18. Each of the segments could be broken down
further. Let’s take a closer look at Leland’s
flashback.

19. 1. Interview
2. Breakfast montage (dissolution of 1st marriage)
3. Interview
4. Meeting Susan
5. Campaign rally
6. Confrontation with Gettys and Emily
7. Affair exposed. Kane loses election.
8. Scene with Leland in office
9. Susan’s opera career (montage)
10.Bad review
11.Interview

20. What does this segmentation lead you to
notice?

21. One thing you might notice is that, even though
Leland narrates this section, he is not present in
each of these scenes. He is not with Kane when
he meets Susan or when he confronts Gettys.
He is passed out when Kane finishes his review.

22. Citizen Kane does not restrict the information in
this flashback to Leland’s point of view. (This is
true of the other flashbacks as well.)
Nevertheless, does this flashback reveal Leland’s
view of Kane? Does it reveal anything about
Leland?

23. Why do you think the first meeting of Kane and
Susan is presented in Leland’s flashback and not
in Susan’s?

24. A complete segmentation of Citizen Kane would
be very complex, since it is comprised of so
many parts that jump around in time and space.

25. Ed Sikov writes, “In film studies, it’s not so much
a question of what happens in a movie as the
way it happens, and this is certainly true as far
as plot patterns are concerned. Filmmakers use
narrative structure not only to tell stories but to
raise issues and make arguments, sometimes
explicitly, sometimes implicitly” (108).
What issues are raised by the way the plot of
Citizen Kane unfolds?

26. You can segment any movie into sections, but
most don’t have such clear divisions as Citizen
Kane. Most movies create the effect of a
continuous flow of story. How would you
segment a movie with a conventional plot
structure, such as Casablanca?

27. One way to segment a narrative is to look for its
turning points. A turning point creates a new
situation in the story, usually because a
character makes a decision or takes an action, or
because circumstances force a character to take
up or alter a goal.

28. The first major turning point in Casablanca is the
arrival of Ilsa and Laszlo, which creates a new
situation for Rick. What other turning points are
there?

29. We could also analyze Citizen Kane in this way?
What are the major turning points in the movie?
How do the turning points in his professional
and political careers correspond to the turning
points in his personal life?