The Citizen Kane Effect and Rashomon Test

WARNING: Video contains spoilers.

A comparative analysis of the narrative choices in Citizen Kane and Rashomon. Both films have storytellers relaying their own perspective of events, but subtle differences in execution lead to a dramatically different effect from both films, leading to what I'm calling "The Citizen Kane Effect" and the "Rashomon Test".

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Additionally, if you like what you see here, be sure to like at subscribe. At Eyebrow Cinema, we strive to make informative and entertaining video essays on filmmaking.

[nateds]

I always found it really fascinating how shadows were used in Citizen Kane. It's got kind of a Godfather thing going on where alot of the characters shift in and out of shadows during the darker parts of the movie, which was absolutely not normal for the time, most movies of the era were blasted with so much light on set to become kind of dull. But I also found it rather interesting how because of all this, the movie if filmed in a way where we pretty much never get a good look at our main journalists face. Truth be told I don't actually know what that means, maybe it's something to do with the faceless "stories above everything else" nature of the news media, maybe it's just because what the man looks like literally does not matter.

[JHarder]

The  young  Jed Leland  knew  the first  Mrs. Kane, in her  youth and  knew her well. Brilliant. I don't know  of anyone who has grasped the  subtle significance  of that detail before. Bravo!

[OuterGalaxyLounge]

I first saw these movies in the late Seventies; Kane at an arthouse cinema and Rashomon on public TV. They came at the right time as I was just getting into the serious cinematic canon, and they're both milestones of unconventional storytelling, reflecting the unreliability and biases of memory and individual perspectives in trying to get at some kind of truth, or, conversely, to muddy it up.

[Laocoon]

No need for a 15minute video Oscar Wilde already summed this up in a few sentences.

"All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors."
- Wilde

[robertdullnig]

I'd say Rashomon does give some added credence to the Woodcutter's final version, both because it is the only version being told directly in the frame narrative and because it seems to incorporate the most from the other versions. (Being last also helps.)

[yourstrulyjohnnydollar]

I always thought the bandit's version of events in the most flattering not just to him, but to all three parties. In his version the Samurai was a bad ass warrior and his wife was the ultimate damsel to be won. The other parties clearly did not want to be seen in this way, but he really wants to make this an epic story. And for reference I have always trusted the woodcutter, his lie was completely tangential to the story, he merely stole some valuables from the scene of the crime. Why would he care if the bandit and Samurai seem like idiots? I understand the point that no one can be trusted and no one is innocent, but that woodcutter is not secretly Keyser Soze.

[rjsweda]

wow, leland loved emily. what a keen insight! how many critique kane & no one hypothesized this, cool awesome

[Alex-vdir]

She’s Gotta Have It by Spike Lee also has these effects but it’s not as well known

[gumbycat]

Why do you not have millions of subscribers??? This video is profound, going to the core issue in the subject of History.

[The_..]

I'm 35 and just watch both films for the first time. I'm glad I waited to mature as a human/viewer until consuming these masterpieces.

[oobrocks]

I didn't think the dudes of Rashomon were lying but simply different povs

[dcdad]

The real Kane, media mogul William Randolph Hearst, did sensationalize the news. One of the comics he ran was a satirical character, the Yellow Kid because he was colored yellow. Hence, that became yellow (sensationalized) journalism.

[bg_mn]

funny, I felt like Leland was super gay for Kane. that's how I interpreted his apparent disappointment at their wedding. and I thought when he got mad at Kane's cheating, it was more on the way of "why didn't you cheat on her with me then?"

[timpize]

I've just discovered your channel and I already love it. Anyway, I wonder what it tells about me if I wanted to believe all of the Rashomon characters, until I realized they all lied completely. lol This definitely is an unusual movie where we wait for a definite answer and are a bit frustrated that we don't receive it. I didn't make the connection with us being the judge in the first person, well spotted. I guess I'd be a lousy one.

[Lord_Thistlewick_Flanders]

This is fantastic and should have a million views. I hope it gets there someday!

[GHK]

I would love to see you tackle Antonioni's ennui trilogy... "L' eclisse" in particular is just one of those rare films that left me awe-struck at the end.

[jpmnky]

I thought we all were supposed to know that Leeland loved Emily. Maybe platonic. Probably not. I'm not a film intellectual by any means and I do miss plenty of obvious things in films. But this subplot is something I just thought was obvious.

[raphaellapointe]

For Rashomon, I can safely say that whoever is telling the truth is not the bandit. Not only is his story a bit too good to be true, but it's incoherent. He says the wife was consenting and that she would agree to being with whoever won the duel between to two, but then he says she ran away. Why? If she was ready to be with any of them, wouldn't she wait to see who wins her hand? Sure, maybe the sight of a man she loves being killed is one she doesn't want to see, but then the solution would have been to cover her eyes at the moment of the killing blow or to turn around for the duration of the duel instead of just running away and risk getting lost.

Perhaps she lied. Maybe she didn't want to be with either of them and just wanted to create a diversion so she could get away, but then wouldn't the bandit feel betrayed and express more frustration at the trial? Not to mention, if you know anything about feudal Japan, you'll know it wasn't the best place for women to go about on their own. She needed a man by her side to survive in this society. Randomly turning her back on the two men that wanted her wouldn't have been the wisest move in this kind of context.

Moreover, the bandit's story is the only one where the murder weapon isn't the dagger, but a katana. We have 3 witnesses saying the same thing (that the murder was comitted with a dagger) and another that's saying something else. I say that last one, aka the bandit, is a liar.

[dcdad]

Love your pieces. You are wise in your generation.

[vicenteortegarubilar]

Is this the effect when people believed that there was a extraterrestial attack on earth?? No wait, wrong orson wells creation.
But for real great video.