Similarities Between Charles Foster Kane from Citizen Kane and William Randolph Hearts Essay

Citizen Kane is said to be one of the greatest movies of all-time, but it did not come without controversy. The controversy around this movie is based on the idea that Charles Foster Kane is the fictionalization of William Randolph Hearst, a narcissistic newspaper publisher, politician, and wealthy millionaire. The remarkable parallels between Kane and Hearst include their houses, their newspapers and their use of money. Both Kane and Hearst build spectacular and remarkable houses. In Citizen Kane, Charles Foster Kane builds a palace know as Xanadu. Xanadu is referred to in myths and poems as place of heaven on earth like, Avalon, Shangri-La, and Atlantis. Samuel Purchas wrote this in "Purchas his Pilgrimage or Relations of the World and the Religions observed in all Ages and Places discovered, from Creation unto this Present" In Xamdu did Cublai Can build a stately Palace, encompassing sixteene miles of plaine ground with a wall wherein are fertile Meddowes, pleasant springs, delightfull Streams, and all sorts of beasts of chase and game, and in the middest thereof a sumptuous house of pleasure, which may be removed from place to placeKane's house in Citizen Kane fits this description well it had meadows, springs, streams, and statues of all sorts of animals, whether chase or game. Hearst house in California's Santa Lucia Mountains also fits Samuel Purhas description of Xanadu. Hearst house is known as La Cuesta Encantada or The Enchanted Hill. The Enchanted Hill has 165 room's 127 acres of gardens, terraces, pools and walkways. The rooms are furnished with impressive collection of Spanish and Italian antiques. The way both men got into the newspaper business is rather similar. In the movie, Kane's father figure, Thatcher is worried that Kane will not understand his place in the world. Thatcher worries are confirmed when Kane sends a telegram saying that he has no interest in gold mines or banks, but would rather like to take over a...

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