Citizen Kane by Robert McKee

Episode of Series “J’accuse”.
Contrary to the traditional stance of acclaiming “Citizen Kane” as one of the greatest films of all time, Robert McKee, in this critical lecture on the film, believes that “Citizen Kane” has few of the attributes of great art. McKee believes that the style of the piece “jumps off the screen and applauds itself” while style and content fight each other. Welles’ is seen as a manipulator of the audience’s response, using cinematic techniques which saturate the film with visual metaphor. Importantly, McKee’s analysis sees a fundamental weakness in the plot and characterisation of the film, highighting the conflict Welles had with writer Herman Mankiewicz over the inclusion of the “Rosebud” plot as an example of this. McKee urges the viewer to see beyond the mythology of “Citizen Kane.”