Citizen Kane

Rebecca McCallum (remc@uhura.cc.rochester.edu)
Mon, 13 Apr 1998 14:12:51 -0400 (EDT)

Malcolm Lawrence wrote:

> I could go on...I mean whole books have been written about the film. And
> if you take into consideration that Orson Welles was only 25 years of
> age when he made the film, it still boggles the mind.
>
> > so I suppose it takes the wisdom of age...?
>
> Not necessarily. Sometimes all it takes is a little research, and
> keeping in
> mind that, metaphors being what are these days, a sled isn't always just
> a sled (but a kiss is still just a kiss. Unless, of course, you're lost


Thanks, Malcolm, for all that info on Citizen Kane!  I knew nothing about
its controversial beginnings...

Reading your post and Robert's post before it made me think about how hard
it is to get out of our own cultural context, to *forget* what is so
ingrained in our cultural expectations.  I read an interview once of a
European violinist (Jaap Schroeder, I think, in case there are any curious
musicians out there) who is involved primarily in the Early Music movement
(playing music from past centuries in as close to the correct style for
that time period as possible).  He said that he'd spent decades playing
nothing but Bach and Mozart (and music from around those time periods),
and then at one point decided to expand his repertoire to include
Beethoven.  When he did, he said he was positively BLOWN AWAY by the
stylistic innovations, by the almost violence of it.  And of course, the
rest of us hear Beethoven and think, "how nice, how pretty it is..."  It's
all a matter of perspective. 

If we arbitrarily connect this thread to Salinger...
How differently would we read Salinger's works if we knew what is was like
to live in NYC in the 40's and 50's?

- Rebecca