Cinematic Details
Jul. 29th, 2004 02:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vardathemessagescript:
Arthur stands opposite with a notepad.
...Once upon a time.
With that Cecil pivots around in his wheelchair and takes off down the narrow corridor of the decrepit city hospital.
This shot suggests a similar scene from Citizen Kane in which a reporter interviews Kane's ex-business partner at a hospital – he is wearing a robe, and while not in a wheelchair, he is seated in a rattan type chair in a solarium near an elevator.
Velvet Goldmine loosely copies the structure of the cinematic masterpiece Citizen Kane, more of a play on its conventions than a shot for shot copy. Like VG, Citizen Kane is a roman à clef, (a novel with a key), the thinly fictionalized story of a newspaper giant based on publishing titan William Randolph Hearst. Hearst liked the film even less than Bowie liked Velvet Goldmine and the story of how he tried to stop the film's release is told a 1996 PBS documentary.
A list of similarities behind the cut
A newsreel introduces us to the main characters, Charles Foster Kane and Brian Slade.
There is a mystery about the identity and/or motivation of the main characters, What did Kane's last words mean and from them, can we figure out who he really was? What ever happened to Brian Slade and why did he pull the shooting stunt?
After the newsreel ends the reporters discuss Who really was Kane/What ever happened to Brian Slade.
Newspaper headlines are used throughout to tell the story.
A reporter travels to interview the main character's business associates and ex-wife and most of the story is told in flashbacks. Contrary opinions abound.
A flashback includes the main character as a child at a pivotal moment ~ Kane with his sled, and Brian with his uncle.
Both ex-wives, Mandy and Susan Kane, are washed-up lounge acts, "appearing nightly", who drink whiskey and smoke while sitting at a table in a nightclub, as they talk to the reporter.
Both ex-business associates are interviewed in the hospital seated and wearing robes, and have bittersweet memories.
Lines from Kane that echo in VG are said by the boss to the reporter:
It isn't enough to tell us what a man did, you've got to tell us who he was.
Get in touch with anyone who ever knew him, that manager of his,... his second wife....
Arthur stands opposite with a notepad.
...Once upon a time.
With that Cecil pivots around in his wheelchair and takes off down the narrow corridor of the decrepit city hospital.
This shot suggests a similar scene from Citizen Kane in which a reporter interviews Kane's ex-business partner at a hospital – he is wearing a robe, and while not in a wheelchair, he is seated in a rattan type chair in a solarium near an elevator.
Velvet Goldmine loosely copies the structure of the cinematic masterpiece Citizen Kane, more of a play on its conventions than a shot for shot copy. Like VG, Citizen Kane is a roman à clef, (a novel with a key), the thinly fictionalized story of a newspaper giant based on publishing titan William Randolph Hearst. Hearst liked the film even less than Bowie liked Velvet Goldmine and the story of how he tried to stop the film's release is told a 1996 PBS documentary.
A list of similarities behind the cut
A newsreel introduces us to the main characters, Charles Foster Kane and Brian Slade.
There is a mystery about the identity and/or motivation of the main characters, What did Kane's last words mean and from them, can we figure out who he really was? What ever happened to Brian Slade and why did he pull the shooting stunt?
After the newsreel ends the reporters discuss Who really was Kane/What ever happened to Brian Slade.
Newspaper headlines are used throughout to tell the story.
A reporter travels to interview the main character's business associates and ex-wife and most of the story is told in flashbacks. Contrary opinions abound.
A flashback includes the main character as a child at a pivotal moment ~ Kane with his sled, and Brian with his uncle.
Both ex-wives, Mandy and Susan Kane, are washed-up lounge acts, "appearing nightly", who drink whiskey and smoke while sitting at a table in a nightclub, as they talk to the reporter.
Both ex-business associates are interviewed in the hospital seated and wearing robes, and have bittersweet memories.
Lines from Kane that echo in VG are said by the boss to the reporter:
It isn't enough to tell us what a man did, you've got to tell us who he was.
Get in touch with anyone who ever knew him, that manager of his,... his second wife....
