Category Archives: great citizen kane debate

“It isn’t enough to tell us what a man did. You’ve got to tell us who he was.”

Posted on by under great citizen kane debate

And boy, did you. The entries that we received for the Great Citizen Kane Debate were above and beyond our expectations. After quite a bit of reading (and re-reading) and discussion amongst ourselves, we have determined the prize winners!

The voting was quite close, particularly between first and second place, and we want to commend each and every blogger who participated for writing some truly thought-provoking, intriguing entries.

Without further ado …

First Place: The Mythical Monkey (A Mythical Monkey Writes About the Movies) for his insightful and humorous entry, Citizen Kane: Best Ever? Monkey raises some interesting questions about the film, and we felt that his approach to the debate was extremely well-written, refreshingly honest, logical, and heartfelt:

“But more than its large, operatic aspects, it’s the fact that Kane also works on a deeply personal level that makes it resonate for me. Kane is above all else an uncompromising look at aging—the waning energy, the missed opportunities and the nagging sense as your days grow dim that nothing you’ve accomplished is going to make a damn bit of difference when you’re gone—certainly nothing you accomplish can stop you from one day being gone, and that’s a sobering enough thought for most of us.

Is Kane the best movie ever made? How can that even be defined? No one movie can ever satisfy every single urge or taste. Sometimes I want to see a comedy, sometimes a thriller, sometimes a romance. Sometimes I want fun-stupid and sometimes I want to take a nap. And sometimes I want something so involving I lose myself in it and come out the other end with a different sense of who I am and what it all means.

For me, Kane is one of those transformative movie experiences.”

~~~

Second Place: Rachel (The Girl With the White Parasol) for her passionate celebration of the film, Citizen Kane Takes the Stand. Rachel breaks down the elements of Kane that make it such a perennial critical favorite while highlighting the moments that resonate with her personally (including the story behind the name of her blog, which is just a damn beautiful piece of writing):

“I’m going to end my commentary on Citizen Kane with a personal confession. The reason why I named my blog, “The Girl with the White Parasol.” Anyone familiar with Citizen Kane knows Mr. Bernstein’s famous speech in which he remembers one fleeting glimpse of a girl with a parasol, years and years ago. “I only saw her for one second. She didn’t see me at all, but I’ll bet a month hasn’t gone by since that I haven’t thought of that girl.” When I chose that quote and title for my blog, I worried for a long time that people might think I was calling myself after that long-lost girl. And wouldn’t that seem like the height of arrogance? No one ever questioned me on the subject but here is my chance to set the record straight. The girl with the white parasol isn’t me. For me, the girl represents a brief flash of beauty in a person’s life. One of those brief moments that stay with us forever, no matter where we end up or what we do. The reason I watch films is so that I can find those moments of beauty, whether they come from a Technicolor image or from the throb in an actor’s voice or from a string chorus. That’s why I named my blog, “The Girl with the White Parasol.” That’s why I love film. And that’s why I love Citizen Kane.”

~~~

Third Place: Jill (Sittin’ on a Backyard Fence) for her laugh-inducing entry, Wait a Minute, There’s No Cane in Citizen Kane! Jill admits that her opinion of Kane is generally “meh,” but that she nonetheless recognizes its importance in the history of film. Of particular interest is Jill’s breakdown of some recent pop-culture homages to the movie (we were thoroughly amused by that “Ghostbusters” clip she posted–a sheer moment of “what-the-fuckery” if I’ve ever seen one):

“Is Citizen Kane the Greatest Movie Ever Made? No. I will say that it is quite possibly the greatest film to get away with mocking the biggest and most powerful media tycoon. Welles accomplished an almost impossible feat and ultimately suffered because of it. He didn’t get the credit he deserved. [...] If Citizen Kane isn’t the greatest then what is? To be perfectly honest, I don’t think there can be a film with the distinction of being “The Greatest Movie Ever Made.” What’s so wonderful about movies is that they have different impressions on different people. [...] The viewer decides what is the greatest…to them. Yes, some films surpass the norm to become masterpieces and perfect examples of a particular style of acting, directing or genre. To say there is one film that surpasses them all to become the greatest, I don’t think so.”

~~~

Congratulations to our winners, and thanks again to EVERYONE who took the time to pen an entry for this debate. I think all three of us can agree that we learned quite a bit about this movie from reading your thoughts about it! And personally, I can honestly say that reading your entries on Kane has given me some new perspectives from which to examine the film. I doubt it will suddenly become my favorite movie ever (I still love you, Casablanca!), but I feel as though I have a renewed appreciation for its strengths, and I’ll approach my next viewing of Kane (whenever that may be) with perhaps more of an open mind than before.

In this corner …

Posted on by under great citizen kane debate

The deadline for entries for the Great Citizen Kane Debate was last night at midnight. We’re so pleased with the response our call for posts received! The quality of the arguments presented by these bloggers is impressive, and has already made for some excellent, informative, and entertaining reading.

The esteemed contributors are:

[Note: if we've somehow left your entry off this list, please let us know ASAP!!]

We hope you’ll take some time to travel around and visit all of these bloggers and even add your voice to the debate by commenting on their posts!

We’ll be judging the entries over the next two weeks, and the winners will be announced here on November 30th!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to write a post and also to everyone who helped promote this event on their blogs and Twitter feeds over the past month!

Reminder(s).

Posted on by under announcements, blogathon, great citizen kane debate

A couple of notes of interest:

First, we want to remind everyone out there that the deadline for submitting a post for the Great Citizen Kane Debate is Sunday, November 13th! Once you’ve posted your entry on your blog, leave us a comment or email us a link to trueclassicsblog (at) gmail dot com.

Also, add another blogging event to the plethora of upcoming blogathons: fellow CMBA-er Bette of Bette’s Classic Movie Blog is hosting a “Classic Moustaches for Movember” blogathon.

Allow her to explain further:

Ok, so evidently I can’t grow a ‘stache for Movember in support of prostate cancer because… I’m a girl. BUT I can blog about moustaches! So I’m hosting a little blogathon in support of Movember, “Classic Moustaches For Movember”. Bloggers, gather ’round. All you have to do is post about something to do with moustaches in your own classic-movie-blogging way, and link to the donation page (that one is for the US, but it’s easy to find the UK one too) on the Movember website! There are more famous, debonaire classic actors with moustaches than you can fit in one book, let alone one post, so there should be lots to blog about :-) Your post can go up any time before the end of November. I hope this gives everyone time to participate!

Movember is a wonderful cause, and we’re going to try our best to get a post up for this sometime this month. Check out Bette’s page for more information about this event!

In the meantime, we’re solidly into NaNoWriMo mode here at True Classics, so posts are (as you may have noticed) more sporadic than normal these days. But I have a couple of things on tap for the upcoming week, so be sure to stop by and check those out in the next few days! And for those of our blog buddies who are tackling their own novels this month, best of luck to each and every one of you!

Announcements and general blog merriment on tap.

Posted on by under announcements, blogathon, bloggy stuff, great citizen kane debate, news update

Ahh, November. A chill is in the air, Christmas commercials are already playing on television, the anticipation for turkey and dressing is running high, and thousands of writers are revving up their laptops to participate in National Novel Writing Month.

Carrie and I have each signed up to participate in NaNoWriMo this year, so in essence, we’ve each agreed not to have a social life for the next thirty days. This may mean blogging will continue to be sporadic for the next few weeks, but that’s not to say we won’t be posting every week. There are a few great events coming up before the end of the year that we’re excited to be participating in, and we have several things planned for later this month as True Classics approaches its two-year anniversary.

First, the ladies of The Scarlet Olive are hosting a “For the Boys” blogathon.

Allow Hilary and Katie to explain:

“There’s a staggering amount of estrogen in our blogs and podcasts. We’d like to shake the content up a bit and expand our masculine audience. Many classic films fall under the manly umbrella: shoot-‘em-up westerns, shadowy noir, timeless war tales, and action-filled gangster ploys. Females are capable of enjoying these types of films, but we feel they were primarily geared towards men. So, here is what we ask of you:

  • Think about the quintessential films in these genres
  • Reflect upon why these films appeal to men

Write a blog (or podcast) regarding the masculine gender in film, genres that appeal to men, films in these genres, or a combination of any of the above. If you are male or female and disagree with this completely … write about that!”

As there is an equally staggering amount of estrogen in our posts here at True Classics (not that we’re apologizing for that!), we thought it would be interesting to throw our hat into this ring. I don’t know what topic we’ll tackle, but it will be a lot of fun regardless!

In December, there are two interesting blogathons on tap. On December 20th, Lara from Backlots is kicking off three days of “Dueling Divas.”

The guidelines, per Lara:

“I am hosting the Dueling Divas Blogathon, which I have scheduled to take place between December 20-23. It’s a ways off, so as to leave enough time to plan your blogging schedules accordingly.

Participants may blog about any of the following types of Dueling Divas:

  • Those who had a rivalry in real life, either over a particular film role or over a personality clash, ie Bette Davis and Joan Crawford
  • Those who had a rivalry on the screen, ie Mildred and Veda from Mildred Pierce
  • Any dual role (see what I did there? Duel? Dual? Be proud.) played by an actor or actress in a classic film, ie Hayley Mills in The Parent Trap.
It’s totally free reign, you can write about the divas themselves, compare and contrast one of each of their films, and if you’re going to write about dual roles, you can talk about the differences in their characters or the actor’s technique in portraying them…you get the idea.”

There are so many directions from which this topic can be approached–it’s an inspired choice for a blogathon, and we’re really looking forward to participating in this one!

Overlapping a bit with the Dueling Divas is the Humphrey Bogart blogathon, hosted by Forever Classics’ Meredith.

This one is pretty wide-open, too:

“In honor of [Bogart's] 112th birthday on December 25th, I’ve decided to host my first blogathon, which will run from December 23-December 25th. I realize that’s it’s three months away, but if you’d like to participate, I ask that you let me know by December 22nd. Your post can be about his films, his life or anything else Bogie-related.”

Our love for Bogie is pretty well established, so you know we’ll be contributing a post to this one. After all, we can’t deny ourselves the chance to lavish praise on one of the greats!

Finally,  just a reminder: entries for the “Great Citizen Kane Debate” need to be posted on your blog by November 13th. Once you’ve completed your post, just post a link in the comments OR email the link to trueclassicsblog (at) gmail dot com. We will be judging the entries and announcing the winners on November 30th. I can’t wait to read everyone’s thoughts–I know it’s going to make for some interesting reading!

The rest of the year is stacking up to be pretty interesting! Are there any other blogathons or classic film-related events coming up that we should know about? Tell us in the comments!

We’re in anniversary mode!

Posted on by under announcements, celebration, great citizen kane debate

Here at True Classics, we’re celebrating two major hallmarks: our 300th post (today!), and our upcoming two-year anniversary in November!

And I say, what better way to celebrate than to give stuff away???

Well, I say “give away” when I really mean “participate in an awesome contest and WIN stuff!”

Let’s begin with a little back story. Last year, I found myself in a bit of hot water on Twitter when I said the thing that, as a classic movie fan, you’re not really supposed to say: I do not particularly like Citizen Kane.

Pause for shocked gasps and/or sympathetic nods.

Yes, it’s true. I don’t really enjoy Kane. I understand its importance as an influential, groundbreaking film from a technical perspective–in its construction, its cinematography, its innovative use of techniques such as flashback and montage, etc.–but though I have forced myself to watch this movie half a dozen times in various attempts to try to change my own mind, I just don’t LIKE it. And I do not agree with the prevailing critical opinion that it’s the best movie ever made. I think that, hands down, that particular title belongs to Transformers.

Kidding. Seriously kidding. To me, it’s actually Casablanca.

Admitting my dislike for Kane had an unforeseen side effect in that it fired up a debate among fellow film bloggers and critics on Twitter. While I had my share of support, there were quite a few others whose judgment of my admission were blunt and, in some cases, really harsh (one blogger even re-tweeted my post with a derisive note about my “uninformed” critical opinion–at which point I thought, “Wow–I’m a critic now?? I didn’t even have to get a degree for that. Sweet!”). All things considered, though, I wasn’t really offended, because if I have learned anything in my time as a blogger, it’s that people tend to get defensive as HELL about their favorites, and you just have to roll with it.

But it did get me thinking that it might be interesting to host a debate someday and really suss out folks’ opinions on the Kane issue.

Thus:

The Great Citizen Kane Debate!

Here’s your chance to either defend Kane’s position as King of the Cinematic Mountain, or to knock it off its storied pedestal. At some point during the next month (until November 13th), put up a post on your blog either explaining why Kane deserves to be numero uno, or lay out your reasons why it is overrated. And if you are among those who feel that Kane is not the best movie of all time, tell us which film really IS, in your opinion, and defend your choice!

The entries will be judged by Carrie, Nikki, myself, and a couple of guest judges whom we haven’t determined yet. We’ll be looking at several factors, but first and foremost, we’re looking for enthusiastic, informative, and entertaining entries that will engage us–and your readers–in lively discussion. And we will award prizes to our top three favorites entries!

What kind of prizes, you may ask?

Well, should the grand-prize winner be one of the Kane faithful, he/she will win a brand-spanking-new copy of the Citizen Kane 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray!

This thing comes chock-full of goodies, including accompanying booklets, lobby card reproductions, and numerous extras to indulge your love of all things Kane.

Now, if the grand-prize winner is NOT of the Kane persuasion (or should he/she already own the Blu-ray), we’re not going to force this movie upon you. Therefore, if you should so choose, we have a grab-bag of three DVDs from the TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection series for you:

Romantic Comedies (Adam’s Rib, Woman of the Year, The Philadelphia Story, Bringing Up Baby);

The Best Picture Winners (Casablanca, Gigi, An American in Paris, Mrs. Miniver); and,

Murder Mysteries (The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, Dial M for Murder, The Postman Always Rings Twice)

We also have some runner-up prizes on tap. For the second-place winner, we have a copy of TCM’s newest book, Classic Movie Trivia, which features over 4000 questions for your trivia pleasure.

And for the third-place winner, we have a year’s subscription to TCM’s wonderful monthly magazine, Now Playing!

We will announce the winners here on November 30th (which, not so coincidentally, is the date of our two-year anniversary!).

We think this is a great way to celebrate our blogiversary (bloggiversary?), and we hope you’ll join us and contribute a piece for the contest. If you ARE interested in participating, leave a comment here or email us at trueclassicsblog (at) gmail dot com!