The Grapes of Wrath

I found the viewing of the Grapes of the Wrath to be the most the useful in understanding the novel read before it, however in the lecture it was suggested that the story is written in a newspaper form but I disagree with this as it seems to me it is written in the poetic narrative of most novels. "To the red country and part of the grey country of Oklahoma the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth". I would argue that it is does state the stages of development and situations mixed with poetic descriptions giving the novel more of a diary feel, as the news is reported free of poetic description completely.

In addition I was shocked at the portrayal of the ranch work camps in the film as they closely resembled concentration camps, for example the barbed wire fences and the guards patrolling the fences at night. I am not positive why the camps were portrayed this way but I can only guess, I'm not sure whether it was meant to contribute to the aim of creating a distasteful image of the government to audiences, in order to further impress upon them the wrong doings of the government, which is already shown at the beginning of the film when the government takes the farmer's land which does the belong to them.

Also some of the images of poverty were disturbing but extremely effect at conveying the destitution of the people, which I feel strays from usual depictions and establishes new, bold and hard hitting images that have a greater impact on the audience, I am of course referring to a starving man being breast fed to cure him of his starvation. This depiction is so effective because it is so savage and shows the possible extremes those people endured in order to survive.

"Rosebud"

What a stark contrast the representation of Lord Northcliffe is in 'Citizen Kane' compared to 'The Real Lord Northcliffe'. Northcliffe in 'Citizen Kane' is violent, cold (at times) and obsessed with his work, which presents a more realistic character that has good and bad aspects within his personality; which is a huge contrast to Owen's glowing account that shows a two dimensional character that only works and travels.

The main allure of the film for me however was the mystery surrounding the name "Rosebud" which is shown at the beginning of the film as Lord Northcliffe's dying words, the meaning of these last words is searched and debated throughout the film. I think that the significance of this word is that it demonstrates his mourning for his childhood bliss, and the sled"Rosebud" represents the last regret that passes his lips; that he could not remain stranded in those days. Another indication is the snow dome he drops, which resembles his snow covered childhood home. Another interpretation could be that his method of producing the news which can be best shown in this quote ""You provide the pictures, we'll provide the war". This could indicate that the interweaving layers of a rose represent the intricate lies or believed truths that were created to match a picture in order to create a story. Martin Baggs agrees that "rosebud" does represent everything that Kane lost, which was replaced with money.
If anyone else has anymore information on the mystery of the "rosebud" please let me know.

'The Real Lord Northcliffe'

I found this book to be a very interesting insight into Lord Northcliffe's life, it was useful because in the lecture we looked at Northcliffe's achievements and the account looked closely at his characteristics, demeanour and habits.
However these recollections I personally found to be overly biased and complementary , it tended to leave out key facts that would have tainted his memory , for example it mentions his death but fails to mention how he died of syphilis. Which could be considered a less than dignified way to die.
Another disappointing aspect of the book is although it goes into great detail about his personality it only touches slightly on his business ventures, for instance it describes his management of 'The Times' and his conversion of 'The Daily Mail' into a women's paper, but it fails to indulge the reader with details on how the deal was secured, how he heard about the deal and his adjustments to the position. I feel this was a general failure of the whole book , however the lecture cured me of the ignorance the book failed to satisfy.

I am now eagerly awaiting the screening of the film Citizen Kane to do an overall comparison as it will be intriguing to see where these two forms agree and differ. If anyone has any contrasting views or even anything to add I would love to hear what you have to say.