Citizen Kane in popular culture

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Citizen Kane is one of the most referenced films in American media. The following is a partial list:

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

1 Movies
2 Television
3 Music
4 Other media

[edit] Movies

In Woody Allen's Zelig, around the 45th minute there is a fake archive news sequence which bears strong resemblance to the presentation of Xanadu in Citizen Kane. The sequence is about Leonard Zelig and Dr. Eudora Fletcher appearing with other celebrities at the dream-castle of William Randolph Hearst. Zelig is a mockumentary, and thus the scene is a nod to the film which first featured archive footage to tell a fictional story.
In Russ Meyer's movie Up!, the character Sweet Li'l Alice (Janet Wood) says "rosebud" and looks at the camera after seeing the flower tattoo of Margo Winchester (Raven De La Croix).
In the movie Vanilla Sky, the board members refer to Tom Cruise's character as "Citizen Dildo."
In the movie Ice Age: The Meltdown, Scrat in a random extreme scene pronounces the word "rosebud" before fainting of excitement.
In the animated movie Over The Hedge, the opossum Ozzie, while faking his death, looks at a rose bush and says "Rosebud" before "dying".
Not only is the title similar to Citizen Kane, but also midway through Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV there is a parody of the opening newsreel scene. The house where Noxie, Toxic Avenger’s evil opposite who is posing as Toxie, lives is called Tromadu. The name is a combination of Troma Entertainment, the name of the studio that produces the Toxic Avenger, and Xanadu. At the end of the news real scene the announcer of the news real asks Toxie what that is on his face, and Noxie replies, "NoseBlood".
The flash-backs to childhood in Oliver Stone's Nixon, as well as its use of a newsreel-style sequence to fill in the details of Nixon's life, bear a close stylistic resemblance to Citizen Kane.
Oliver Stone's Nixon quotes Citizen Kane extensively, from the opening shots (the White House replaces Kane's Xanadu) to the famous breakfast table scene (the growing estrangement of a married couple is illustrated by a sequence of day-to-day shots in which camerawork increasingly stretches the apparent distance between the of the breakfast table over which the couple bickers). A number of devices from Kane are explicitly mimicked, including the non-linear narrative that flashes back and forth from the childhood of its subject to his old age and the use of fake newsreel footage ("News - on the March!") to increase the rate of narrative flow. The apparent rationale for Stone's hommage is that Nixon is, like Kane, a rags-to-riches story of a man who "had greatness within him" but who loses touch with his own humanity.

[edit] Television

The animated television program The Simpsons has had many, many references to Citizen Kane, frequently portraying Mr. Burns as Kane himself:
- "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish": Burns runs for state governor, but when defeated yells "You can't do this to me, I'm Charles Montgomery Burns!". Bart also asks Homer "Is your boss governor yet?"
- "Marge Gets a Job": at another employee's retirement shindig, Smithers arranges a musical number for Burns reminiscent of the "Good ol' Charlie Kane" number in Citizen Kane, complete with Orson Welles-esque camera angles.
- "Mr. Plow": to rejuvenate his failing snow plow business, Homer hires an ad company who make a television commercial that is extremely similar to the opening scene of "Citizen Kane", involving a snow globe being dropped on the floor.
- "Sideshow Bob Roberts": when the villainous Sideshow Bob successfully runs for Springfield mayor, he gives his acceptance speech in front of a large poster of his own face.
- "Rosebud": The opening sequence in Burns' manor parodies the opening shot of Kane's manor and the snow globe falling on the floor. Burns remembers discarding his precious childhood teddy bear Bobo when leaving for a new life of riches, like Kane and his sled.
- "Make Room for Lisa": a Planet Hollywood-esque restaurant displays a supposed "cane from Citizen Kane"; Lisa comments "there is no cane in Citizen Kane!", though in fact Kane is actually seen with a cane in several scenes.
- "Treehouse of Horror VII": the third segment, in which the aliens Kodos and Kang attempt to rig the 1996 US Presidential Election, is entitled "Citizen Kang".
- "Treehouse of Horror XIII": the segment "The Day the Earth Looked Stupid," is a send up of the Welles' infamous War of the Worlds radio broadcast, complete with a Wellesian character voiced by Maurice LaMarche, the voice of The Brain. At one point in the episode, Chief Wiggum asks Welles "Why dont I just punch you in the nose, bud?" The Welles character then repeats the words "nosebud," in a reference to Kane. Welles' assistant at the radio station has voice very similar to that of Bernstein, Kane's right-hand man.
- The DVD commentary for one episode features one of the show's producers half-jokingly claiming that all the Citizen Kane references made throughout the series could be pieced together to comprise the entire film from start to finish.
In an episode of Futurama called "Less Than Hero", Fry, Leela and Bender become superheroes and face off against a villain known as the Zookeeper, who uses animals for crimes. One of the animals he uses is a crab named Lucky a.k.a. "Citizen Snips"
In the 1974 Columbo TV movie How to Dial a Murder, Nicol Williamson plays a film buff who trains his dogs to maul his enemy upon hearing the word “Rosebud”. Williamson gets his victim to say the fatal word by asking him a question about Citizen Kane over the phone.
In an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures called "Citizen Max", Hamton attempts to find out why an ailing Montana Max uttered the cryptic word "acme" before going to sleep. No one he questions knows what it means (the irony being that virtually every product has an ACME stamp on it). Max had recently run for student body president against former friend Buster Bunny and lost abysmally. It seems Monty's bicycle was an ACME, and the destroyed symbol of his childhood and lost innocence. However, Monty insists what he was saying wasn't "acme"--he was lamenting the onset of acne, as his face had just broken out in pimples! With that revelation that his arduous investigation has been for nothing, Hampton has a nervous breakdown.
In the 3rd Rock from the Sun episode "Citizen Solomon," Tommy takes over the school newspaper and begin behaving much like Kane. He even prints a sharply negative review of a school performance of My Fair Lady, despite the fact his girlfriend appeared in it, mirroring the negative review of Susan Alexander's performance Kane allowed to be printed.
In the children's television show The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Pete drops a snow globe in the episode "Sick Day" just like in Citizen Kane.
Animaniacs referenced the film in an opening credit gag, "Citizen Kane-y", while displaying the sled in a snowy scene. Also, in the opening credits to the direct-to-video film Wakko's Wish, Yakko is shown burning the sled, telling the viewers, "What did you expect? We're freezing here!"
In an episode of the children's television show Arthur the rich Muffy has a sled identical to Kane's.
Ruth Warrick, who played Emily Monroe Norton in Citizen Kane, became better known later in her career for playing Phoebe Tyler Wallingford on the American soap opera All My Children from 1970 until her death in January 2005. In this show it became a recurring gag to make references to this film when Phoebe was in the scene.
In 2004 a documentary film titled Citizen Black detailed the career and downfall of newspaper baron Lord Conrad Black.
In episode 137 of Cheers ("A Tale of Two Cuties", aired 1/21/88), Frasier, upset that the regulars have ruined the ending of the book he is reading, takes revenge by revealing the endings to several classic films in rapid succession, including the fact that Rosebud was Kane's sled.
In an episode of The Real Ghostbusters cartoon, entitled "Ghostbuster of the Year", the Ghostbusters are pitted against each other by millionaire publisher of the macabre Charles Foster Hearse III in an attempt to figure out which one is Ghostbuster of the year. Hearse asks the Ghostbusters to clear out his residence, Hearse Castle, of a pesky poltergeist, which keeps wailing on about "Rosebud." By accident, the Ghostbusters find a red sled, which the Ghost cheerfully reclaims.
In the show Friends, Rachel and Joey talk about Citizen Kane and agree that it is very boring.
In a 1997 episode of the sitcom Mad About You, titled "Citizen Buchman," documentary filmmaker Paul Buchman interviews several members of his family to tell the family's history, partly as a gift to his coming child. While being interviewing his great uncle Marty, Paul asks if he has any regrets. Marty says there's one thing he regrets, but has a heart attack, and before keeling over and dying, says, "Hoo... Moos...!" Paul spends the rest of the episode trying to figure out what "Hoo Moos" is. Several family members seem to think they know, but none of their explanations make much sense. Finally, after Paul turns off the camera filming Marty's funeral, his wife Jamie looks at the serial number on the camera: "HOO-MOO5," which, she guesses, is the last thing Marty saw.
In the British comedy show The League of Gentlemen Benjamin escapes from his captors, Tubs and Edward, from the local shop at the start of the first episode of the second season, the episode ends with him returning to his Uncle Harvey and Auntie Val's home where he keel's over and releases one of the shop's precious snow globes and murmurs the word "local".
In a 1997 episode of the sitcom NewsRadio entitled Rose Bowl, Jimmy James Stephen Root is fooled into purchasing false movie memorabillia. One of those items is a sled named Rose Bowl, he then proceeds to recreate the famous rosebud scene.
In a third season episode of the sitcom NewsRadio entitled Daydream, Jimmy James looks out the window where it is snowing. The scene flashes to a midwestern home. Dave asks "So, how was he today? Give you any trouble?" Lisa replies "No, he just sits there all day long, staring into that thing." Jimmy is slowly rocking back and forth, sitting on the floor looking into a snow globe, where there is a picture of the WNYX office with snow globe snow floating around. Dave says, "I wonder what he sees in there" while soft music plays. (This is actually in reference to the final episode of the medical drama St. Elsewhere not Citizen Kane)
At the end of one of the episodes of The Micallef Pogram (sic) the camera pulls back to reveal a sled sitting on a ledge at the back of the Studio Audience, with the word 'Rosebud' engraved on it. The camera move is reminiscent of the last shot of Citizen Kane. Also in the the same episode, we see a clay animation entitled "Citizen Kane", where a man lying in a hospital bed has a snow dome fall on his head brutally crushing it.
A sketch by The Kids in the Hall features two men, played by Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald, discussing the movie at a restaurant. Foley cannot recall the name of the film, which he had just seen on television, although he does acknowledge that the film starred Orson Welles as a dead newspaper tycoon, co-starred James Cotten, and featured a sled named Rosebud. McDonald insists that the film is entitled Citizen Kane, but Foley is certain that the film is not entitled Citizen Kane, and suggests that the film may be Psycho, The Trouble With Angels, or The Front Page.
In the sitcom Becker, the character Bob refers to Becker as "Citizen Kane".
In the Family Guy episode "Screwed the Pooch", Peter records over a video store's cassette immediately after Kane's death, informing the would-be renters that "It's his sled. It was his sled from when he was a kid." and, thus, saves them "two long, boobless hours."
In an Angry Beavers episode Norb shows a film in which he drops a snow globe. The film is called "Citizen Norb".
In 1995, a British building-materials company aired a commercial on U.S. television. It details, in newsreel fashion, the life of Charles Forsythe King, whose investments paid off handsomely at first, but went bust with the stock market crash of 1929. A character meant to represent Walter Parks Thatcher says, "King's mistake was investing in paper money instead of paper itself. He should have invested in timber." A character meant to represent Jedediah Leland says, "I told him, 'Charlie, you hit a brick wall. Buy bricks!'" A character meant to represent Mr. Bernstein says, "He worked us day and night. All that electricity. Too bad he didn't invest in coal." As the newsreel stops, a producer says, "All that tells me that he failed, but not why!" Another viewer asks, "What were King's last words?" Another says, "They say it was one word, the one thing he wished he had." The King character, with snow falling around him in imitation of the snow-globe, whispers, "Hanson!" Hanson then lists the various things they deal in, and closes with the tagline, "Just your average $15 billion company."
In an episode of Justice League Unlimited, an outdoor shot of Lex Luthor's mansion is similar to the opening shot of Kane, right down to the iron gate with an initial on it (in this case, L for Luthor).
In an episode of Earthworm Jim (TV series), Jim and Peter face the dreaded Nameless Beast, whose name is almost immediately revealed as Rosebud, said in a whispered tone.
In the cartoon Metalocalypse, one of the reoccuring characters is named Charles Foster Ofdensen, similar to the main character Charles Foster Kane.
In Sopranos a group of women are watching it and try to discuss the movie afterwards.
In an episode of Sex and the City, Miranda and her boyfriend are walking out of the theatre. She comments on how overall the film they saw was a great movie, and in response, her boyfriend states sarcastically: "Yeah, it was a real Citizen Kane."

[edit] Music

The White Stripes' song "The Union Forever" is made up entirely of quotes from Citizen Kane. A young Kane yells the title while playing in the snow. The chorus, "It can't be love for there is no true love", is originally sung by the jazz band during the camping trip. It also features the "Charlie Kane" song in a breakdown.
The music video for the song "Hook" from the album "Four" by Blues Traveler is a parody of Kane's political speech in front of a gigantic portrait of himself
Kate Bush sings "in the snow with Rosebud" in the song "King of the Mountain" from her album Aerial; a sled with the name "Rosebud" written on it appears in the song's video.
The Thrills' song "Found my Rosebud" includes the chorus: "So for the first time in my life/Feel like a country boy caught in headlights/I found my rosebud/I found my rosebud/Arrived in New York City/Feel like a scapegoat before a committee/I found my rosebud/I found my rosebud/Oh oh-oh."
Julie Brown's song "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun" references Citizen Kane with the spoken line: "Oh God this is like that movie Citizen Kane, you know where you later find out Rosebud was a sled? But we'll never know who Johnny was because, like, she's dead."
Tenacious D in the Pick Of Desinty has a reference in "You know our movie's better than Citizen Kane!"
The alternative rock band Muse has a song entitled Citizen Erased.

[edit] Other media

The last chapter of the comic book The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Keno Don Rosa is heavily influenced by Citizen Kane.
A level in the computer game Oh No! More Lemmings is called Citizen Lemming.
Upon defeating the boss in final level of the final episode in the computer game Wolfenstein 3D, the boss will mutter "rosenknospe" (the German word for rosebud) before he dies. The same thing will happen in Timesplitters: Future Perfect, except that the final boss, Jacob Crow will mutter "rosebud" in English.
A Batman Elseworlds story by Brian Michael Bendis entitled "Citizen Wayne" featured Dick Grayson as the reporter piecing together Bruce Wayne's life.
The Superman comic Lex 2000 refers to Citizen Luthor, a film about the life of Lex Luthor's grandfather.
The Playstation 2 video game Destroy All Humans! includes a level titled "Citizen Crypto", along with several movie themed levels from the 50's and 60's.
Peanuts strips have many references to Citizen Kane. In one strip, Charlie Brown's sister Sally, talking about some old movies she is watching during her summer camp, says: "Rosebud, I'll bet it, it's his sled". Snoopy, as Joe Cool, once checked the campus billboard and noted that they were showing Citizen Kane, which he'd already seen 42 times. In another strip, Linus is watching the TV while Lucy enters the room saying: "What are you watching?" and as Linus replies: "Citizen Kane [...] This is the first time I've ever seen it...", Lucy exits saying: "'Rosebud' was his sled" -- causing Linus to scream in anguish. When their brother Rerun catches it several years later, Lucy attempts the same statement on him, but Linus cuts her off (one of the few times Linus is actually willing to stand up to her and she doesn't strike back). In a December 1968 strip, Charlie Brown is watching Snoopy sledding down a hill and then pulling his sled back up the hill. After he walks past Charlie, Charlie looks at his sled, then looks up with a puzzled look on his face and says "Rosebud"?
A famous cheat code from the PC game The Sims for one thousand simoleans was "rosebud". Additionally, if your Sim peruses a career in Hollywood, he is eventually approached to create a sequel to Citizen Kane, which randomly makes or breaks his career if accepted.
In 2007, the New York Times headlined a story about the powerful American Vogue editor Anna Wintour "Citizen Anna".
The webcomic 8-Bit Theater contains one strip titled Citizen Mage where Black Mage recites a diatribe reminiscent of one in the movie.
In the PC game Uplink: Hacker Elite, the password to the Uplink test machine (which must be accessed at the beginning of the game) is "rosebud." Unlike almost all other system passwords, it does not change over the course of the game.