Rosebud

In the movie "Citizen Kane" the primary character played by the late Orson Welles dies at the beginning of the movie. His last word before he dies is "rosebud". According to my research, the meaning of the word rosebud is that it was the name of the main character's red sled, seen near the end of the movie when it was burned. It is not only the name of his sled, it holds a bigger meaning, which is left to the audience to decide for themselves. I personally see the rosebud to be a metaphor for growing up, and the end of innocence. This was very evident in the movie. Also in the movie we see variations in camera angles as well as different forms of lighting that express the tone of individual scenes. The beginning sequence also reminds me of another movie that I love, "Memento". In this movie we start at the very end and go backwards in the time line to see what lead up to that point. I wish more modern psychological movies do this, rather than go with corny subplots that usually never make sense.