Citizen Kane & American Beauty

Citizen Kane and American Beauty have many similarities and differences. One of the main similarities is the rose. In Citizen Kane the rose is symbolic because it is on the sled; that being the rose is the name of his sled which is symbolic of his childhood. The rose is talked about throughout the movie, when we finally see the sled in the furnis which could also  be symbolic of his childhood withering away, and that he was never able to get it back. In American Beauty the rose is also symbolic, but in a different way. Roses appear multiple times throughout the movie, but not only roses, the color red. Roses seemed to appear whenever something was desired. For exampled when Lester and Angela were walking towards each other, right before they kissed there was a bouquet of roses in a vase on the table. That represented their desire for one another. In both movies the desire for happiness and childhood are big themes. In American Beauty, Lester has the desire to be happy, and one thing that made him happy was Angela. Angela could be symbolic for his childhood, and what he went after when he was younger. In Citizen Kane, Kane desired to be happy. He tried to buy happiness, when all he really wanted was his childhood back, but money couldn't buy that back.A symbol in Citizen Kane that could be a symbol for his Kane's childhood when he was happy was his sled. The sled was definitely a huge symbol because when he died, the last words he said was "rose bud" and that was the name of his sled which could infer that the sled did once make him happy because it reminded him of his childhood.