Early in the film Lewis conducts a seminar. He and the students discuss among other things ice, and a rosebud, and what it is a metaphor for. To which work of literature does this refer? (There was discussion about desire being more potent than fulfilment, at which the student named "Whistler" demurs.)
shareIt may be a reference to Citizen Kane. Unfortunately I can't go any more in-depth than that, as I have not seen either movie. But I'm sure lots of info is just a mouse click away.
I only do it with superheroes.
I believe he mentioned the name of the author, but I didn't recognize it. He explains in the seminar that it is an image of perfect love, and what makes it perfect is its unattainability. I believe that the significance it holds in the story is that, coming at the beginning, it helps explain the character of C.S. Lewis as a detached intellectual. He talks a great deal about love, undoubtedly knows all the different forms (whether from the Greek or Christian perspective), emphasizes in his public lectures that God wants us to love each other, but he seems incapable of anything but "unattainable" love. He remains emotionally distant from anyone with whom he might form an attachment because he had been burned as a child (the traumatic loss of his mother when he was nine), and cannot bear the thought of being hurt again. That is the supreme irony of the film - he lectures others incessantly about God using pain to make us grow, but he refuses to let God do that with him because he has done everything to insulate himself from pain. Joy changes all that.
shareIn the 13th century, there was a French Poet named Guillaume de Lorris. He wrote the first part of a poem called "Roman de la Rose". In the movie, it is this poem to which Lewis refers. I hope this answers the questions about the reference to a rosebud or a rose. Incidentally, if one were to look on Wikipedia, they would find a complete explanation about the poem.
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