Anastasia Cartoon circa 1995

[Michelle]

Michelle: only someone as obviously young as yourself would make such an inane quote]

Ooops, sorry, the quote thing messed up, but there you have it.  I already said in my last post that it doesn't matter anymore what was said.  But since you asked, there it is.  I for one, am pretty sick of this back and forth.

[otma_gal3]

Ooh guys! I'm just going to post something happy up here, a change of taste.......
Guess what? I might be singing with a friend of mine, "Once Upon A December" at one of our pep rallies! We just need to ask first! I sure HOPE this wasn't offending, it's just a song after all.......

[LisaDavidson]

Go for it OTMA Gal - life is short and if you like the song, you will be great.

[Michelle]

Totally awesome otmagal!  I am so happy for you!!  

[bookworm857158367]

Well, I'll confess to owning a copy of "Anastasia" and loving the song "Once Upon a December." I'm in my thirties. I also don't view liking the movie or the fictionalizations of the story as a betrayal of anything. There are two Anastasias, really: the historical version and the one who has passed into myth and legend. Studying the history as a sort of amateur historian has been been my hobby since I was in junior high. I respect the research historians can do and have branched out to read about the history of the Old Believers, of Revolutionaries, of what made the ordinary Russian tick. I think I read War and Peace when I was 16 because I was interested in Anastasia's world. But as a writer and a lover of fairy tales and myth I love the movie. Anastasia fills a primal archetype: the lost princess trying to find her way home. The family wouldn't be nearly so popular if there wasn't that question about whether Anastasia survived. We tell Anastasia stories the way people in other centuries told stories about the French Dauphin or the Princes in the Tower. All had many pretenders. All were innocent children who were displaced. We tell the myths because we need them and because it's satisfying and hopeful to put a happy ending to them. And the cartoon really was pretty well done. I could have done without the stupid talking bat though.

[Ivan Kent Steinke]

I whole heartedly agree with the comments posted here by Lisa Davidson, but with a slightly different angle.
    I was absolutely horrified by the Anastasia movie. I was horrified because of the callous disrespect that it showed towards Anna Anderson as a human being. Whether she was Anastasia or not, AA lived a miserable, unhappy, tormented life. She was mentally ill, rejected by the persons whom she believed to be her relatives, and had, as a young woman, suffered unspeakable traumas (whether in a Polish factory or in an Ekaterinburg cellar is irrelevant in this case).
    To take the story of a poor, miserable, pathetic, mentally ill lady and turn it into a "fairytale" is, at best, in bad taste. At worst it is absolutely immoral.

[Vive_HIH_Aleksey]

It amazes me how people (including me) can get so off track. From what I understand from the first post, this was to be a discussion about the music.

At www.filmtracks.com there are 3561 votes that give the score 5 stars. 989 give it 4, 748 give it 3, 307 give it 2, and 342 give it just 1 star. And that's just at one film music site. I tried to check www.moviemusic.com but unfortunately I couldn't find any way to see votes. But believe me there are plenty of other sites out there for film scores.

(written on moviemusic.com by "SBD)

Six thumbs up!!
This is one of David Newman's all-time best scores. He was robbed at the Oscars, and anyone who cares about fine film music would be quick to agree. I recently got the complete score on CD-r, and that hath made all the difference.

[bookworm85715836758701]

I whole heartedly agree with the comments posted here by Lisa Davidson, but with a slightly different angle.
     I was absolutely horrified by the Anastasia movie. I was horrified because of the callous disrespect that it showed towards Anna Anderson as a human being. Whether she was Anastasia or not, AA lived a miserable, unhappy, tormented life. She was mentally ill, rejected by the persons whom she believed to be her relatives, and had, as a young woman, suffered unspeakable traumas (whether in a Polish factory or in an Ekaterinburg cellar is irrelevant in this case).
     To take the story of a poor, miserable, pathetic, mentally ill lady and turn it into a "fairytale" is, at best, in bad taste. At worst it is absolutely immoral.

I stand by what I said. There's a historical Anna Anderson and Anastasia and a fairy tale version. Anastasia is only the most recent incarnation of a fairy tale archetype. The cartoon and the fairy tale are what people "wished" had happened. We need fairy tales as much as we need historical fact. I think people are capable of seeing the differences between the two.

[Vive_HIH_Aleksey]

Thanks Bookworm. You're absolutely right.

I recall the same feelings about Braveheart.

I'd like to present a quote from a historian if I may.

"The minor inaccuracies in Braveheart didn't matter... It basically brought the story of William Wallace to a new generation, and the fact that people were suddenly ready to read about their own heritage must be a good thing... But there are TWO WALLACES. There's the William Wallace of fact, and there's the William Wallace of legend, and both of these have been entwined and become the one, and that is the symbol of hope to the people of Scotland."

and a quote from the writer of Braveheart, Randall Wallace.

"Blind Harry and I are both dramatists. History is far more than scholars. I think history lives in storytelling and storytelling is a much more universal and profound thing among the people. I always say I try not to let the facts get in the way of the truth."

[RomanovFan]

King Arthur.

Most historians agree he existed, right? Of course history became the legend/myth that it is now. So it's hard to seperate the myth from the real person. The movie that is out now attempts to delve into it, however it is grossly inaccurate. What historical drama is? My history teacher in high school says the most historically accurate film he's ever seen was Elizabeth, but even that has flaws.
quote]

Earlier this year, there was a special about King Authur, (on the History channel) the myth, ledgend and what historians believed to be true. Did anyone else see it? I'm not sure what to believe about him....on the special it said that King Artorius (Authur) may have been several people, several people who did good deeds over hundereds of years for their country and the myth is supposedly the comibination of all those people/good deeds that we know as the ledgendary figure of King Authur. Has anyone seen the recent film about King Authur? w/ Keira Knightley (Piarites of the Caribbean) featured as Guenivere? I saw it the day it came to theatres....not a very good movie...the historical facts were there yes, but the scenes didn't connect very well... it would literally go from a snowly battlefield in one scene to Authur and Guenivere all over each other in the next (and they were supposed to have only known each other for...oh, 2 DAYS OR LESS!) Good movie on the historical part (at least from what I know of ), not so good on the good film you want to see again part... I think anyway...no offense to those of you enjoyed it.

[Sunny]

Have been away, and only just read this thread.
Father Serfes also did quite a bit in trying to get the attention of the film makers onto higher ground.
Many thanks Lisa, for your wonderful posts, and the way in which you concluded them.

Sunny

[aislinn_24]

hey i was wondering the song that the real Anastasia was said to be heard singing have anything to do with the song in the movie once upon a december?

if so wasnt that a little accurate info?
                                          NEW USER,
                                          ASLINN 24

[Grand_Duke_Alexei]

The 20th Century Fox Movie, "Anastasia" also got me interested in the romanovs.  I recorded it on VHS many years ago when it was new, and last year I think it was, I bought the movie on DVD and still watch it frequently, at least once every two weeks  must say.  It is my favorite animated movie EVER!!!  Although I do feel deep, deep sympathy for descendants of the IF because I understand how a movie can offend you like that, I have had a similar experience with a movie that hurt me because of my family.  The song "Once Upon A December"  is my favorite song ever!!!  I have two different versions of it burned onto a cd of mine and also listen to it frequently.  It is quite haunting and very enticing.  If it was not for that movie and that song  I would not have even cared about the Romanovs.  I probably would have considered them just another piece of history.  After I saw that movie, I immediatley started researching them, and I am technically buried in papers after papers, books after books, movies after movies on them.  I am eternally grateful to that movie and I loved every part of it!  Except they could have made Rasputin a little more realistic.  In fact, I think that I am going to get a bag of popcorn and pop in the DVD now.  

[Guinastasia]

The movie came out when I was 11 and I enjoyed it... and later I picked up Nicholas & Alexandra at the library (my mom was confused by my precociousness!).  So I guess I could say that "Anastasia" brought me into the world of the Romanovs though I'd probably get interested in them somehow since I've always been into history and royalty.

I see it as a cartoon and do think it's vile what Fox did...but doesn't surprise me; Fox and Disney seem very unscrupulous!   I was babysitting a little girl and we watched it and I told her the real story...and she burst into tears.  Oops.  But then I let her borrow Anastasia's Album and I believe she's still "into" them and that was, gee, five years ago or so.  When I hear people MY age talking about ir (or close to my age) I correct them.  I've gotten quite a few people from my old high school interested in the REAL story which I suppose is a good thing since no one in general seems to like history in their teens (at least, not people I know, sad).

I was about 19 when I saw it...and it's what got me interested in the Romanovs in the first place.  I must confess to having a TON of "Anastasia" merchandise-all of the dolls but one, books, a gigantic display poster, pins, bags, you name it.

But...the very day after I saw it, I went online and researched the real Anastasia-and I probably never would have done that had I not seen the film.  I certainly would not have gotten interested in Russian history, and met a lot of people I have through this interest.

It wasn't even pretending to be historically accurate, so that's one thing.  It was based on a story, on a MYTH, and very loosely.  Hey, one could say that the music "Titanic" (not the movie) is kind of crass, as well as anything based on Jack the Ripper.  (I confess as well to being someone who cracks a lot of "black humor" jokes, must be the influence of having an undertaker for a father!)

Soooo...I dunno. I think the actions of Fox suck-although I am a Don Bluth fan.  

Let's just agree to disagree?  

[winter_phoenix]

This is my first post to this board, and I'll be frank:  I adored the song "Once Upon a December".  I thought some of the scenes in the cartoon ANASTASIA were lovely -- such as the ghosts coming out to dance.   I also adore the 1956 ANASTASIA, even though Ingrid Bergman was about a foot taller than the real Anastasia!  As for the rest, my attitude can best be summed up with "A movie wasn't historically accurate?? GASP!! What a surprise!!"

Certainly we all have our own historical favorites, and don't confuse history with the movie version.  And however much we may wish for accuracy, in a film, it's not the way to bet.

While opinions on this will always differ, I think of the grand movie KHARTOUM, which contains a non-historically validated scene in which Gordon meets the Mahdi.  And I try to keep in mind what a relative of the Mahdi said (I think it was his great-nephew, but I can't remember at the moment), upon being told, rather apologetically, by the movie-makers that they knew Gordon and the Mahdi had never actually met:

"Ah, but they SHOULD have -- they SHOULD have!"

And so they should, just as Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots should have, and do in the movies, although they did not in history.  And we wish so strongly that even one of our Winter Princesses had survived that I don't think anything -- and certainly not brute reality -- will stop books and films from granting even one of OTMA a second chance at happiness.

To drag this back to the topic, yes, I think "Once Upon A December" is a haunting and beautiful tune.  We all have our "Once Upons" that we cling to and remember.