7 Things ANASTASIA Teaches About Childhood Trauma

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[@JonathanDecker]

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[@voyance4elle]

Alan lived in Russia? That's so cool!!! I would love to learn more about that...

[@SavetheGenderroles]

Its myth just being aware of a problem makes feel better. But coming with solutions help

[@faith4657]

Yoy guys should do a video on the movie fractured.

[@SavetheGenderroles]

a man who needs support is a dusty listen pro hypergamy channels from us women mostly 🖤 women

[@nint357]

"How did this get a G rating?" 90s Alan, it was the 90s😭

[@theasexualvampire13]

Yeah, because everyone knows that animation is inherently for kids!🤪🙄

[@klash813]

I came to the comments to say this... 😂😂

[@jdb101585]

​@@klash813 Yeah, the era where the quickest way to an "R" rating is if it had something ghey in it.

[@zainabjilani3701]

Also, he forgets the same person made “All Dogs Go To Heaven”.😂

[@zainab58]

And consider that in 1977, Star Wars had to fight _not_ to get a G rating. After all, what's a few million deaths between friends?

[@joanebf]

Animator here: a teacher once said the reason the animation looks weird in this movie is because everything is always moving. You need some still frames to hold the poses and to give good contrast with the movement. When everything moves all the time, the timing gets too even and unnatural. It's similar to what happened in the old Fleischer animations because they hadn't figured the "ease in" and "ease out" principles Disney animators established later.

[@hopeofdawn]

I also believe they used rotoscoping very extensively in the film (filming actors doing the scenes and then keyframing over them), which can lead to very uncanny valley kind of animation - see the movie Fire and Ice for the same sort of thing.

[@TheresAFryInMySoup]

I was looking for someone to say this so I didn't have to type it out. It's too snappy and active. Even when minimal character movement is happening, certain objects, like the dress, are still frantic. It's giving me whiplash to look at.

[@BingFox]

@@hopeofdawn Don Bluth himself admitted he wished he had made a live action movie without the magic stuff. Mostly due to the chemistry between John Cusack and Meg Ryan.

[@blueberrydragon5160]

Jep- too little time for the human character to breathe. The animals/demons (that probably weren’t rotoscoped) move far more fluidly.

[@mantra4ia]

I appreciate the informational context this gives about stills and framing, but personally I love the animation style/approach of this movie and how it looks and feels visually different from a lot of its of-the-time counterparts. Everything is a swirl of energy and I dig it. I wish that there were animated movies today that brought back this flavor. I also don't know why, but I feel the need to add this: it gives me a similar energy to when I'm watching a performance staged as theater in the round or on a thrust stage. For me it's more immersive as opposed to nudging me out.

[@yellowbatgirl88]

I'm shocked this wasn't included because it PROVES Jon's point: As Anastasia is being kicked out of the orphanage the lady who runs the place ridicules her for calling herself "Princess Anya" and the lady makes fun of Anastasia's "Together in Paris" necklace. I always interpreted the fall 'from' the train and getting knocked out as the reason that she didn't keep running after the train and got separated from her grandmother - not the cause of her amnesia. The amnesia was brought on by the trauma of that night immediately followed by being alone in a big city, going to an authority for help, and having that adult not believe her because she's a child. Of course Anastasia would start to question her reality and eventually discount it to the point of amnesia - as she says to Dimitri 'Every little girl would hope she's a princess.' That's probably a line she told herself over and over when she was a kid to convince herself that her memories were childish fantasies.

[@Shg203]

That’s a super interesting and insightful take!

[@letolethe3344]

Anya never calls herself "Princess Anya." The orphanage keeper calls her that as an insult because she thinks Anya puts on airs and acts "uppity".

[@Isabella-tu9fb]

I figured it was obvious to people at that point that the trauma made her forget

[@Anikai88]

Anastasia dancing with her dad ALWAYS, without a fail, makes me sob. So touching and heartbreaking at the same time

[@s.9899]

Same here! I always start crying, but then again, I am a daddy's child

[@nathangonzalez9710]

Yeah for all of his faults, and o boy did he have them as czar, Nicholas was an amazing father to his children. Not only by the standards of royalty at the time, but just in general. Royalty tended to be hands off with their kids, Nicholas and Alexandria were very loving and affectionate to their kids. Nicholas even supposedly changed his kids diapers and would get up with his kids when they were babies and crying. That was unheard of for royalty at the time, generally nannies raised royal kids and they would be presented to their parents for maybe an hour a day when they were little. Not so with Nicholas and Alexandria. I just wish he would have been as good of a czar as he was a father. A lot of death would have been avoided.

[@beingbeckeroni]

Me too! 🥹

[@kimberleefogal1230]

Same but mostly because I too don’t remember my father much lol

[@ultimatebishoujo29]

Ikr

[@gemami3889]

During once upon a December, I love that she’s the only one that has a reflection on the floor

[@decay6516]

I love the attention to that detail! I look at it as possibly meaning two things. This is all in her imagination/memory, OR her family was trying to help her remember from beyond the veil.

[@daninb8939]

I had never noticed that!

[@jailbirdsjailhouse852]

Probably a lot more easier not having shadows or reflections for animators lol

[@GAdmThrawn]

I also just now noticed that only her family who died appeared to her in the palace. Her grandmother is not among them because she is still alive, and her brain probably thinks so too.

[@hanshe4474]

Completely off topic, but I love your Lore Olympus pfp.

[@BooTedesco]

Liz Callaway is the gorgeous singing voice of Anastasia. Liz auditioned for multiple Disney Princess films and never got her time to shine. I can’t imagine Anastasia without her gorgeous voice!

[@eliza.the.earthling]

Technically she sooort of did because she was Kiara’s singing voice in the Lion King II 🦁 👑 She was also Odette’s singing voice in the Swan Princess so she’s been a few princesses as she deserves!

[@psyckwhoever4197]

@@eliza.the.earthling It was still a fail on Disneys side to not include her more often. People who like music a lot often get frustrated with me, because I rarely notice or remember the music in movies, even if the songs are masterpieces (like the lord of the rings or harry potter), but I still remembered and loved "Once upon a december" from the day I first heard it 😁 The song must be phenomenal, if it even stucks with a musical airhead like me 😅

[@hansbmd20]

She was also Jasmine's singing voice in the two direct-to-video sequels of Aladdin. At the Disney Princess Party a few years ago (2019, I think, something like that), she talked about how she wanted to be a Disney Princess so badly, culminating in her losing the role of Jasmine in the first movie to her at-the-time costar in Miss Saigon, Lea Salonga. And while I can't imagine "A Whole New World" without Salonga's voice, hearing Liz Calloway sing it would've been amazing. But Calloway was able to play Jasmine anyway a few years later, so it worked out.

[@yb9964]

The OG haters to lovers animated movie

[@jenniferhiemstra5228]

Ummm...All versions of Pride and Prejudice 1996 and before that would like a word 😉

[@yb9964]

@@jenniferhiemstra5228that’s intensely horny haters to barely tamed lovers, also found in Anthony and Kate bridgerton 🤣

[@lizzyrank5405]

​@jenniferhiemstra5228 but those were live action. Still, I'd love to see what couple were the first animated haters to lovers😊

[@yb9964]

@@jenniferhiemstra5228that’s intensely hot for each other haters to barely tame lovers, also found in Anthony and Kate Bridgerton 😂

[@jenniferhiemstra5228]

@@lizzyrank5405 Oh eep sorry didn't see you said animated! I clearly haven't had enough coffee ;P

[@yb9964]

Can we talk about that slap she gave Dimitry? Smacked the Cusack straight out of him

[@supersasukemaniac]

And recended her apology when she realized it was him.

[@singingxroses8651]

So that’s why he sounds like Chris Pine!

[@tinakilloran]

😂 his soul left his body for a minute

[@yb9964]

@@supersasukemaniaci was talking about the one in the opera house but I forgot that too lmaooo ANASTASIA MY QUEEN

[@PrincessMeggala0913]

“I think you broke my nose!” “Men are such babies……” 😂😂😂😂

[@YayLalala]

I've always thought that Anastasia remembering the melody of Once Upon a Decemeber spoke more to how different parts of the brain remember different things - like when someone with Alzheimer's can still recognise music and sing along, but not remember much else. To me it's always spoken to the power of music that can stay with you. In the same way she seems to recognise the emotions of the palace, but not the exact memories. Different parts of the brain.

[@Andrani]

It kind of harkens back to their video on Coco and the power of music and memory. Anastasia's memory loss(And I agree with Jono, it's the trauma itself causing it, not a bump to the head) isn't as extreme as with Mama Coco's losing so SO much functionality of her day to day life to Alzheimer's, but they both had music unlock memories. The music of not only the music box but the lullaby that the music box was based on stayed with Anastasia when trauma caused her to forget so much else, and Miguel singing "Remember Me" to his great grandmother brought out memories of her father that she was able to share with her family so that they, too, could remember Hector for the man he really was. Oh dear I'm tearing up between these two.

[@lillilillol]

Just one correction: IRL Anastasia (and her entire family) were NOT killed during "the siege" at all. They were all put under house arrest after the tsar's abdication in Tsarskoe Selo, then trasferred to Tobolsk (Siberia) and then finally to Yekaterinburg awaiting trial by the Bolsheviks, since they were considered very high value prisoners. The issue with the situation was that a counter-revolutionary Czechoslovak army started to rise to free (and possibly reinstate) the Royal family. As they were advancing on Yekaterinburg, the guards received an operative to execute the family. The family members were called down to the cellar in the middle of the night, telling them they need to put on their travel clothes as they will be transferred, but they were going to sit for a family photo first. For this reason, they were wearing their more valuable clothes and their jewellery underneath, as the last bits of their valuables. Instead of a photo shoot, the guards lined up and shot them on the spot, buried three of the girls, the tsar and the tsarina nearby; the bodies of one girl and the tsarevich were not found until much much later - also in Yekaterinburg, but at a different burial site. The tsar's abdication happened at the beginning of March 1917, and they were executed on 17 July 1918, over a year later. Just to clarify the historical aspect, it had very little to do with the movie. The survivors of the royal family (the tsar's sister Xenia and her direct family) were, at the time, not in St Petersburg, and they fled to Crimea from the Red Army, until the British royal family finally decided to send a rescue ship the HMS Marlborough to pick them up in 11 April 1919, almost a year after the execution of the royal family - Grand Dutchess Xenia's descendents still live in the UK, which is how the DNA testing was possible on the tsar's and his family's remains.

[@naomii--3--]

what makes the actual reality deeply disturbing for me is that Anastasia and her brother survived because of said jewels and maybe other factors happening, but they moved a little bit when they were being buried, so they were shot again (idk if this is entirely true, I got this off a comment under a Once Upon a Dream video). Even if it isn't, it's still just so...Like omg.

[@WendyKay84]

Thank you! I was doubting my own memory of history when they said that, but I was right after all! The family lived almost a year after being removed from the palace, and somehow that makes their murders seem so much more brutal and cold-blooded. It makes my stomach turn and my heart break to think of how they were killed. While the movie is dark, reality is sooo much worse, and would never be considered as material for kids' entertainment.

[@OnLifeandLove]

The Crown had an episode dedicated to the DNA testing in the UK and retelling the past connections between British and Russian royal families... George V was not a great person, but he was an effective King. Nicholas II the opposite.

[@karinless]

This is a common knowledge. Alan should know this after "few years" in Russia (or was it a joke?)

[@lillilillol]

@@karinless He did indeed live in Russia and he speaks Russian, but the Romanov history is not really taught in detail outside of Russia (I went to a Russian highschool, but I did a research a few years back on this, since even at that level of Russian history, we barely mentioned more than the basics. The video is also specifically aimed at the cartoon, NOT the actualy history, as Jono said, but the sentence "In real life she was killed there and then as well" is very inaccurate (since it was more of a political putsch rather than a French revolution-style mob overtake). Which is why I felt like a little historical correction is in place. But this is not common knowledge with all these details, especially considering that before the fall of Communism in Europe history books were highly altered to show the glory of the revolution and the evil of the royality and nobility, rather than the full political background. Same way how poor Richard III ended up being regarded as a hunchback evil tyrant, as Shakespeare had to portray him as such to bring legitimacy for the Tudor reign. And then they have found his skeleton and finally concluded that he had a mild sclerosis, which might have resulted in a slight difference in his shoulders, nothing more. And he is regarded by historians as a decent king with good head for ruling and a surprisingly happy marriage (at least until his heir died in sickness). Never underestimate political propaganda and how much of it is tainting the knowledge of the common person, who only learns history in school, often not in detail and with gaps.

[@Overlordofthelollipopguild]

For real though it’s so relatable when Alan says “I’d hit that” and then saying “both” and shrugging. He’s so real for that.

[@anja6983]

Im not that far yet … is it her in that blue/glittery dress ?

[@anja6983]

Oh man they didn’t even show it …

[@AnnaMayStudios]

​@@anja698323:06

[@wolfishpotato6978]

He truly is

[@firefirefire4815]

we stan our Bi King 💖💜💙

[@shelbsreine3423]

"which one are you talking about?" "both" Alan was so real for that

[@ray25lee]

Same tho.

[@ashoftmrw]

as a bisexual, i felt that comment directly in my bones.

[@psyckwhoever4197]

@@ashoftmrw As a heterosexual: I can relate as well 😅

[@aleahhenderson-carter61]

@@ashoftmrwsame! Alan was a bicon for that! 🤩💙💜💕

[@NobodyC13]

Fun Fact: Carrie Fisher, in addition to acting, would work part time as a script doctor. The whole Once Upon a December sequence was something she personally worked and oversaw, even suggested the idea that the ghosts of the Royal Court fly out of the paintings.

[@rubygracemoseley8144]

Oh my gosh! That’s so cool!

[@Angeldust3005]

Man she really did rock

[@NobodyC13]

@@Angeldust3005 And I think she worked on the Journey to the Past sequence, too.

[@doomcheeks]

Dang, she was a brilliant creative.

[@dodie-poopsco.6893]

damn, thats wicked cool

[@musearrives2am]

I think its important to note that this version of Anastasia is more based around the story of Anna Anderson, who claimed to be Anastasia and that she had escaped in a farm cart with the help of a servant, saving her from dying with the rest of her family. She was "discovered" in an asylum after the death of her fiance and an accident in the ammunitions factory she worked at nearly killed her, causing her to fall into a severe depression with suicidal tendencies. While there, a fellow patient commented on how she looked a lot like Tatiana Romanov, Anastasia's sister, and shortly afterwards her claims of being the lost princess began. Her story while never backed officially but had several supporters, including Anastasia's real childhood nurse and several of Anastasia's distant relatives claimed it was her. She lived in Germany and the United States most of her life, married Jack Manahan in 1968, but still had prevailing mental health problems, she did really seem to believe herself to be the real Anastasia for decades until her death in 1984. It wasn't until after the Soviet Union fell and DNA testing on the site of the Romanov's graves in 2007 (after this film's release) concluded that that Anastasia died with her family. This discovery postmortem for both Anastasia and her imposter is where Anna Anderson's claims were truly put to rest.

[@amandahealey2216]

That's kind of sad actually...

[@musearrives2am]

@@amandahealey2216 It really is, she was in a poor mental state and her delusions just happened to hit on someone who she could easily pass as whose survival would have brought a lot of hope to people at the time. Then people who believed her unintentionally perpetuated those illusions to the point that she became fully convinced of it and gained all the possible information she needed to pull off the deception, losing her own identity in the process.

[@RobinNicoagain]

I was scrolling the comments in the case another historian has put Anna Anderson story out there before I start the novel and you didn't dissappoint. :) But I will add few 'fun facts' instead. During those times there were a lot of rumours that either Alexei or Anastasia survived the horrors of that night. These ongoing theories were floating about until Anna Anderson popped up. Even after Soviet Union fell and the graves were opened, it looked like Anna had some credit after all since Anastasia and Alexei's remains were missing but they were burried further away so no one would suspect that these were the Royal family's remains. DNA tests proved the lineage for good and the royal family was reunited afterwards.

[@SandraLugn-nc1rk]

They have found Anastasia:s body whiff the rest off her family. The women that believed was Anastasia was a upper class women whiff serious mental illness but the truth is kvite beautiful to beccose she got a lot off help beccose people believed Anastasia and she did not lie she was simply to sick to do that.

[@musearrives2am]

@@RobinNicoagain Thank you! I couldn't remember the particulars of how they discovered where Alexei and Anastasia were buried! I will also add Rasputin was definetly a weird character in history, but by no means a villian set out to kill Anastasia. He was a monk of unusual practice (to say the least) but it was claimed that whenever he prayed over Alexei (Anastasia's brother, the only male heir who had hemophilia, a serious blood disease) that Alexei's health would improve dramatically. This led him to having a lot of influence with the royal family, particularly Anastasia's mother, so the male dukes in power decided to invite Rasputin to dinner as a ploy to assassinate him. According to some accounts, they poisoned him with no effect, shot him multiple times, and then eventually tied him up and drowned him in a frozen river, where he eventually died. So very weird person especially with the account of his death, but by no means an evil sorcerer.

[@madeleinereads]

I like the scene where Anastasia and her grandmother finally reunite. She smells the peppermint oil the dowager empress uses on her hands, and memories return. I have heard that smells can trigger memories, especially those so emotional. The power of our senses. It's amazing!

[@hodaramy9804]

I am an animator. I haven't watched Anastasia in a long while, but from my memory, I can say that the Human characters are fully rotoscoped, Like Anastasia/ Dimitri, etc, but other characters are animated traditionally, like Bartok . The differences between the two styles also make it look more obvious and exaggerated. ps : I love your show.

[@callistified]

this, plus they had a combination of 3d elements and 2d. her crown and the music box, as some examples, were 3d objects

[@aarspi]

Yeah from what I gathered, most of the background characters especially were rotoscoped. They used a lot of real life references for the animation. I also liked the BtS on my DVD that explained some fascinating things about the animation like how they shade around the eyes to draw attention to them

[@danielleklein5594]

I thought it reminded me too much of the animation in the rotoscope-animated Lord of the Rings!

[@orsolyahajba9559]

I came here to say just that, I think it's 1/3 rotoscope, 1/3 based on actual performance of the actors but not rotoscope, 1/3 free animation. It's a little off-putting for me as well but I don't mind, at least it didn't try to fake Disney. Also the character design looks a little underdeveloped, like the animators didn't always knew how the characters looked from different angles and thus they had to improvise on certain frames.

[@gardnerhill9073]

Yeah, it feels the way everybody moved in Bakshi's Lord of the Rings film. Rotoscope.

[@sdfhkm]

“In the Dark of the Night” is one of the most iconic villain songs ever. Jim Cummings nailed it.

[@Avelithe]

Oh man. I must be the only person alive who hates it. Every time it plays, I skip it. To me it’s on par with the awkward song “Like a Virgin” from Moulin Rouge. But I agree, Jim Cummings did very well. Disclaimer: My opinion 😅

[@Darthkiller3118]

@@Avelithe I'm pretty sure a disclaimer is supposed to be at the beginning of the message. 😜 But you are entitled to your opinion. Songs can't be all hitters for everyone.

[@electricmastermind]

Up until now I had no idea that was Jim Cummings singing, but I'm also mad at myself for not realizing that.

[@KollbjornYT]

If you haven't already check on Jonothan Young's cover of it

[@Futurebound_jpg]

The whole soundtrack is impeccable in this film. Every single one is AMAZING, i think its the best musical film ive ever seen.

[@HeyItsLeePH]

Now, I realized why I relate with ANASTASIA so much. "I'm a victim, now I'm a survivor, now I'm an advocate, now I'm me." - You're right I am empowered because I am able to use my past to help and reach out to others.

[@oximoron613]

I think it's also very possible that besides the trauma she did originally remember things about her past, but when you're a poor girl in an orphanage spewing about being a princess people are going to tell you that you're crazy or making it up, making her distrust her already weak memories.

[@NauticalTurtle]

I really like this take

[@MarieBrownTeacher]

That makes so much sense! She was "acting like the queen of Sheeba" when she arrived at the orphanage. But the way they treated her (like a normal orphan) repressed any of her residual memories still further!?

[@Uapa500]

Good point.

[@gracequalls9770]

This happens. I'm getting memories of childhood abuse back and the hardest part is believing yourself. Especially when people around, who are supposed to be there for us, refuse to listen. It takes a lot of work to piece your memories back together.

[@Krystal109]

She was gaslighted to a point that she didn't believe herself.

[@VidralliaArchives]

25:03 "Asking for help isn't giving up. It's refusing to give up." - The boy, the mole, the fox, and the horse

[@IamNektar]

Brilliant novel!❤️🎇

[@kayarnold3151]

I found out I was adopted roughly around the time Anastasia came out. As a 13 year old, that information coupled with the theme of this story and the song Once Upon a December, caused such a deep connection with this movie. I will always love this movie.

[@michelegebhart594]

I'm fully on the side that Anastasia remembered the melody, but not the source of it. When I was in high school, I frequently woke up with the song "Beautiful Dreamer" stuck in my head. One day I casually mentioned it to my mother, who laughed and said when I was a baby, I had a mobile that played that song hanging over my crib. Music sticks with us in really cool ways.

[@fightingfaerie]

Exactly. I was thinking it’s like in Prince of Egypt when Moses is absentmindedly humming his mother’s song. He doesn’t know or remember what it is, or even if it’s a real thing and not a tune made up in his head. But then he hears Miriam singing it and it all clicks together.

[@The-Busy-Beeeee]

When people have dementia or old age related problems with their brain often the only thing they can remember is music. When my grandad was on his deathbed my mother sang you are my sunshine to him. We later found out he sang with her because his mother used to sing that to him as a baby

[@azam9782]

Completely agree! One of my fun facts at parties is that for as long as I can remember, I've known and/or sung the theme song to "Happy Days" and yet I have no memory of watching the show. I'm not sure it was even still running by the time I started watching TV as a kid (that I remember ofc).

[@thebluekitkat7912]

When I was a baby My mom would watch Downton Abby while I was napping and stuff. Just recently we watched it together and the theme played and I just started humming it along with it. My mom just smiled at me. She found it kinda cool that I remembered it.

[@dx.feelgood5825]

yeppppp! this happened to me all the time as a kid.

[@anivijudi]

It's interesting that Alexei (Anastasia's younger brother) still appears as child in the ballroom scene, her older sister have grown, but Alexei is still a child. I don't think I ever noticed that before. I assume it's a mix of Anastasia thinking of him always as the baby of the family, and also being able to imagine what her sisters might have looked like based on her own appearance, but not being able to picture how a male sibling might have grown up.

[@vicky_thegiantpossum]

I love that theory !

[@VadBlackwood]

I think that's just right. You'd remember your little brother as a kid, and you'd remember your older sister being a bit older than you

[@midnights2631]

I love this theory

[@eldupont3095]

Her sisters are depicted pretty much how grown they were when they died. They were all teenagers and Anastasia was the youngest of the sisters. She's the one that has grown in that scene. Alexie was younger than her, and is also true-to-age

[@h2ma03]

I really admire the animators detail in Alexei's slow and maybe uncomfortable walking, I assume because of his life long health problems 11:50

[@staceyw5348]

One of my favorite lines is Bartok's "This can only end in tears." So true.

[@KMC710-k9x]

The scene where Dimitri saves her and comforts her after she has a traumatic episode on the ship is so beautiful to me.

[@ozzymandias90]

"Once upon a December" still gives me chills and makes me long for a past I've never had. So....mission accomplished! Edit: Thanks for the likes! First time I've crossed more than 100 likes, let alone 1.4K likes!

[@yb9964]

It’s an amazing song IN EVERY LANGUAGE

[@lapinatadelafiesta]

Exactly! It's so beautiful 💙

[@ozzymandias90]

@yb9964 Oh my gosh! Yes! I remember hearing it spanish, and it still hit me the same way!

[@yb9964]

@@ozzymandias90Arabic and French sent me into a state of euphoria

[@AmyHoldaway27]

Literally makes me cry watching that scene because I so wish they hadn’t died such a horrible, tragic, unjust death instead of living in exile and peace to the ripe old age 😔

[@4toby4to]

Omg, so cool you made this video, it's a 100% underrated gem of a movie. Also, guys, some random facts from a native Russian here: Rasputin was poisoned, shot several times and then fell into a river where he finally freezed to death (that's probably why the animators put it into a movie). Also, it's reka Moika (Moika the river), and Anastasia is Nastya, not Anya (Anya is Anna). And finally, the family wasn't murdered during the siege, they were held hostages for 1,5 years and eventually were sent to a house near Yekaterinburg and then they all were executed. Anyway, thank you for being so respectful though the facts and material might be really tricky here.

[@eldupont3095]

ohh cool tidbit about the nicknames! I always assumed maybe when she was found she couldn't properly remember even her name. Maybe she only remembered the first syllable, so the orphanage called her Anya

[@andreagarciamedrano4228]

​@@eldupont3095 could also be based in the real woman who tought she was the Real Anastasia, her name was Anna , i don't remember her last name but she even got to meet some people who would work at the Palace when the Romanovs where alive

[@eldupont3095]

@@andreagarciamedrano4228 oh maybe!

[@smartpersonjdt]

@@andreagarciamedrano4228 Anna Anderson! The most famous royal claimant in history!

[@ollie1136]

IIRC- Don Bluth is a firm believer that kids are able to handle more darker themes, and that we (Majority of Disney and other children's media) don't need to dumb things down so much for them or hide more darker content from them. He said once in an interview "If you don’t show the darkness, you don’t appreciate the light. If it weren’t for December no one would appreciate May. It’s just important that you see both sides of that. As far as a happy ending…when you walk out of the theatre there’s got to be something that you have that you get to take home. What did it teach me? Am I a better person for having watched it?" Bluth acknowledges sadness in a way that never diminishes or minimizes its existence, life is going to have ups and downs, and he treats melancholy in his movies with more respect to young veiwers, by allowing the viewers to resonate a little longer with the main characters' sadness that eventually leads to happiness as they grow from it. He left enough wimsy in his films to not be a dark, sad movie throughour the whole runtime, which probably gave them their G ratings back then, but I'm not versed in the way ratings are given, I just love animation

[@whisper4379]

Add to the fact that as adults, we’re supposed to be teaching and preparing kids for life. By the time they’re adults, they should be ready to roll with life. We shouldn’t be hiding everything then have shocked Pikachu faces when the sheltered child becomes an adult and fails because they don’t know what to do or how to handle things. I respect Bluth’s work and how he had respect for kids.

[@samanthac.349]

Yeah, this movie was made during a time when the media was supporting helicopter parenting.

[@fightingfaerie]

Yeah I just saw Don Bluth at FanExpo and he talked about this. It was really cool hearing him tell his experiences himself. His panel really felt like a classroom almost. It felt like he was teaching us and I walked out feeling like I learned something. It was really neat.

[@littlesongbird1]

Man of his films had dark themes like "Land Before Time" and "All Dogs Go to Heaven". Don't forget he worked with a little girl who sadly had scene a lot of trauma and was killed by her own father.

[@sdelong74]

Most of us 80s children have always known about dark animation and Don Bluth. The Secret of NIHM, Dragon's Lair videogame, and An American Tail. Outside of Bluth Disney made dark films back then. The Black Cauldron for animation. Live action like Watched in the Woods and Something Wicked This Way Comes. There were actually horror films for kids. The Last Unicorn and not to mention Jim Henson. There was a generation of children that were never hidden from the horrors of the world.

[@danktankdragkings7117]

I am a TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY SURVIVOR. It takes 3 feet fall to cause a brain injury (it's part of why babies are so bouncy but elementary kids not so much). I got epilepsy from my first brain injury and advanced retrograde amnesia from my second. You absolutely can get memory loss from a TBI, even a mild one. I knew who my mother was, I could walk and sing and all that stuff. But every "memory" I had was like watching a home movie from someone else. It was a thing that happened but it wasn't mine. Except 9/11 the day of doom survived when literally nothing else did. But miraculously 8 years post amnesia I went to not only the same county, not only the same district I grew up in, not only the same building, but I was assigned as a teacher's aide to the classroom that used to be a nursing office I work up from seizures in every week for 3 years. It was during that time I had a pocket of nightmares and then my memories started coming back. I finally got the majority of my memories back 6 years after that. They came back in little pockets I call brain breaks. Break through seizures, tons of night sweats, nightmares, excessive sleep like 36 hours, etc. After some kind of shutdown I got a new upgrade. It's like the PC overheats then repairs itself. Thank God for stories. Harry potter was the first time I saw an abused sick kid who came out loving and powerful despite the trauma. Stories save lives. I know that between books and music I wouldn't have survived my childhood without them. They were friends when the seizure kid didn't have any. God is good! And confront the trauma absolutely. I liken PTSD to an infected cut. Sometimes you just gotta break it open, scrap out the messy goop, examine it, and then let it scab back over for a while. After a bit the infection leaves but it takes so much longer and is more painful if you don't lance it from time to time.

[@JessicaRottschafer]

I was kinda shocked they weren’t sure TBI could cause amnesia! It looks to me that she’s smacks her head pretty hard on the ground in that shot. I thankfully have never had memory loss from a TBI, but I’ve had enough concussions to know any head trauma can mess your brain up. I hope they read your comment and see it’s real :) thank you so much for sharing your story!!

[@livc3315]

Thank you for sharing your story! I'm so sorry you went through such hardships, and I wish you all the best. Hope you are doing well now 🥰

[@healingv1sion]

I love Harry Potter; God bless JK Rowling ❤

[@curiousnerdkitteh]

I'm guessing you mean toddlers not babies.

[@boingyboop4960]

That is an incredible story

[@arielcuster6660]

13:46 the song AND the smell of peppermint, which is also SCIENCE. The sense of smell has been closely tied to memory

[@setonb9602]

As a person that graduated from Russian Highschool, I can say, that every year we have a graduation performative waltz and we almost always dance to the “once upon a December” song.

[@lau4545]

Wow that's so interesting, thanks for sharing! I wonder what Russians thought about this movie since it's not historically accurate and lots of countries have criticism of movies supposed to be set in them, but that's cool that you danced to the song!

[@4toby4to]

@@lau4545 We're mostly like 'The movie is so beautiful and well-written, so whatever'

[@malachai1381]

​@@4toby4to It always felt like a "Romanticized" retelling, like you might hear from troubadours of old.

[@setonb9602]

@@lau4545 most of Russian classical literature is filled with sadness, despair and loathing. In school when we were about 11-12 y/o we had to read “Mumu”, a story where the owner kills his dog, so for once watching an animated film (even though historically inaccurate) that has a nice ending is cool

[@lau4545]

@@setonb9602 yes I head about that infamous book 😅 German children's books aren't a walk in the park either, but killing a dog is next level 🙈

[@toothless3835]

Correction: the family didn't die the night of the siege. They were taken captive for a time and then murdered and buried. Anastasia and one of her siblings were buried a bit away from the rest of the family which is why it took them a while to find her.

[@embroiderart6131]

It was the only son, Alexei.

[@Arushi701]

Wasn’t it Maria who was buried away?

[@LaBellesGrace]

@@Arushi701correct, it was Maria who was buried with Alexei. Maria was 19, Anastasia was 17 and due to their closeness in age it was hard for them to properly determine who was who at the time of finding the first round of bodies in the 80s/90s.

[@Arushi701]

@@LaBellesGrace Right. The whole murder was just horrifying, really.

[@tessat338]

@@embroiderart6131 The bodies identified by DNA from bone fragments in the fire pit were a young male Romanov/Queen Victoria descendant and a young female Romanov/Queen Victoria descendant. The nuclear DNA was consistent with the male Romanov line and the mitochondrial DNA matched Queen Victoria's female line descendants, including Prince Philip, the husband of the late Queen Elizabeth. Both sets of remains were genetically the children of the adult male Romanov and the adult female Queen Victoria descendant whose bodies were found in the nearby mine shaft. By exclusion, it was Alexei and one of his sisters. Since three other distinct female Romanov/Queen Victoria descendants were found among the bodies in the mine shaft, then all seven of the Romanov family were accounted for. It was probably Anastasia but it could also have been Marie. They were close in age and size. Olga and Titania were older and their age, sex, and DNA were consistent with two of the female young adult bodies found in the mine shaft. There was also the body of an older female teen in the mine shaft. So one of the younger girl's bodies was burned with that of Alexei. Sadly, absent a definitive, independent DNA sample for either of the two younger girls, there is really no way of knowing conclusively which is which.

[@Arushi701]

11:20 The part where her family comes is chilling, especially considering the historical details. Alexei limping since he had haemophilia and couldn't even walk by the time of the massacre, Anastasia's sisters' hairstyles and them giving her pearls which were a staple in the Romanov family, it's awesome.

[@ultimatebishoujo29]

I know its awesome

[@melodybaoin1425]

Remember the drawing that Anastasia gave to her grandma? That's an actual work from the real life Anastasia.

[@Arushi701]

@@melodybaoin1425 I do! It’s such good work, like they were telling us, “Yes. This movie is fantasy. But we know.”

[@taylorannbicica6389]

One of my favorite little moments in the movie is from “Learn to Do It,” when they memorize the names of the royalty, and Anya remembers a cat they never mentioned. Also, in the same song, just how naturally things come to her because she still has some of those motor skills, it’s just so fun watching her, and Dimitri as well, discover those parts of Anastasia shining through bit by bit.

[@cheshirenevande4701]

it's such a good bit of writing because you can see them, the con artists, slowly questioning if they actually found the real one. It's so good and allows the viewers in on it.

[@AndreNitroX]

Anastasia is that underrated gem that makes you feel like you gained something by the end just by watching it

[@curiousnerdkitteh]

I'd call that cast of the grandmother "grandmaternal energy" rather than maternal energy, both as Mrs Potts and here her voice makes me think of a sweet, wise grandmother.

[@incognitogirl6201]

20:21 As someone who couldn't afford therapy for a very long time, I learned the hard way just how damaging it can be to try and force yourself to face your traumas before you're ready, and I urge anyone trying to do this to be very careful. The brain doesn't bury information just for the fun of it, and I won't go into detail but I will say this. Forcing yourself to deal with something before you're ready, in my experience, just re-traumatizes you. I spent a handful of years in a really bad way and it was only when I got a job that let me afford a therapist that things finally started getting better. Anyone working through it on your own, please please be careful with yourselves! ❤️

[@AshRBanks]

This is REALLY important. I'm literally just going through the process of dealing with information I didn't quite bury, but I detached from, and it's A LOT. Thankfully it all hit me at a time where I can afford to not be at my best and I was able to get some support, because otherwise it would be disastrous.

[@Anna-ly9dg]

I really needed to read this. I've had so many issues in college and with doing the work. I've spent so much time hating myself without realizing that I can't work through it if I'm not kind to myself. I finally made the connection I needed to start healing because I just took a second to give myself grace. Thank you

[@Jones4Leather]

I had the good fortune to have already been in therapy for a few years visceral flashbacks occurred that contains a lot more details than I had remembered before. I could already be my own safety net out of control and a flashback. Another part of me had been built already to take the adult perspective which allowed me to both let my actual reaction run as I fully felt it, being very sympathetic and embraced the littler me so I did not feel completely alone when I emerged from the intensity of the flashback. I remember having a constant narrative running putting into words what had just happened. And that allowed me to accept the experience of a flashback with my own internal therapist

[@anythinginbetween8469]

Yes! I was so fortunate to have the resources to get a seriously incredible therapist and i started having to face stuff that my brain had completely buried and that I'd not been able to think about or remember for years. That first year of uncovering stuff was ROUGH, even with an incredible therapist. I never would have been able to address it on my own or handle it on my own. I was crying all the time, my dreams were insane, my sleep was all over the place... basically my brain and body had a huge reaction so yes I totally agree with you and thank you for pointing this out! I was able to work through smaller things by myself once the big stuff was out of the way for the most part and I'd been trained on how to take care of myself and my mind in that way, but thats not the case for everyone

[@JessicaRottschafer]

I’d like to note that also, if you’re trying to heal trauma, please consider seeing someone who specializes in it. Regular talk therapy can be VERY re-traumatizing if the therapist does not have the correct tools to help you. This is was my experience when first looking for a therapist. We just talked the heck out of stuff and it got me nowhere, only making me relive what I went through. Not good. It wasn’t until I went to an EMDR therapist that I could properly process things because they were trained to handle what I needed help in. I HIGHLY recommend it!

[@Futurebound_jpg]

The once upon a December sequence is the single most magical moment in any movie I have ever seen, it gobsmacked me as a toddler and still does EVERY SINGLE TIME I WATCH. Goosebumps and tears every single time

[@BlackLadyRockz]

same!! It's so magical! it's like watching fireworks right infront of you! It strucks me everytime.

[@radhikabianchi1484]

Same

[@BookDragonKSC]

So many thoughts. This is my all time favorite childhood movie. 1. It was the 90s. Youre talking about the same kids that watched the Land Before Time, All Dogs go To Heaven, and Fern Gully. 2. Bartok is amazing and I accept no other viewpoints. 3. I absolutely LOVE the repression theory! That makes so much more sense than the amnesia from the head bump.

[@normalhuman9878]

I recently rewatched The Land Before Time and dear god was it harrowing. You literally see the shadow of Littlefoot’s mother getting her spine ripped out

[@molly.d]

i broke down in therapy once because my therapist validated that what had happened to me when i was a kid WAS traumatic. my whole life i was told what was happening to me was normal, but from the moment i felt comfortable calling the abuse what it was, i've been able to mourn, to rage, to grieve, and begin to heal. i was lucky enough to survive until i could get help and start figuring out who i want to be, in a life that feels safe.

[@scipocelah6677]

I had a talk with my therapist last session how I felt that my trauma wasn't "exactly" trauma because I know people have had worse, and she had to say "but trauma is still trauma, you can't compare yours to someone else's."

[@trinaq]

This movie is so underrated, I used to wear out my videotape from how many times I watched it. "Once Upon a December", "Paris Holds the Key to your Heart" and "Journey to the Past" are brilliantly catchy songs.

[@Setsunako6587]

Classic! I definitely had the soundtrack cassette tape and (probably) bootlegged the movie from TV... also on a cassette 🤣 God Bless the 90s, lol. Long Live Analogue Tech 🙌🏾💕

[@petrastedman669]

Same!

[@ShadowSkyX]

It was Bambi for me. My poor mom ended up not liking Bambi anymore because of how obsessively I watched it.

[@radhikabianchi1484]

YES!

[@alicia_elle47]

Don’t forget At The Beginning!

[@harmoniaSINGS05]

I was an 8yr old when Anastasia came out and the explanation that this film is about her overcoming her childhood trauma explains a lot esp in the "Once Upon A December" number.

[@thatsethfromyourcorner]

Fun fact: This movie was the first ever thing to make me actually afraid of sleep walking. I have never sleep walked, but after that frickin scene I actually started having insomnia since I was terrified of falling asleep. Nowadays I know I'll probably never sleep walk but I do still sleep on my stomach 'cause I know it reduces the chance of sleep walking and night terrors.

[@maggie6152]

I slept walked as a kid. Wasn't too bad for me, but I scared the ever-loving crap out of my parents. My favorite story from them is sleepwalking into the middle of one of their marriage counseling sessions in the home with their pastor and just staring silently at them. Then I left without a word and went back up to my bed. Everyone was like WTF???? 🤣

[@thatsethfromyourcorner]

@@maggie6152 Helppp that's hilarious!💀😭

[@jdb101585]

Terrifying is having an abusive mother who was a sleepwalker...more terrifying is when you tell a grandparent and they say, "Oh, yeah, she used to go to the kitchen and get knives and carry them around with her whilst sleepwalking." 😱

[@thatsethfromyourcorner]

@@jdb101585 Jesus- bro u good?

[@jdb101585]

@@thatsethfromyourcorner Yes, very much so now! Thanks. Awful childhoods eventually end and leave you free to pursue a much better adulthood.

[@micsulli19]

As a "Millennial," it makes me SO happy that you guys did this episode!

[@Futurebound_jpg]

same as a gen z. this movie is a core part of who i am LOL

[@AryannaCisnerosChannel]

Same

[@dewmilk7266]

Same as a gen z

[@kiaraeijo]

Me too!!!! I’m a Millennial too!!!

[@brittanyriddle8257]

Yes!!!!

[@kgruber3395]

I’ve had a head injury, and Once Upon a December is… very accurate to the confusion and memory loss. And memories do come back later, and in parts… I could not recall for myself my life, I was injured at 20, but years later things started to come back, and in the same way as Anastasia ‘thinking she’s remembering’ and then getting confused and mad at Dimitri, but later recalling more clearly… Its kind of amazing to me, I had thought as a child it was hard to believe she could be so confused, but having gone through it… this movie definitely has surprised me in its lining up with the reality of the experience. It was very hard. And yet, you’re still a person, and both not remembering and later healing are both a part of your life. I’m very thankful.

[@Crocronut]

Animator here! I didnt work on Anastasia (i was a baby when it came out) - but it’s pretty clear to me that a LOT of the film was rotoscoped, especially the normal human characters (anastasia, Dimitri, etc… but not really Rasputin). A lot of the shots in the video make it clear that they relied pretty heavily on rotoscope over hand drawn animation from scratch. As a result, they’re relying more on existing live action footage than they are on the 12 principles of animation -which is what animators use to help really bring characters to life. The principles aren’t absent from these characters, but they are used more sparingly. One of the principles that you would miss the most is exaggeration. In a lot of 2d animation, especially this style, the exaggeration can be very subtle, but it is rather load bearing for the scene. The lack of exaggeration, especially in contrast to Rasputin and his dumb little bat (who do not seem to be heavily rotoscoped in this movie, and are far more exaggerated and cartoony), dips a lot of the main cast pretty deep into the uncanny valley, and their movement seems less cartoony and more real. From what I’ve heard through the grapevine about the production, it hit a lot of roadblocks, i think in part due to Anastasia being the first film Don Bluth produced in the United States after moving his production studio from Dublin, Ireland to Arizona, and the studio needing to find cohesion with a new cast of animators.

[@jenniferthomas288]

This movie had such a strong influence on me as a child that I named MY child Anastasia. I always loved the strong-willed, he decisive, survivor that this princess is. She went through unimaginable horrors and not only survived, but she was well on the way to healing before she ever met Dmitry.

[@keshaartis8365]

I named my oldest something similar for the same reason.

[@SyedaAmnaJalal]

Omg same! My daughter is named Aaniyah 😊

[@garrettviewegh9028]

I love how later in the film, the lullaby is sung again, by Anastasia, but instead of conveying comfort and safety, it comes up again as a melancholic waltz about the echos of the past: a bittersweet life, and love framed by tragedy on a cold December. The song's tone changes, much like how Anastasia had changed years later after getting amnesia. Probably one of my favorite songs ever.

[@tins369]

The scene when she is reunited with her imaginary family always makes me cry. The music is so emotional. I love the song she sings when she decides to go to St. Petersburg as well, because it is also emotional and so hopeful and happy and strong.

[@yurievna_the.eldest.sister]

agreeee yees, "Journey to the Past" is my fav

[@firemiracle]

1:13 “how did this get a G rating???” Because that’s what makes Don Bluth awesome! He does that with his animated movies. He is one of my favorite animated movie directors because unlike most animated movie studios nowadays who play it way too safe, he was never scared to add such dark tones in his family animated movies. He adds that touch of realism to show children that the world is not all fun and rainbows, that there’s terrible people out there and many other kinds of dangers that can cause harm. But Don bluth shows that no matter how tough things can get, he still lets his main characters show strength and courage to earn their good ending. One of my most favorite quotes from Don Bluth is this one: “kids can handle anything as long as there is a happy ending.” This is why I deeply respect Don Bluth. He never treats his children audience as idiots. He knows that children handle the darkness and then give the children audience that happy emotional feeling in the end. Good Endings that can give children a sign of hope.

[@radhikabianchi1484]

I have never been able to forget The Secret of NIMH. That movie haunted me, in a good way. Beautiful.

[@firemiracle]

@@radhikabianchi1484 oh man, secret of Nimh! That’s my top number 1 Don Bluth movie!! 😄

[@kathilisi3019]

"kids can handle anything as long as there's a happy ending" isn't true though. When my daughter was younger, she got actual fevers and headaches from watching scary scenes in movies made for her age group, and part of the problem was that she was also empathising with the bad guys. Like, I would have thought that Aristocats is one of the least scary Disney movies out there, but my daughter was so worried for Edgar's wellbeing during the chase scene with the dogs that she started crying and hyperventilating. It's gotten better with therapy, but I still wouldn't show her Anastasia.

[@radhikabianchi1484]

@@firemiracle It's amazing!

[@DoofenSpyroDragon16]

@kathilis I get that. Another reason why we shouldn’t just lump everyone into one category, even kids. Some are more sensitive than others. I hope she’s better now. I am highly sensitive, and I’m an adult and I had to look away during the body horror stuff in this vid, so I get it!

[@idongesitusen5764]

This is one of those films where the music sticks with you.

[@danguzy918]

When I was a kid, my neighbors dog knocked me down to the ground in their yard. I hit my head on the ground. I had amnesia for most of the day. I was looking at my family and talking to them but in my mind they were strangers. I didn’t recognize them or our house. It was scary. Eventually it came back that day and I don’t remember much except feeling lost, confused, and afraid. It was crazy.

[@6AncientCharms9]

The way i see it is that Anastasia was a historical fanfiction. Its always been been a huge "what if" for her and i loved it growing up. Rasputin for SURE started my love for villain songs, his bouncing body parts were fun to watch and considering i grew up with Courage the Cowardly Dog, Rin and Stimpy and that Mufasa death scene so it tracked pretty well with what i was used to.

[@gracequalls9770]

Yeah those 90s/early 2000s children shows and movies were wild 😂

[@AnInsideJoke]

Remember the (Disney!) 90's tv show Gargoyles? That one legit started with a straight up massacre/small-scale genocide. Partially onscreen! They got away with it because in the lore of the show, Gargoyles are a bit like vampires, nocturnal and sleep during the day, but their "sleep" is them involuntarily turning into a stone statue, so you can straight up kill them (or in this case, huge numbers of them) by smashing the statue/s. Which is how they found a loophole to not just having a massacre, but showing it onscreen.

[@Drums_of_Liberation]

​@@AnInsideJokenot just a genocide an outright extinction when you consider that after Goliath and his clan awoke in the future they were practically one of the only living gargoyle clans left

[@samanthac.349]

This movie is definitely historical fan fiction, but keep in mind that it was made when most people genuinely thought Anastasia survived because her remains weren’t buried with the rest of her family. It was a few years after this film was released that her bones were found elsewhere on the same property as her family’s mass grave and confirmed to be her through DNA analysis.

[@julietantonio1049]

Her father dancing with her during Once Upon a December gets me everytime. Because she knows this is someone who loves her but she can't remember who even though it's her DAD. I'm so close to my Dad that I can't even fathom what not remembering him would be like

[@sweeney60]

I literally sang Journey to the Past to give myself courage while driving to a trauma survivor’s retreat. Gosh this movie gave me strength when I was 6 and still gives me strength at 32.

[@TheLazyEyebrow]

regarding the animation, I'm not a professional by any standards, but it looks as though it was acted out and then the animation painstakingly modelled after the footage. Which is fine and all, impressive even,, but animation typically has a certain flow to it that hits an uncanny valley when you start diving into realistic motion, much like when MoCap CGI movies were a thing edit: I looked into it. it's called rotoscoping. today I learned something new haha

[@ShockingPikachu]

Yeah Snow white and the seven dwarves has the same issue at points

[@GabbyMKD]

Yes, taking real footage as reference isn't uncommon in animation and even recommended to have a baseline of how a movement should look motion wise. Usually with added "cartoony" elements or emphasis to strengthen the poses and actions. Rotoscoping, on the other hand, is tracing your animation off of footage. The result is much more "realistic" looking but in doing so, you lose any kind of control over timing and emphasis that you would in more traditional methods. You also risk getting into the Uncanny valley, since your movements are human-like but just not enough to *feel* human.

[@LittleVamp]

This is exactly what they did! I remember obsessively watching the behind the scenes on the dvd version of the movie. I just loved watching them draw it all out frame by frame and gave me an appreciation for old school animation

[@owenleal]

MoCap is still a thing, its just progressed so that the average mocap scene actually looks good and natural, like in Tintin, or the current era of videogames. Still I yearn for the Monster House/Polar Express era of Mocap, where the characters move like reanimated corpses. Thats peak nostalgia rt.

[@MandzMakes]

i am a professional animator, and yes, it looks rotoscoped

[@maeb3319]

As someone that watched this on video as a kid, Jonathan saying "and that is the journey" immediately became 'At the Beginning' for me, bringing this full circle

[@kittypowaa7760]

That music video was top tier quality as a kid

[@alicia_elle47]

ME TOO!!!

[@pakamausi]

The voice actors who do their own singing in the film are Kelsey Grammar (as Jono said), Angela Lansbury, and Bernadette Peters (Sophie, the dowager empress's cousin who they have to convince). Anastasia's singing was done by Liz Calloway (again, as Jono said) who also did Thumbelina - another John Bluth film ;) and Rasputin's is Jim Cummings, who has voiced a multitude of animation roles, including filling in for Jeremy Irons who blew his voice halfway through recording "Be Prepared"

[@sidneyburgess6262]

Jodie Benson did the speaking and singing for Thumbelina. However, Liz Callaway also did singing for Jasmine in a return of Jafar, and Kiara in Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride.

[@pakamausi]

@sidneyburgess6262 yikes. you're right. I got my princesses mixed up in my haste to post 😅

[@stephaniegagne3376]

Don’t forget Swan Princess and Odette!

[@emmasharman]

Liz Callaway was also the singing voice for Jasmine in Aladdin: King of Thieves. Liz has said in an interview that she met Meg Ryan at an event and told her she was the singer for Anastasia's songs and Meg Ryan responded by saying "Oh, I've been telling people I sang in the film" so not a great introduction!

[@Pastadudde]

@@emmasharman the Seth Rudetsky one right? What's funny is in the comments section of that video, there's someone who wrote that he worked on a film starring Meg Ryan, and his experience was that she was really bitchy to the extras🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@boomgirlbucko]

Not Jono having a perfect impression of the bat sidekick

[@vampiresca]

I was surprised at how good it was hahahaha

[@Yeshua996]

I love once upon a december so much, just such a heart wrenching somber beautiful sequence. being overwhelmed with feelings of loss, nostalgia, grief, love and joy, flashes of a life you dont recognize or remember, feeling that pit in your stomach, you've lost something intangible, irreplaceable, you've lost yourself. makes me cry everytime

[@lisam5744]

Childhood trauma (multiple traumas) survivor here. That last step the Jono talked about is so important. The other steps are important because you have to deal with your trauma, your past, your pain (trauma therapist-find one!). Then after you deal with everything, your world is still upside-down because you're learning to live as a survivor. But that last step of finding yourself and moving forward, that was the biggest part of my healing. Does the past/trauma/pain all just magically go away? I wish! I have CPTSD and sometimes it all comes rushing back. But I have the tools now to deal with it and then return to the life I created for myself. Thank you, Jono, for telling about the last step in healing.

[@angelaott295]

I can relate a bit. As I came out of the adoption fog, I had to think about - who am I without all this pain? Am I still me? Am I still an adoptee? Can I still relate to all my adoptee friends? The answers I've come up with are, Yes, I'm just an evolved version of me. A me who knows how to forgive myself for things that weren't in my control or my fault in the first place. A me who finds new ways to express who I am (art, writing). And if I need to make new friends who I connect with better and leave the ones behind who are still working through their pain, that's okay...

[@01eminasvolhamato]

In regards to the discussion around 17:10 Does anyone think that what’s “bumping” Allen is that the movement mimics stage performance exaggeration? When u act on stage ur movements (even the subtle ones) have to be visible to audience members up to 60+ feet away and up a whole story above u. Considering in animation it’s common to exaggerate joint movement in action scenes and more emotionally complex scenes to giv more impact (look up any meme about not pausing the movie). It’s those cuts that can make or break the character and the level of comedy/emotion. I’m thinking they took the musical aspect and made the characters more interesting by incorporating the stage movements since it wasn’t uncommon to use live models for frame work and figured it would help kids pay attention. As someone who grew up with this movie; I loved how the characters moved. Especially when u take into account that it’s the same guy who did thumbalina and they do the same thing there. But also a big rule in animation is to have a lot of show don’t tell in character design and movements. No two silhouettes r the same- no two characters move the same way. Everything has to be deliberate. As a result, even if you were incorporating the movements between each emotional change for each character, you would have a lot of quick movements. After all, this was a choice. And I think it did the film a lot of favors.

[@meiomeio]

+1 definitely the theatrics. It didn't feel off for me because I used to perform on stage, and this is how our instructors want us to act, to convey emotion to the audience and (for some) to get better in character. Also plays rather conveniently as the reunion happened in an opera house!

[@alorachan]

Definitely could be. It's like the characters continue to animate where in other animated things the animation would stop, like if a character's sending a hand out to gesture, it goes out, does gesture, comes back in most things, but in this it feels very rounded and full of motion. TBF tho.... this IS a Don Bluth movie. All Don Bluth movies have this kind of fluidity in the animation. Go watch any Don Bluth animated film and it'll have some of the same kind of fluidity of exaggerated motion - Secret of NIMH, The Land Before Time (for as much as dinosaurs can be animated), An American Tale, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Titan A.E.. I adore his movies and I can always spot a Don Bluth because of this animation style.

[@NerdySammie]

I believe they had people act out almost the entire movie and used their movements to base the animation on. I could be wrong though

[@aleneajacklyn7348]

I think you're definitely on to something with the movement mimicking that of actors on a stage in a musical, which makes sense because a lot of the character animation was rotoscoped. I think where the animation falls on the edges of the uncanny valley is there are some actions where weight and gravity weren't emphasized enough (like Dmitri stumbling) and so the movement feels wrong. Rotoscoping is a fine approach! And I think for the most part, this movie uses it to its advantage. But the principles of animations (namely squash/stretch, anticipation, slow in/slow out, arcs, and exaggeration) shouldn't be neglected just because rotoscoping is being used.

[@GiuliaDrummond-fg3no]

And does anyone else feels like the proportion of the characters face change as they move? Like their eyes, nose, and mount are moving slightly around their face? or is it just me? Also the lighing on the scene where Anya says she doesnt want to lie is a bit odd.

[@Annemapother]

The most criminally underrated movie ever, this was literally my entire childhood

[@poet18318]

My child abuse and trauma was so normalized, that it wasn't necessarily memory loss, it never occurred to me that what happened to me was wrong. So when I think back or recall experiences, light bulb, it clicks with sadness and shame. Then it takes another year or 2 to find the courage to dig it out and talk about it.

[@reinrose82]

The talking helps though. A year of therapy unlocked my anger, but on the other side of that I’m finding peace. It’s a journey but one worth taking

[@JessicaRottschafer]

I feel this. Reframing your past in your mind is rough. For me, I thank God my external life was good, my trauma was all internal. Because of my sick brain, I’d been gaslighting myself since I was born, so it wasn’t until I was much older and finally talked about my thought processes in therapy that my EMDR therapist told me, “That’s not normal”…well, it was normal to me! So we had to rewrite my entire life’s internal monologue. And I still catch myself gaslight myself daily. I’m so much better than I was, but, man, it’s tough work!! I pray you keep your healing journey going! You’re worth the healing no matter how long it takes!

[@Lowenaaa]

One of my trauma actually took 20 years to resurface, randomly during a night where I was comfortably laughing with my friends. Since it involved my parents and no one took the time to discuss it with me, I never realised (I did) it was a terrible thing to happen. I just didn't had the words or concept to understand what happened, so my brain buried it deep.

[@stefanieahrens246]

​@@reinrose82 I get what you are saying and you are absolutly right, yet for my childhood trauma, I'm not sure if I ever find the Courage to talk about it. Even admitting that it exist here is a huge step! I've been in therapy multiple times over unrelated stuff and I could never bring myself to say anything. Maybe one day. Maybe never.

[@reinrose82]

@@stefanieahrens246 But you took that step. Unlocking stuff like that is scary, but it such a relief to get that poison out. No need to rush yourself, but hold onto maybe. When it comes to courage you can be surprised. I was molested when I was nine; I couldn't talk about it till I was forty. Still helped.

[@LittleHobbit13]

Anastasia, love it! Don bluth movies really were built different, if you're talking about dark. The fun and whimsy of a Disney movie, but without being afraid to tell kids that sometimes the world could be dark.

[@RiveroftheWither]

The Secrets of Nihm will always be a brilliant masterpiece in my eyes. One of my favorite dark movies as a child next to Labyrinth.

[@triciacarey2288]

All Dogs Go To Heaven was absolutely terrifying to me as a kid but it was also one of my favourite movies, Don Bluth was amazing at riding the line between scary and enjoyable for kids movies.

[@gracehowell.]

"The Land Before Time" springs to mind.

[@catdragon2584]

He addressed that in an interview once by saying, “if you don’t show the darkness, you don’t appreciate the light. If we didn’t have December, we wouldn’t have May.”

[@jenniferhiemstra5228]

There was a time Disney wasn't afraid to be darker. Hunchback, Lion King, and Pocahontas anyone? But sadly they've lost that and I miss it. I don't like using the phrase 'politically correct' but I absolutely use it when it comes to Disney being too damn scared to 'go there' as it were. I miss the juxtaposition of dark and light, I miss the dark themes that taught you something deep about humanity.

[@spacecowboyeddie6803]

When the people dance out of the paintings and the music swells? Insta-chills, every time. When her dad kisses her forehead? Insta-cry, every time.

[@twitchgiggles]

As someone with complex ptsd born from childhood trauma, this movie hits a lot different as an adult. As opposed to Anastasia, i was faced with my childhood and those memories every single day. It took my abuser dying for me to finally face that trauma head on, to reclaim my childhood, and be free to chase that childhood joy that i lost long ago. Now i'm open to talking about my past freely, without feeling those horrible emotions.

[@lifetheslowway]

Same. I teared up when he said “there’s some love that she knows existed that she’s trying to get back to.” I feel so sorry for my kid self who never knew or felt love. It’s really a mindfuck when you realize that you weren’t unloveable, you were unloved. And it’s affected every part of your identity and ability to navigate life successfully as an adult.

[@Arezoo298195]

As someone with repressed memory problems I wholeheartedly agree that if you’re gonna try to retrieve the mess, do it with a professional by your side. I thought I knew a lot of what I was repressing until stuff started to come back that I had no clue was ever there because I had bought my own lies of what had happened.( yes I convincingly lied to myself masking the selective amnesia ) When I retrieved something horrible I went into an immediate panic attack and hysterical crying almost screaming, if my therapist wasn’t there to help me through that I don’t even want to think what would have been the result. There’s a reason the memories have been repressed after all. Be safe if you’re going fishing in your brain for trauma.

[@misspriss2482]

This. I learned this the hard way. I was using books to deal with things and journalled a lot. However, I had no idea how much bad stuff I had buried. As a result, I became suicidal trying to deal with trauma on my own. Luckily I found a therapist that I could trust who helped walk me through the worst of it and I now have the tools to handle bad memories. I've been in the recovery stage for quite a while, but I still struggle with CPTSD.

[@gracequalls9770]

Such a huge difference! Finding a therapist you trust is amazing

[@Sunbeargirl-]

Anastasia has been one of my favourite films for a long time, probably mostly because of the music and the characters, but the art style is dear to me as well. Though I've seen criticism of the animation, personally I've always loved it and its realism---the fact that their hair moves all the time is one small, specific detail that makes me smile. I'm no animator, though I do consider myself an artist (by hobby), and I adore the animation style of this film. I find it extremely charming; it's never bothered me in the slightest.

[@dogsarefab]

There is so much to unpack here. The animation and the animated gore is again the 90s. This was advanced animation at the time. Also when this came out (1997) we still didnt actually know what happened to Anastasia, it was still a mystery. Her body wasnt found until 10 years after this film was released in 2007. Lastly Liz Callaway is a bloody legend. She has performed singing voices for loads of films including Disney.

[@kiaraeijo]

I was five years old when Anastasia came out and as a kid, The Hunchback of Notre Dame was scarier to me than Anastasia. The trauma that she has comes to a head in the scene when she is sleepwalking, is hypnotized and she nearly falls overboard because of Rasputin’s hypnosis but Dimitri saves her. The singing voice of Anastasia is Liz Callaway (she did the singing voice of Odette from The Swan Princess and Kiara from The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride)

[@alicia_elle47]

I definitely find The Hunchback of Notre Dame to be scarier than Anastasia. I didn’t think Anastasia was that scary as a child but I definitely thought that The Hunchback was scary however not scary enough to give me nightmares or anything. I also love the music in Hunchback of Notre Dame. However, I thought everything about the Hellfire sequence was chef’s kiss! However, it wasn’t until I was in my teen years that I really listened to the song and also just paid more attention to the more adult themes in the movie and Frollo became even more scary and disgusting.

[@sablethompson4729]

This was my all time favorite childhood movie. I always admired Anastasia for her strength, integrity, wit, and style 😊

[@elliotgandersen]

once upon a December is one of my favorite songs. Thanks for doing a dive into this movie 10/10.

[@CinemaTherapyShow]

You're welcome. Thanks for watching!

[@tins369]

Yes same. Gives me goosebumps every time. Such a beautiful song

[@domitillepascal5662]

I think that the fact I cried when you said your brain can repress things for your own good without you knowing, says a lot about me. I need therapy here

[@RazingthenRaising]

For the last 30 years I have been trying to overcome the horrible problems of my youth. In the last 3 to4 years, I have made some major breakthroughs. Some of them after learning what trauma is and can do from this channel. It has been an incredibly long and difficult process. But I really feel that I am ready to claim myself. And that is an amazing feeling.

[@tiredfella]

When I was little, I thought the scene with her dancing with memories was her hallucinating and felt comforted that it wasn't just me.

[@sarahamill1793]

lol been quoting that “then I kick her sir” line since the movie came out!! Love this one thanks to you both!!

[@Prismaticlysm]

Same!

[@angelaott295]

YES! All of my childhood animated movie quotes are LOST on my husband who's never seen them!

[@percystormrunner]

Same. Used it recently during a D&D session in response to something that had just happened (another player had just wiped the floor with an enemy during an encounter). The line got an immediate laugh from my fellow players.

[@vanillawithasideofsprinkles]

Oh man, you guys should cover return to Oz. For not other reason than so many of us need therapy after watching it!

[@Raquelgrl3271]

Liz Callaway is one of my favorites! She also voiced and sung for Odette in Swan Princess

[@mantra4ia]

She's actually in every single movie that left an enduring mark on my childhood, and in some way I think that her voice was the reason those movies stuck with me as they did. Phenomenal stuff.

[@Jmmmmama]

I am a child abuse survivor and advocate for gentle parenting and thank you for doing this guys. Every year I think I’ve healed fully, but once or twice a year I get triggered badly and need to run through the processing again and again. Thank you for validating that it is a looooooong process.

[@Vintage_Izy]

I love Don Bluth animation! Thumbelina, Anastasia, and the Fieval films are some of the best ones ever created.

[@tiffanym1108]

This has always been my all time fav. When this came out she was believed to be still alive. When they found her I cried. It was traumatic

[@jdb101585]

Gods, I remember that.

[@AnInsideJoke]

I remember when it happened too. I also remember my high school history teacher telling me what they did to Anastacia's little brother, who, being the only boy, was already marked as heir. That one was REALLY traumatising, as he was little more than a toddler.

[@Arushi701]

@@AnInsideJokeHe was 13 years old actually, but nonetheless, what they did to that whole family was sickening.

[@ursakursa1615]

17:16 not a professional animator per se, but I do have an answer. A LOT of the film used rotoscope based on the live action reference they shot. So a lot of the human character acting scenes like Dimitri falling have that unnatural feel, while scenes with nonhuman/exaggerated characters like Bartok were traditionally animated (I believe mostly 2s?)

[@reconpuffin]

Litteraly was going to say the same... "not a professional animator but..."

[@VeryNerdyPerson]

For most of Alan's greivences with the movie, I have only this to say: watch the musical. They replace Rasputin with a guy named Gleb, mention the name change of the city in the opening number (though some characters still refer to it as St. Petersburg because... I don't know, they felt like it?), and they deal relatively well with the confusion around whether or not Anya is actually Anastasia (all the characters are pretty convinced she is, but they make it possible that she could just be fantasizing the "memories" that just happen to be accurate).

[@musicallydisneyamvs6731]

This film got me into History. Being adopted this was one of my comfort films I watched growing up. To make peace with losing my past/heritage, loss of my birth family & moving forward with my life.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

My first film exposure to the Russian Revolution was in Doctor Zhivago. Great film, properly Russian, lots of misery.

[@kai9137]

That tip with confronting the cause of your trauma by talking to that person or having someone else pretend to be them so you can say what you need to say without having to put yourself in potential danger sounds really effing helpful, certainly made me tear up.. maybe I'll think about it and suggest it as a talking point to my therapist in my next session

[@warmgreytenpercent]

I've found it to be really helpful with a good therapist ❤ good luck

[@kai9137]

@@warmgreytenpercent thanks, I'll see how this goes :)

[@expressyourselfperforminga7125]

That bat absolutely made my father and I laugh so hard. Jrs a beautiful memory

[@eleanorshakespeare8477]

To be fair, when this film was made they didn't know Anastasia had died that night. There was still a mystery around Anastasia or Maria still being alive. Also Rasputin was dead by the time the revolution kicked off.

[@eldupont3095]

none of them died the night the palace was attacked. They were taken prisoner and lived under guard at a different location for a long time. The Reds originally planned to put them on trial. But when it looked like the White forces might successfully rescue the family, they were murdered.

[@Destinnies]

Bro the songs in this movie are forever memorable and heart-hitting

[@MelArchive-yy4uc]

Heya. Animator here. The reason the animation is off to you, Alan, is because it is rotoscoped. They recorded actors and they instead of being inspired by the record, they trace it, to make the animation more realistic and also a more 3 dimensional result. So instead of having a feeling of movement which in traditional animation is what you do (you do reproduce a movement, you design a impression of which results in a smoother and more visceral animation), you have a shadow of a movement, which allows more details on screen but create a shakier result. Rotoscopy is usually use to reduce animation cost in traditional animated production.

[@CinemaTherapyShow]

Thank you for sharing!

[@Futurebound_jpg]

Bro the way i was literally sitting at my piano PLAYING THE SOUNDTRACK FROM THIS MOVIE when this video popped up on my phone, i literally screamed. This is my only favorite childhood movie you havent done yet, i am ecstatic right now.

[@Musiyca]

Not sure about the rating, but as a fellow Slav, it feels like a lot of Slavic legends and stories. This is right our alley. And yes, Anastasia and Mulan are my core childhood animations.

[@At327]

Just diagnosed with cptsd and this is one of my favorite movies from childhood

[@Peace210ve]

“Once upon a December” makes me cry EVERY SINGLE TIME!!(literally me crying the entire time yall were talking about the memory scene) you can truly FEEL the yearning and longing of a place or memory that’s just out of reach, the desire for answers and the confirmation that you were once loved. It’s a beautiful scene and song too, but it’s the messaging behind it that makes me cry like a baby everytime❤❤

[@meghanmonroe]

Same. I'm all sniffly during the rest of this video lol

[@LegallyBoopy]

This is one of my favorite movies ever. When I was seven years old, my mom apparently caught me in her room, dressed up in one of her large winter coats and my dad's pageboy hat with the fingers cut out of my gloves singing along to "Journey to the Past" and performing it with the movie. Embarrassing af. But also, the movie is iconic and now I am proud of my young self for cosplaying in 1997.

[@alicia_elle47]

I am not only a childhood cancer survivor, but I’m also a childhood abuse survivor as well (also born with some disabilities). sometimes I feel like I can’t catch a break. When I was going through chemo (4-7 years old), there were lots of movies that I watched, but this one was the one I watched religiously on repeat practically every day. It was a source of comfort for me, and I thought that if Anastasia could get through all that she went through then I could beat cancer. I can still recite verbatim all the lines, and I can sing all the songs. It wasn’t until after I was cancer free, my dad’s narcissistic tendencies came out and he was emotionally and physically abusive. This movie still brings what small amount of glimmer of hope that I have for a better future where my trauma doesn’t define me and dictate everything that I do. I’ve also developed a really bad shopping addiction because of my trauma that I am now in thousands of dollars in debt because of. In 2007 it was discovered that Anastasia had died along with her family, and I was so heartbroken. I felt so crushed that day. I literally cried and cried. I was hoping that something great happened at least for her if not the rest of her family. I was hoping that somehow she was able to escape Russia and form some kind of life for herself. After seeing that movie and as soon as I could read, I read a lot of books about Anastasia and her family. One book that will always be my favorite is her actual diary. Someone translated it and edited it and put it into a book and it was a series called the Royal diaries, and it was the diaries of other princesses from all over the world. Reading her diary was like gazing into her soul and she was so funny and she loved to crack jokes and have fun with her family and she loved her dad very much. She became even more human to me through that book and I read her diary before 2007. She became a friend when I had none in a sense. That’s why when it was discovered in 2007 that she had actually passed away, It was almost like losing somebody in real life that I cared about. I still cry every time I watch this movie so I always watch it alone. ❤

[@redscorner4324]

When thinking about her amnesia, I think hat Anya is more in a Fuge state than anything. The hit to her head probably helped, but Fuge is repression of memories from a traumatic event that causes a person to generally forget everything about themselves. It's rare and foesnt occur that often but there are documented cases about it

[@srayj]

I really is incredible what the brain can do to protect people: fugues states, repression, and even disassociation. It’s just interesting to me why certain kinds of trauma might result in the different protective methods mentioned above, while other trauma doesn’t.

[@RonJDuncan]

As far as the historical aspect of the movie goes, there's a reason for the main part of the story. For decades, rumors persisted that Anastasia had got away and survived. There was the controversy of one woman, Anna Andersen who claimed to have been Anastasia. She was close in age and while many in the family and close to Anastasia said she was an imposter, others were convinced she was the real deal. It took years, private investigations and lawsuits to get courts to rule that she had not proven that she was Anastasia, but the stories persisted and she continued to have supports Further, not all the bodies were in the mass grave. In 2007, nearly a decade after this movie came out, a smaller grave some 70 meters away from the larger grave was discovered with the two final missing family members of the Romanov family with the DNA testing putting the rumors to rest. Also, Anna Anders had a lock of hair and the DNA testing conclusively proved she had been a fraud. Still, it was a nice story. Imagine overcoming a revolution and being the last surviving child because your family was assassinated. Reading a bit on the history, I understand why Nicholas II wasn't well liked, but there was also no crime to charge under the existing legal system, and the government that came to replace the Tsars was brutal and ugly. The idea of a surviving child given all the circumstances has a certain charm to it.

[@lilachodan4941]

18:20 When she said this is for my family I teared up. She was such a badass here in this dress and hills.