Anastasia with Anna Seregina

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Speaker 1: Hi everyone, Caitlin here. I just wanted to give you a quick intro to the episode you're about to hear on the movie Anastasia. We recorded it live as Jamie's Birthday Show, which we had so much fun doing. And while the audio quality for the most part is pretty good, there are a few times when the audio kind of blips out for a split second, and we apologize for that, But otherwise it's a damn fine episode and we hope you enjoy cast questions, ask movies have women? And are all their discussions boyfriends and husbands? Do they have individualism? The patriarchy? Zeph start changing it with the beck del care. Thank you so much. Welcome to the bec deel Cat Welcome. I just context for everyone. I just got a six pack of Mike's hard watermelon. Thank you. That's just proof that when you get a d M saying are you allergic to watermelon? You answer it as quickly as you can because you never know. Oh man, what a gift. This has got to be real bad, right this is I'll be I'll be sampling it throughout the night. Welcome everyone, Thank you for coming to be here for for Jamie's Birthday show. It feels like we're and we're caught and we're recording it. It's not my birthday for a month, but for the sake of tonight, we're cosplaying as if it is my birthday, and the episode will be released pretty close to your birthday. Yeah, so suspend your disbelief, don't cancel me. It's not necessarily my actual birthday, but feel free to give me gifts. I think is the real takeaway. So we're doing one of my one of my favor movies tonight. I'm so excited, Anastasia. Oh but let's get some business out of the way first. My name is Caitlin. My name is Jamie. We talked about the representation of women in movies on this here podcast at the end there. Oh we Well, we use the Bechdel test as a jumping off point for discussion. What's the Bechtel test? Uh? What if I was like, I don't know, I can answer a question. The Bechdel test is a media metric designed by cartoonist Alison Bechdel uh sometimes called the Bechtel Wallace test, in which there must be an interaction between two named female identifying characters and they have to talk to each other for two lines of dialogue about something other than a man. I wish there was like a mathematical equation for like what we just said, because it sounds like math. Right, It's like a square plus B squared equals C squared. That's theorem. Hello, so it's not. She's a master's degree, so keep up. Let's let's demonstrate it. Okay, Hey Jamie Caitlin, I got you a birthday gift too. Really, here it comes. I don't know I didn't wrap it. Oh my god. Wait, this is so cut. Describe it for our listeners at home. This isn't what if I was like, I love it, thank you. It is an enamel pin of rose from Titanic. There, thank you so much, thank you. It's the moment where she looks up and she sees Titanic for the first time and she's not that impressed, and she's like, it doesn't look any bigger than the Martinia, and then cal ak. Billy Zane is like, oh si, it's long. It doesn't because you said cal but oh, I guess we finished a while ago. There. I'm sorry. I just's okay, sorry. I can't look at this without thinking of Billy Zane and that is tragically my feminism. Another surprise, so much, is that I got one for my stuff. Oh, I'm so happy that I'm gonna I'm gonna fasten it on right now onto my little suit. Sodaying. I'm wearing a little suit. Thank you. This is welcome, truly, I can't. I won't leave home without it ever again. Um, that was all our business, right, I believe, so business? What the show is business? Oh, clap if you have been to one of our live shows before, and then clap if your if your friend dragged you here, Yes, very brave of you, and all right, by round of applause. Who has seen the movie Anastasia? Okay, good? Is there anyone who has not seen it? Clap your little paws together. It's they just apologize. It's okay, listen. I what I think that women should be doing more is apologizing. And so I really welcome that in the room. Uh yeah, yeah, No, it's okay, it's okay. I've written a recap, as I always do. It's I think the longest recap I've ever written. I don't know why. It's not a movie. It's not a long movie, but the story is so rich and also I mean it's I would say it's more or less historically accurate. Yeah, if you're familiar with the you know Russian history, you know this story inside and out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. To join us in our discussion, We of course have a guest. She is a wonderful person. She is a hilarious comedian. Please give it up for an Oh my god, wow, I mean to grab a. Mike said literally grab mis feeling crazy. Thank you for being here, Thank you so much for having me. Of course, So Anna, what is your history relationship with the movie Anastasia or Anastasia as a historical figure. Wow, it dates back to yesterday when we watched it together, and so in that it is rich and uh luscious and historically bound and I feel very rooted in it. Also, um, and I'm Russian and my name is Anna, and really it's Anya. So people when I moved here, people were like, oh, like the like Anastasia, you know, just like that, and so I'd say, well, yes, so that for a long time I just didn't watch it. I think that of that, I was like, I'm different times of protest. There's that movie called Caitlin that I refused to watch. Yeah, there's there's a Jamie in a Walk to Remember, but she dies? Is she the She's the one? She's Mandy Moore and she and she she dies to teach Shane West a lesson, which is a plot device that I love. I love, I think you should do. I can't wait to die one day as to some guy can learn something, yeah, just to make him a little nicer in college. My history with this movie is that I saw it once. It came out in nine seven, so I would have been eleven. I must have seen it when I was eleven, and then never. The only thing I remembered was that there was a train. I didn't remember what happened with the train. I just knew there was a train. That's the only thing I remembered, because I only thought that once, and then I have rewatched it three times now in the past few days. I know it's fun. This was one of my favorite movies. The movie came out when I think I was like four or five, and I was like the Target demo because it was really loud, like there was a lot of music, and I was like really scared of rasputing. But I kind of also had a crush on him, of course you really like. I love the rasputing character. And I remember telling my mom. I was just like, why are there toys of him? And she was like, I don't know, and but there's I would say some of the maybe this is I just got nervous for some of the sexiest cartoons. Uh. And because this isn't a Disney cartoon, if that matters to you, it really doesn't matter. But it's it's not a Disney cartoon, so it is a little bit hornier than you're and a little better, I think than like your average cartoons. So man, I love I saw it on ice. Ah, it was Anastasia Ice. It was it was telling you night was the first time I noticed a butt. I was like that was like maybe a few years after that when Annastasia was making the rounds on ice this time but Dmitri's but oh good, alright, but there was Me and my brother still talk about it sometimes. How at that ice show Resbuten was on ice and his beard kept flying into his mouth and he was having a really difficult time. I love I mean, I love this. I probably watched this movie like it's like a go to a movie for when I'm like sick. I'll watch it, and so I watch it. You know, I'm very sick all the time. Great shall we shall we dive in with the recap. Let's dive in Caitlin. Alrighty, So the year is nineteen sixteen. Titanic has been sunk for four years. Nicholas is the are of Imperial Russia. There's this royal family, the Romanoffs. They are celebrating. So far this is accurate, except for I think the year is even right, it's already two years off here. But there is the romanof family, uh, and they are the royal family, and they're celebrating three years of ruling the country. And Anastasia is I think the youngest daughter. She's this the young princess duchess, and her grandmother gives her a music box and a necklace that says together in Paris. And there's the next there's I mean, there is the most annoying thing in the world, poking historical and accuracies. But I will be doing it all night. She went to Denmark, she didn't go to Paris. But no one wants to sing a Bernadette Peters didn't want to sing a song about Denmark. So Paris. Uh So before they can go to Paris together, Rasputin shows up. He's like he's built. It's kind of like he's like as skinny as Jafar, that's like already dead. Like it's yes, he is, like, yeah, he's posted. Yeah, it's hot. Yeah, yeah, factually and historically historically hot. I was there, yeah yeah, yeah, we'll be looking over for confirmation from anything you want. Absolutely was there the whole time, right he was yes, Okay, okay, he was hot. So Rasputant places a curse on the Romanov family. He's holding a grudge. He wants them to die. He's mean, and he has he sold his devil to to the Green thing. Yeah, he sold his soul and he places his curse, and I guess that's what starts the Russian Revolution. According to this movie, he also bit someone's ankle. Yes, yes, a huge power amazing there. I mean really, it's so weird. There's been so much written about World War One and the Russian Revolution, and it's like it really was quite simple. What happened. Ya respue threatened the czar and he put a curse on and I mean we're starting a war of course, so chaos and sues. Anastasia and her grandmother managed to escape with the help of a servant boy, but she drops her music box that was given to her. The music box, by the way, like it's so I don't know if anyone who was watching it like got really distracted by the fact that the music box is clearly c g I. But the rest is too d where you're just like, what planet is? What plane does this music box on? It looks so freaky, like the whole why did they do that? So okay, the like flying horse at the end is also c g I. Oh my god, Yeah, there's like some e g I that works, Like the and the train scene. I'm like, god, this is like kind of effective. And like in the ballroom scene where all the ghosts are dancing, you're like, this is fun. But the fleshy horse I did not like fleshy horse. So then Resputin drowns as he's trying to like grab at Anastasia. And then Anastasia and her grandmother are headed to safety, but in all of the chaos they get separated forever or not, maybe we'll see. And then Anastasia bumps her little head and right she's like, I forget. Yeah, yeah, she forgot it gives her amnesia for a very long time. So it's ten years later. Now we're in St. Petersburg, we're under Joseph Stalin is in power now effect that is not not mentioned at all, and at this point he's hot and that's actually the trail. Yeah, yeah, okay, we tell we take your word from please. Yeah there, I mean he did the facial hair. You know, it's under discussions under so rumors are being spread around that Anastasia, who was thought to have died in Rasputants revolution, uh that he got ankled by it alone, but he that Anastasia might actually still be alive, which she is. She goes by Anya now, but she has no memory of her former royal life and she has no idea that she is Anastasia. The only clue that she has is the necklace that she was given that says together in Paris. So she decides to go to St. Petersburg and tries to buy a ticket to Paris to discover her family history, but she doesn't have the proper documentation. So someone tells her to go find this guy Dmitri to help her out. John Cusack, John Cusack This is one of the like sexier cartoons in that I think cartoon history, because he's got he looks like John Cusack at that exact moment, like he's got the middle part and he keeps flopping his bangs. I'm like, are you fucking kidding me? Like that's sickos grous. So we learned that Dmitri is a con man and he is in the process of auditioning actors who look like Anastasia to pretend to be her so that they can take her to Paris and get the reward that the dowager Empress is offering. And he also is in cahust with Kelsey Grammar. Yes, yes, his name is vlad sure. Um. My favorite part of the movie has went later on the Grandmother's like, Dmitri, I've heard of you, as if Dmitri wasn't one of the most common Russian names, just like someone walking and being like, ah, yes, this, Joey, I've so Dmitri has Anastasia's music box and we're like, how do you get that? But this gives him a leg up on bringing an Anastasia like person to the Empress. So then Anya shows up to where Dmitri Is and he's like, hey, you look just like Anastasia. We think you might be her. She's like, I don't know, maybe I don't know, I don't know. This whole scene happens while she's standing next to an oil painting of Anastasia herself, and she's like, could be a cart But then she decides to go to Paris with them, rationalizing that like, hey, maybe I am Anastasia and maybe I'm not, but there's only one way to find out. Well, and also they were able to like get her the documents she needed. It seemed like if she didn't play ball with this plan she had would get into the parent right. Meanwhile, Raspute and remember him? Ever heard of him? He is still alive sort of yeah. He a lot of like cartoony body horror, very graphics stuff. Well, the rest prude and stuff is like this movie has like some like tonal dissonance issues where they'll be like the serious scary happened to Anastasia and then you'll like cut to rest Spute and being like my plan didn't work, and then he'll rip his face off and like throw it on the ground. Very spooky. Verry tom Waite's sort of bones dancing. It's great. And his side like kept trying to call it a side piece, but sidekick, you know, he's got this classic side piece. It's it's a nude bats. Yeah, it's and I know all bats are nude, but like this one's I mean, well, it's an albino bat. It's got a little bit of a luscious, small, lushious body that's also hot. I love my curby bat voiced by Hankazaria with an accent that is to me problematic. Yeah. I don't know what he's trying to do, but it's not right. Whatever. And we'll talk about the accents in this movie too, because we were checking. We were checking with Anna last night for they checked any sort of realism to it, and it looks like no. To be determined, Okay, teaser. So Rasputin is stuck in this like hell limbo place because Anastasia survived and he has a horcrux. He's basically Baltimore. Yeah, and he's also sort of living in the same place Scarf from The Lion King lives in. It's just kind of like a rock den and it's there's green fog, but instead of Hyena's there's bugs, yes, um. And then he has the bat friend bar Talk, who helps He helps recput and get out of limbo so that Resput and can kill Anastasia, and they sing a terrific song about it. Really good. It rocks. It does, so Dmitri and Anastasia and then Vlad also Kelsey Grammar are on their way to Paris, and Dmitri and Anya are attracted to each other. And then yeah, they're doing a little bit of light n egging. I could call it heavy little there was. It's so weird, Like I didn't realize that until this watch, but like Meg Ryan voices Anastasia and they're just doing a scene from most Meg Ryan movies where she's being nagged, but she's like stop, that's just kind of what's happening. So then rest mutants, little ghost minions caused the train that they're on to crash, but they survive and they continue onward to Paris, and then Lad and Dmitri teach Anya how to be fancy so that she can alien scene in the middle of the movie yeah uh. And then she and Dmitri almost kiss on a ship that sort of looks like Titanic, and Anastasia's wearing the dress that Ariel wears in The Little Mermaid, right, um, and also kind of looks like the dress that the little girls in the Shining weear. Oh well, there's another Shining reference when she gets trapped in a maze later on. Oh yeah, so who knows what's going on? So they almost kissed, but then Dmitri was like, no, I shouldn't, and then rest mutants minions try to kill Anastasia again on the ship. Remember when minions were just little evil things that helped respute and not and not cut things with glasses and keute pies that I love. Then Dmitri saves her from and so she doesn't die, and then they finally get to Paris. The plan is to see Sophie the empassis first cousin, to convince her that Anastasia is in fact Anastasia, or rather Anya is Anastasia, and Sophie and Flat a k A. H. Kelsey Grammar are for sure fucking which doesn't isn't really relevant to the plot, but he foreshadows really heavily for some reason, like he keeps bring him like Sophie. Yeah, He's like, oh, she's a cream puff and I want to fuck her, like, I don't know why it's so important to the plot of this movie that you know that Kelsey Grammer's character is like, for sure, fucking this French lady, but it's really important. It's important for it. It comes up a lot. Yes, So then Anya answers all of Sophie's questions correctly, including one about how she escaped the palace, saying that there was a boy who helped her escape by opening up this wall because I guess her memories coming back. And then Dmitri is like, oh, fuck, that actually is Anastasia because he was the boy who helped Oh hope, I hope you're not going to make fun of that, because that's really nice. No. I think it's like a really effective use of plant and payoff. I have a master's degree in screenwriting from Boston. Take Caitlin's course. I don't like to break it up, Okay, So but right then, the Empress decides not to see any more women claiming to be Anastasia because it keeps letting her down in her keeps breaking her heart. So they decide to stalk the Empress at the ballet instead, and then Dmitri goes up to her, and he's like, you gotta see her. She's the real deal, and the Empress is like no, and then Anastasia overhears the Empress saying that she knows about Dmitri's reputation somehow. Again she's like, Dmitri, I've heard of you, that he's a con man who was holding auditions for Anastasia lookalikes. So Anastasia hears all this and she's like, Demitri, you freaking asks you used me what a good slack? I forgot that she slack? I always I always get something like oh, like it's very exciting, it's very gratifying. And he doesn't even go like that sucked. He's just like, I'm sorry, you have to know the truth. Yes, It's like whoa, that's love it. So she runs away and then take each other around um to set things right, Dmitri kidnaps the Empress and takes her to Anastasia uh, and then the Empress doesn't believe that she is Anastasia at first, but then Anastasia is like, you smell like peppermint, and she's like it is you. Yeah, And then finally grandmother and granddaughter are reunited and Dmitri doesn't even want the money because he's a good guy. He's different now, and he leaves because he's in love with Anastasia. I just handle it. The scene where the grandma's like, did you have a change of mind? And then he goes more like a change of heart in your life. That's that's powerful. I don't care. I'm tearing up. I'm just like people can change. And then she's like, well, if you don't want the money, what do you want And he's like, nothing you can give me, which is code for like, he wants to put his pep into Anastasia v v. Caitlin. That's a vulgar. Yeah, he wants her very heteronormative. But it's fine. That's fine for him. Change changed. So at the celebratory ball, Resputin shows up. He traps Anastasia in the maze from the shining and he tries to kill her, but then Dmitri shows back up and helps her defeat Respute, and he punches Resputin in the face. Yeah, and then gets attacked by that creepy horse, and then they defeat Resputing and then they share and we'll talk all about it's so exciting, And then they share a kiss and then they elope right away, right away. I honestly kind of respect that. You don't see the wedding. You just see a letter saying like, yeah, we will be back in a couple of weeks. That's it. What if they went back to Russia and got killed by Stalin? I'm sorry the real estate should died in anyway find from this documentary that's not true. Okay, So then that's the end of the movie. Well you've forgotten bar Talk. Bar Talk finds a pink bat and what a what a horrible thing to like You're like, oh, the movie ended. I'm actually not too upset about how it ended, for for a movie of this type. And then all of a sudden they're like, Mrs Bat is here like assault the Hank Zario bet but he's into it the end. All right, that's that's the end of the movie. Right where do we want to start? I wanted to start by Okay, so part of the crew. Okay. This movie was well received when it came out, an instant classic, I am uh and but but in retrospect, it is considered one of the most the movies with the most celebrity voice miscastings in any animated movie ever. So I just wanted to just just a yes or no quick opinion on like do you think, because like after Aladdin, and like after Robin Williams, like this is literally a Lindsay Ellis video that came out a couple of months ago, Robin Williams like gets the whole celebrity voice thing kind of takes off. Now all voice actors are unemployed. Suck it. Uh, And now it's celebs only and this, like everyone in this movie is a celebrity, even parts that don't matter. It's weird. So just quick yes or no? Do you think? As Anastasia Meg Ryan, what do you think? Yes or no? Yes? Fine with me? I think yes? Okay, cool, Okay, we agree, Okay, I'm doing easy ones at the top. John Cusack as Dmitri. It worked, I'm sorry, ya absolutely, Okay, maybe this game isn't fun? All right? Up next, we got Angela Lansbury as the Empress. Well, the accent she's attempting is perhaps not. I'm a no on this. She's Mrs Potts and nothing else. Yeah, yeah, no, I mean yes to the general. Yes, I was. Here's my note for her. A bit much, okay, honey, quick note we actually dial it back. This movie isn't about you. Um okay, Kelsey Grammar as breast Putin or no, wait, Kesey Grammar is glad please, Kelsey Remer is flad again? Really weird accent choices that's a no for me. Bad accent hard, Yes, okay. I would have loved him as Recipe and actually yeah yeah, um as that guy um you know who cares fine? Okay, okay, because he's like a little sneaky and has wild facial hair and I'm sure sure he's His character is confusing to me for a number of reasons, mainly because he's like, I'm a con man, and then it's a twist later that he used to work for the tsar, but then it's like, well that's not good. And then at the end he kind of just gets his job back even though there's not a tzar like. It's confusing. Christopher Lloyd as Rescipues Hard Yes, okay, I think, yes, I think Alfred Milena could have done better. Uh. And I think that the accent sounds crazy. I don't I don't even know what a good Russian accent really sounds like, but it sounds crazy. The accent leaves much to be desired. Um, however, it's fine. Also, okay, hankers Area as the bat. No, I'm gonna know, I'm now on the bat. It's going to be in firm No, okay, that was That was the people I wanted to because his accent sounds like when Russian people try to sound American as a joke to point out how stupid Americans sound, so like what we would do accents. It would be like, yeah, take the baby roll and why not here we go to the store of all It's it's like, it's like so wild, It's just so weird. It's i mean, really like Russian accents for all walks of life in this movie, some people not doing one at all. Right, perhaps the best Russian accent is the one you don't do. That's really jazz. Wow. I hope that Meg Ryan tried to do a Russian accent in a few takes and they were like, just she's too good at being quirky. It's like yeah. And then also, like, I mean, hankers Area well known for being really respectful when he's doing voice works. Just kidding. There's a whole documentary about it sure is. Yeah, so yeah, that's who we're working with. There's also additional voices, and also Kirsten Duns is Little Anastasia, Lacey Shabet is Little Singing Anastasia, and J. K. Simmons is credited as additional voices. I was Yeah. When I was rewatching it today, I'm like, where is Yeah? Where is it? I couldn't find him. He's that good. He's that good. He disappears into the role. You can't. But he's credited in that movie as he's just maybe maybe he plays Comrade Fleming cough, which is the orphanage lady. I don't know, probably not hot. Thank you. So we've got the cast. Should we talk about Anastasia the character? Yeah, let's do it. Okay. So my kind of objective take since I didn't really grow up with this movie, and I feel like it's hard not to compare this to Disney movies. They're stealing everything. So just to kind of compare Anastasia as a character to the like Disney Renaissance princesses of this time, I would say overall, Anastasia is just better characterized. She has more personality than a lot of them. We know things about her like she's offinite. She tends to like push back on anyone, like you know, giving her attitude different things. She says to Dmitri, stop bosting me around, um, don't talk anymore, it's only going to upset me. Uh. And then she accidentally punches Demitri in the face like as she's waking up, and then she's like, oh, sorry, I thought you were someone else. And then she sees it's him. She's like, oh, wait, it's you. That's okay. Then and then he's like, oh, you broke my nose. And then like kind of to herself, she's like men her babies, So you know, she's feisty, she's fun. She like actually tells jokes. She starts like her her actual like journey starts because she like decides to, like she leaves the orphanage. She knows where she's going. She's sort of like playing along with Dmitri and Vlad's planned because she needs to get out of the country. So it's not like she's not she's not completely convinced that she's Anastatia just because I'm like, just because John Cusack was like you probably are, She's like, well, either way, I gotta get out of the country. So and then she uh. This was like because I wasn't quite sure because I only watched this movie when I'm sick, so I rarely see the end of it. Um, so I I forgot like how involved he is in like the final like big battle with Resciput and and I was like a little worried because the way that Seaton plays out is that resputed and you know, he's he like throws her to the ground and then Dmitri shows up punches Rescipue in the face, and you're like, oh, I hope that this isn't like one of those battles where she's rescued and she's just sort of over there the whole time. But and she's over there for a little bit, but he does kind of have to like pull her up. It seems like she's going to be damseled. But then but then he kind of fails to say for a couple of times he rescputed and is really kicking him around, and he's thrown own to like the side and like passed out. And it kind of reminded me of what happens to Jasmine and Aladdin. Right, he's literally tossed out of the scene and you're like, all that never happens to the guy in and then Anastasia gets his and this is the big vocabulary word of this movie, reliquary there. I had the novelization of this, and I just remember my dad really struggling with that word. He's like all the minions and reciput and is one. Then really didn't care for that. But she stomps on the reliquary three times and she kills Resput, and yes, it's exciting. She's like, this is for Dmitri, this is for my family, and I said for you, and then she crushes it and he dies, so yeah, I wasn't. He also turns into goop and then dust. It's a very and there's like so many things that I like about this that, like Disney movies never quite go there, Like they the villain always like falls off a off and just like slowly disappears, but they're like no, no, no, you're seeing his violent graphic. When you die, you turn into goop and then dust. But there's like he's a skeleton at some point in between that. It's it's wild. Yeah, he pulls his head off, he rips his face off. He's a goof. But I did love that, you know, it seems like she might be damse old, and that's what happens in all these Disney movies. But then yeah, the the tides shift and she's the one unlike so Jasmine, she's like cast aside for the climax of the story. But she's also not the protagonist of that movie aladdins. But even in like Bell and Bootying The Beast and Aerial and The Little Mermaid, they're the protagonists of those movies, and they still aren't even allowed to participate in the climax of their own story because it's their male love interests who come and save the day. So I loved that Anastasia is the one who takes the reins and act really actively defeats the villain herself. And it just and it works better for this story too, because it's like there's that whole like the only reason she knows him is because he killed her entire family, right, so if someone else kills him, it's like, I mean, I'm glad he's dead, I guess, right, But like she's the one who would want the revenge against him. So the fact that she gets the big Cathartic. It's an awesome scene. It's the coolest. So there's that. There there are a few moments where like she helps Dmitri, like on the train scene, like she's an active participant. He's still kind of like taking the lead after the train starts crashing, like he's kind of doing most of the stuff, and then she helps. I do think that like that. It feels mostly like a lot of times he'll try to do something and then it will fail, and then she'll just do it like the correct way. Like that happens a couple of different times. I don't even know how intentional that was in the writing, but it's like kind of fun to see like this, like guy, this like macho character over and never be like I've got this, and then there's like an explosion in front of him. He's like then and then anaesthesia kind of takes Russian woman to come in and our work is never done. Me. Another thing that this movie doesn't do that a lot of Disney movies from this time definitely do, is like really over sexualized. It's female character, its main character for most of the movie, Anastasia is in like this giant coat and then like, you know, she's got the hat and the scarf. Still somehow she's like, look, it's a good look. It's a very med Bryan look. Actually it's very like chunky bangs and like a floppy hat, like a clumsy jacket for her to be like just right, I would say that, yeah, we see like more of Dmitri's body than we do have hers for most of them, and that's fine with me, no credit, but like resput And and Anastasia are wearing the same outfit from most of them, just like a belted sad you know, communism, you know why. But then she does get a makeover, and there is a shopping montage because say it with me, now, women be shopping this movie is there's a whole shopping song. They brought in Bernadette Peters to sing the shopping in France song. And yeah, it's so weird because it's like this movie doesn't like get too into like the Pygmalion and like My Fair Lady references, but there's a solid fifteen minutes where that's all it is. And so it's all like random con artists giving women makeovers for sinister purposes. I guess at least It's not to make her more attractive to the man, it's to make her be able to asked as royalty. Yeah. I mean this is like one of still one of those movies. I hate to admit it, but it is one of those like nineties Arrow movies that the central plot is a woman being deceived and eventually fucking him. Anyways, Okay, So, because I didn't remember this movie at all except for the train, I was like, okay, I see them. They're negging each other there. Jamie is opening her Mikes hard watermelon. I smell it from over here. I always worried about they're twisted up. Mike's is never trying to challenge. You know, it's a hard lemonade, but it's not that hard. So anyway, they meet each other, you can tell is it horrible? And her had the flavor before? This is how is it is? It's salty? Salty taste? Salty taste it? Yeah, okay, it's overwhelming. Oh it has a really bad after taste. May I taste it? Go for it? Salty bad after I gotta know mm hmm salty. Oh I will finish it bead after taste. Yeah. Story anyway, Okay, So the two characters come face to face for the first time, Anastasia and Dmitri, and you can tell that they're gonna be foisted together into a romantic entanglement. Um even though he's an asshole. She knows that he's an asshole. We know he's an asshole as the audience. He's nagging her, he's treating like ship most of the time, and he's also lying to her for a good chunk of the movie. Yes, as I'm seeing all this unfold, I said, I bet myself ten dollars that they kiss at the end, and I won ten dollars. They kiss at the end. They do kiss, but it's a hot kiss. So there's that. Not to be a dimitri apologist, but there is a lot of Okay, so what is like different about this movie? I mean, what isn't different about this thing? But the way the relationship is between the prince's character and like the the guy pursuing her as it's literally a Meg Ryan movie, which is why all those weird nineties tropes of like being deceived, where normally it's like the princess is inactive, the prince has no personality, and somehow there's a beginning, middle, and end regardless. But they treat each other like rom com characters, and they're like bickering and flirting and dancing and almost kissing but then not kissing, like it's it's like a night these romcom movie. And then I do think that he maybe not to the degree he should, but he does change and he's wrong, express remorse and then gives her space until she decides she wants him back. So it's maybe that's poor judgment on on her part, but at least she decided it because it was like, you know, when he kidnaps the old lady, You're like, I don't know, you know, he's maybe he's lawless, and maybe I shouldn't be rooting for him, but he doesn't kidnap her in that way. He's an ally. There's a there's a moment where Lad says to him, um about Anastasia, Oh, she certainly has a mind of her own, and then Demitri responds by saying, yeah, I hate that in a woman. So but then Anastasia goes she sure does, and she sure does on the train, and I love that for her. For her, she always does have like a really good retort. So that's not an example of one, I don't know for yourself. And that scene pays off Kelsey Grabber taking out this notebook he has where he's keeping score Anya and Dmitri and the raspberry does count as a point for it really does. Actually it says so much by doing so little. We're like, okay, well, I guess she is in the lead. She's in the lead. So this is a feminist text. Yes, we read a fun fact. Although the credibility of this website was wildly tested, it was written by a guy named Nat, and that's pretty much all we know about. Even offer up his last no, no credentials, just Nat. You know, you know how that is, and you know how he gets one of the facts. It was like ten facts about right now. You know. One of them was just wrong. One of them was like it came out the same week as a Little Mermaid, and you were like, that was ten years before that. Okay, so I read something that that person might have meant. So Disney re released The Little Mermaid I think like a week before Anastasia came out, and then they released a bunch of other stuff the week after in a clear attempt to like to bury Anastasia. So Nat had a point. Yes, okay, I guess what what what was? What's what does he saying? Oh? Well, Nat, Nat said this wonderful thing. This, this is a classic Nat. He said that Megrian was really trepidacious about doing it, and she did not want to do it because it was like right after Sleepless in Seattle, and she was like, I don't know if I want to do cartoons. And then the animators convinced her, or the director convinced her by animating a scene from sleep Listency Dolt. It was just like, look, it can exist as an animation and still hold it's merit. And then she got to really bring her own acting into the piece, and so you see a classic migrant trope being acted out. That's why it's so real. And I'm pretty sure that's actually true that they did do that, even though the credibility of the website that was right in ninety seven is a good year for this movie to come out, because I think that Disney animated movie that year was like Hercules or like something that I don't think did well at first. I do love those stories where it's so fucked up, but whenever Disney tries to just absolutely murder something in a really obvious way, and then we're still like, but it's fine because my childhood, Like you're like, it's not good, it's scary. Yeah. I just still don't like what they did to Andy Serkus is Jungle Book movie. I guess that's just what I'm saying. They killed Circus with that one. Sarcas should be a billionaire. I just sorry, I'm sorry, I had two SIPs of a hard just going off. I'm acting speaking of things that I found about the movie Anastasia that come from my website that is perhaps not the most credible. So I don't know how much validity there is to this different, different way. But Bernardette Peters, who voices the character of Sophie the emphasis cousin, cousin, yes, um, Bernardette Peters reportedly said that she did not like the way her character Sophie was designed because Sophie is plus size and she did not apparently want to be represented as someone who was plus sized, to which I respond, who even knows that Bernardette Peters looks like he shot up picture her? Like, No, one's like that doesn't look like Bernadette Peters no one knows what that. What I love about animation is that they look exactly like the person who's voicing them, Like Kelsey Grammer looks exactly just I mean, it's like looking at the mirror. Right. The only example is that Dmitri looks exactly like John Kia say yeah, And everyone else looks like guess what a cartoon, except for Hankazaria, who looks just like the Bad. He does look like the Bad. It's true, a luscious, luscious little body, but that brings me I just want to talk a little bit about the way plus sized people are presented in this movie. Because Vlad is a big guy, he is shown as being like extremely ungraceful most of the time. He falls over on the train and like that's why he can't help Dmitri, and that's why I like Anastasia has to step up and help Demitri with the train to Bockle, and then later on there on the ship and he like takes the top bunk of the bunk beds and it like stinks down so low that it like crushes the dog so basically, like his weight and his body is like played as a joke. Several times. I feel like the same thing happens for Um Sophie's character. It's just not good in a movie that like doesn't seem to like punch down at anyone else really, But yeah, and I think that that is like such an older animation trope to that it would just be like crazy to not do um and they for some reason like choose to like play too, because there's a million old cartoons where that happens repeatedly and it's not necessary and it's not funny, and it's Yeah, it does feel like weirdly out of place in this movie. Can I talk about the Titanic parallels? Yes, I have the same list, I think, all right here mine and let's compare notes a poor guy trying to make money in Paris and a woman with red hair coming from a rich family and the two of them fall in love. The shot on the staircase, the full body shot of the dolled up female protagonist on an elegant staircase. That was on my list. Okay, I don't have that one. The man saving the woman from going overboard on a ship a necklace being a pretty big plot point. What about the poor guy being dragged out of the room being like you don't understand. Oh yeah, that's one. The woman has a music box the end. They came out the same year. Could it be a coincidence? Who copying? Who? Uh? There was also there, Like, so this movie was made by Fox Animation. From what you were telling me, this is not an animation company that lasts very long. They make this movie, it's very successful. They make one every other movie. It's dogshit the end. That's the whole history. And they're kind of doing I almost thought this was a DreamWorks thing, but I don't think, like I think this pre dates DreamWorks. But they're doing the DreamWorks thing where they're just kind of stealing from Disney movies and being like people will think this is a Disney movie. And there's so many and that's I think part of like why this movie is so good because they steal a lot of really good parts from Disney movies that came out very recently. Where like the rumor in St. Petersburg number, which historic, I mean if you look, so this takes place in Stalin is in power and this is a musical number where the people under Communist Russia they're like, yeah there's food rations, Yeah, life is really difficult. Yeah, we're all suffering. And then the last line before you get into the chorus is like, but we love rumors and gossip anyways, and then they start to dance about rumors and it's so that's true. Yeah, that's actually true. Yeah, there's like, yeah, it's really tough about here. Thank God for these rumors. What I'm lacking in food, I'm just making up for a rumor. It's delicious, your fool. But that number looks a lot like the first number and Beauty and the Beast where it's also like the peasants of this community being like we're the goofs because poor people. Uh, what else we've got, like the like female protagonists singing her mission. I mean, Anastasia all but sings. I want much more than this provincial Yeah, except she actually has like motivation. Right, Well, that's the other thing I wanted to talk about, Like like in Station Versus a Disney movie, is that like and the does happen to some extent in Anastasia, but like in like Little Mermaid where she's like, oh she loves people culture. Uh, she wants to go up where the people are. And then in Bell's case, people culture in Bell's case, she uh wants much more than this provincial life. She wants to go on an adventure in the great wide somewhere. But in both movies they don't really get farther than like the hands of the arms of a man. Uh and Bell literally goes I would say, less than three miles yeah, and has no idea there's a castle. But the story then becomes about like her involvement with the male love interest, whereas I mean in Anastasia, yes she does elope with a man at the end, but the story is more about like her journey to figure out herself and her family history and her back story, rather than like, there is the subplot of the Roman, but it's not what takes over the whole story. So yeah, like it another one of the big I think we already sort of said this, but in the dark of the night is is like the same exact number as be Prepared from Lion King to the point where it is sung by the same man. I know you guys, okay, uh does Jeremy irons not saying be prepared? He sings about two thirds of it, and then he was getting a little pitchy dog on some of them and so they bring in Jim Cummings, who does all who sings entire in the dark of the night. But but it's like, not only is it super visually similar similar where they're in a cave and there's green fog and there's singing animals who are standing for nazis there, Uh, but it's also literally the same guy singing it. It's such a blatant rip off that I do respect it. Um. Yeah, So they just like stole a bunch of like some of the best scenes from Disney movies and just sort of retrofitted it to fit this historically accurate movie. Yes, can I give a brief rundown of the historical accuracy please, because it is I mean, it is like wild that this story was chosen to be adapted. And I guess that there is like early drafts of this script that were more closer to the real story, which when you know the real story, seems impossible in Children Nation because what actually happened. So in in I R. L. Resputen was not an enemy of the romanofs. He was a close friend of the Czarina slash fucking her. We don't know, um, but he claimed he claimed to like have magical powers. He somehow cured the youngest romanovs hemophilia with either magic or basic medicine, we don't know. Uh. Either way, he gets a lot of influence in the court. The Czarina really likes him. He's a friend of the family. And he dies two full years before the Romanos are killed, so that has nothing to do with anything. The romanofs are all for sure killed. They were all shot in a basement by the Bolshevik government during the Russian Revolution. But like the Resputen and the Romanos were like never on bad terms. All the Roman kids died. The grandma was out of town, but she was in Denmark, which is too boring for the movie. Um, the grandma never looked for her family. She was she took it. She was like, I guess they're dead, and she was right. They were all dead. There were some rumors that Anastasia lived and it's funny why this is horrible, but like the rumors were that Anastasia had maybe lived because she was wearing so many diamonds that they deflected the bullets, and so she lived and she was around, and there was one very successful Anastasia impersonator which it looks like most of this movie is is modeled on if it were true, which it wasn't. But there was this girl named Anna Anderson who was like poor and looked similar, and they were like the reason they gave their like, well, she suffered a lot of depressions, so it's probably her and and she like wrote memoirs as if it were true. There was some hot guy involved in the con and so that is that's unfortunately. And also they you know, they erased all the all the messy, oppressive Stalin stuff. Yes, it's so weird that they chose to make this a movie. That's kind of the one thing that I would say most differentiates it from other Disney movies at this time is that it's taking history and then really taking a lot of liberties with it. But it is but most of Disney movies were based from like fairy tales and and you know, mythology and stuff like that, and this is in Anastasia is taking you know, historically inaccurate events and then making those into a movie. But it is based in at least real life figures, which is irresponsible to so wildly misrepresent what actually happened and then have that be a children's movie, because you know how many children will watch the movie version of something rather than like reading the real thing at all of us. I thought this was the only thing I knew about Russian culture for the first like sixteen years of my life, and it was like one of those things where I sort of took it at phase value until forced to say it allowed I was like, yeah, well he was a wizard, but he failed, but then he died, but then he came back. So I don't think that's the best choice that a movie has ever made, but I would say overall it handles a lot of things better than a lot of Disney movies of its time. Yeah, I think we're just looking at the way like it is if this is like this company's take on what is clear, like trying to take a little bit of whatever the princess market is at this time, Like they do a better job and they steal a lot of what Disney was doing better than them, which I guess respect I don't know this movie rules. I don't know. I can't. No one's going to talk me into disliking it. So there's four credited writers on this movie, two of whom are women, which you have to think has to do with because most Princess movies were not written by women, and I don't think it really shows it all. No, there's one one screenwriter, Nanni White, who also wrote newsies Tarzan, Hunchback in Notre Da, and Two Dalmatians and worked on The Lion King. Then there's another screenwriter, Susan Gothier. I couldn't find her CRIDs. And then also Carrie Fisher did rewrites on this movie. Yeah, because she was a prolific script doctor, yeah for many years, and she would help punch up a bunch of scripts. She was supposed to have been the person who added in the what did you say the name of the lady who ran the orphanage? So that would be um, comrade Fleming cough. That's so, I yeah, canonically as a Carrie Fisher. It's also spelled like because I watch everything with subtitles on and the subtitles spell Fleming cough p h L E g M the way that flem is spelled. And she's like characterized as like this old bag and it's like, oh, girls, a woman over thirty five. I think that that is probably true. And also but like over thirty five and poor Nor because you see Angela Lansbury is kind of like she's hot because she's right, which you know canon, um, yeah, did you have anything else? The only other thing I wanted to mention was rest Sputan talks about at least three times in the movie how much he loves cologne. Did anyone else pick up on this? It's in his song. He mentions it later before he's about to go try to kill Anastasia himself in the flesh, and then I think there's another scene where you see him like sprit sing it on. So he is obsessed with cologne. Rewatch Anastasia Beyond Cologne. Watch. I just wanted to point that out. I wonder if that is like a fact about I, as someone who who has several biography as of resput And in her home, I've never encountered that before. My favorite respute, in fact, if you want to check it out on and on your own, is you should look up Resputen. He has three kids on the books, but there there were some some side kids. I'm sure that that his bat was, but he had three kids, and the one who didn't get killed later his name Maria Resputen, and she went on to be a lion tamer and burlesque performer, and then she moved to l A. So honestly, live your best when your dad is a cartoon villain, what are you gonna do? Become a lion tamer and moved to l A and burlesque performer. Yeah, yeah, and a and a major resput and did nothing wrong at And I'm like, I've seen the movie. Yea, I know what he did. Anyone have any other final thoughts? Literally? All right, does Anastasia pass the Bechtel test? Yes? It does does right away? Between young Anastasia and her grandmama. Um, it does pass between Anastasia and Comrade Fleming cough believe it or not. And then I think also between Anastasia and Sophie. Um, did you get about the circumstances of her entire family's death? Right? Yeah? There was also a pass between Grandmamma and Sophie right, um. But other than that, I think that that Yeah, that's all I had. Unfortunately, Misses the bat didn't didn't get any character. Why isn't she name? Where is her arc? There is a directed video about Bartalk magnificent. Yeah, it's all right, I won't spoil anything. It's quite bad, but it is like I think Hanks Area is one of those people who is kind of down for whatever. He was fully back. He didn't call in a backup. He's like, I'm available, bar talk the magnificent. I'm in. Oh good grief. All right, So let's write the nipple of the movie on our nipple scale. Rate the nipple on our movie scale. How many movies would you give this? So our nipple scale is zero to five nipples based on its representation of women and all things considered, I'd give it like a two and a half or three. Were you expecting lower? Yes, okay, I'm exciting for your birthday. I'll bump it up to a three. Yes, okay, yeah, I think again. If if you're comparing it to other like animated children's media of this time, especially like a princess narrative, I think it does handle a lot of things way better by comparison. Uh, it's still, you know, wedging in a romantic relationship where there doesn't need to be one. I would say it's you know, but his haircut, did you see him? But that's another Titanic the haircut. Oh that's true. Oh I had one. I did have one. More Titanic parallel on my list is men doubting a woman's identity because that happens at the beginning with Old Rose. They don't believe that she is who she says she is, and they're also not sure if Anastasia is Anastasia. So the movies are basically the same. And may I just say that one of the songs in Anastasia was nominated for an Academy Award but lost to my Heart will go on our Queen. Also, it's where it's worth mentioning if you if you like to go to places like YouTube dot com like myself, there is like a making of featurette about Anastasia that's hosted by Aliyah. Uh may she rest in peace because she if you listen to the song at the end of Anna stage to the credit song, it's sung by Aaliyah. She did a song for this movie, and she does that whole like how they used to do this weird wonderful world of Disney, but not of like, Hi, I'm this person, you know, let's see this movie and like she's she hosts it, so she's just stag chair turnaround or no no, she's standing in front of the Eiffel Tower looking deeply uncomfortable. All right, She's like, as we all know, Anastasia comes as soon. Let's learn more beautiful. It's good. The Alia song is good. You should on the soundtrack. It's snow in the dark of the night. I don't know that's disrespectful. Um, so yeah, I'll stay with three and a half. Sorry, three nipples? God, oh my god, yes, three because it does handle a lot of things well in terms of like the princess character, um, giving her more development, more personality, more agency, more motivation than a lot of other comparable movies of its time. But it's still has some things about it, as we've discussed that bump it down to a three, not a three and a half. So that's so sorry. I know it's your birthday. It's not, but it's over a month away your birthday. But no, um. Yeah, So it's three nipples, and I will give one to a historically accurate representation of Anastasia, so not this movie, but the dead one. So the dead one. Okay, I will just gave one of your nipples to a dead eight year old. That go off. I guess I'll give one to um, but think of having a panic at that. I'll give one to the dog whose name I forget, and I'll give my phone apple to Mrs pink Bat. So I'm gonna go three and a half, I think, I mean, I think that in a lot of and you're saying that this last night, we're like Disney acquired Fox and you said, a lot of mouth breathers are trying to figure out if she's a Disney Princess now where there's a whole just community out there that's been like finally our princess has been crowned, finding out that they're crawling out. I mean, like at last she's doing Disney, so which is like the weirdest like late capitalism, like take to have of like this is actually a good thing, like as unstaged as Disney Princess. But there I mean for the like you were saying, like for the fact that this is a separate animation company trying to do the same format and then they do it better, they give their character more agency. She's funny, she's cool, she's calling the shots in the relationship for the most part, except for, of course, the large deception, uh right. Other than that it's all her go. I love her. Resiputing is is an icon of any sort, really, you name it, He's an icon. I I like the Bat. I I feel like I was kind of dead a little hard in the bat earlier and in the marketing, especially at the ice show, we had a we had a we had a slushy in the bat's head. They were really pushing the bat in marketing. They really want to make the bad thing, and I we still have that cup. My dad, my dad dreams out of that bad's head to this bad my dad drinks out of all the on ice cups. He doesn't like to throw things away at he he puts coffee in the bad and then he writes about hockey all day. And that's his feminism. But yeah, no, I like this movie a lot. I think that it, like is one of the best versions of this format. So so three and a half nippies. I'm going to give two to the cartoon Nanna Station Jesus. Uh. Then I'm gonna give one to dmich Uh. I'm sorry, sorry, did you I've been holding that back for a long time ago uh. And then I'll I'll kick the last half nip I'll give it to the dog. Dog kind of looks like my dog. Yeah, a little floppy dog that looks stupid. Does Does anyone remember what the dog's name was Pa? It's Puka. The dog's name is Pouka. Does that mean something? No, it's just it's Russian for dog. Wow. Punts is to fart. So that's right in the neighborhood. And that's fun. That's just fun. That's fun. I hope they named the dog far. I was gonna say the comrade Fleming cough or whatever. That's actually like a pretty common Russian trope in Russian literature, especially like humor stuff, is that someone's name. Someone will be like an asshole and their name will be Mr. Ship and it's just like never addressed. It's just like Mr Ship is being mean again. And so that's like a very very common trip and it's dealt with like very matter of factly, like it's not really addressed, like the Stay Sky. A lot of times it's there's a there's somebody with the name Mr. Ship literally, so I don't know, so that's a for me. That's I don't know, there's some accuracy, that's uh. And what would you rate the movie on the nipple scale. Okay, so on the nipple scale, I rate the movie. I think three and a half is a great rating. I think you were wrong with three. So what are you vote? An embarrassment? No, I just it really is so different from other I mean, it really rocked my world that it was not a Disney movie because it looks so much Disney movie that it's alarm like, how did they not get sued? Um? But she seems like an autonomous I mean, given the time, also, which is the turn of this? You know, the like this nineteen sixteen, nineteen twenty six I don't know how independent women were in Russia. Quite frankly, they were fiercely independent, super independent. Yeah. It was actually a very feminist community feminist, this little community feminist running around whatever, very small, you knew everybody, all the girls were there. But yeah, she's like at least an interesting character who's funny and stands up for herself. So yeah, I'm comfortable with three and a half nipples for this movie. Well, Anna, thank you so much for being here, and thank you. Tell us where can pe? We'll follow you online? Is there anything you would like to plug? Um? I have a very exciting, not yet to be talked about project involving Kiana Reeves that will be a podcast sometime soon. It does, it will pass the back del test, even though it's about Kiana Reeves, even though okay, yeah, that's impressive. Yeah, how do we identify? How do we, as women who are obsessed with Kiana Reeves maintain our time? Uh yeah yeah, well, I mean all you really need to know, I guess is that by Twitter is touching Cheesus. Yes, and that's really all I have to say for myself. Okay, thank you follow Anna at Touching Jesus. Thank you so much, Thank you so much. Thanks to The Ruby for hosting us. Thanks to our very good pal Sammy recordings for us. Thanks to Jeff and the Tech Booth. Hell yah and happy birthday, Jamie and I'm one Mike yea. Thanks once again to our guest Anna sair Gina for joining us. Make sure to follow her on all the social media platforms and check out her stand up comedy and her upcoming podcast. Thanks to The Ruby for having us, Thanks to Sammy Junio for recording us, Thanks to the audience for supporting us, and thanks to you for listening to us. We will be here next week. See you then,