Yuletide tags are out: Frederician version

[cahn]

Come join us in this crazy Frederick the Great fandom and learn more about all these crazy associated people, like the star-crossed and heartbreaking romance between Maria Theresia's daughter Maria Christina and her daughter-in-law Isabella, wow.

OK, so, there are FOURTEEN characters nominated:
Anna Karolina Orzelska (Frederician RPF)
Elisabeth Christine von Preußen | Elisabeth Christine Queen of Prussia (Frederician RPF)
Francesco Algarotti (Frederician RPF)
François-Marie Arouet | Voltaire (Frederician RPF)
Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great (Frederician RPF)
Hans Hermann Von Katte (Frederician RPF)
Joseph II Holy Roman Emperor (Frederician RPF)
Maria Theresia | Maria Theresa of Austria (Frederician RPF)
Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf (Frederician RPF)
Peter Karl Christoph von Keith (Frederician RPF)
Sophia Dorothea of Hanover (Frederician RPF)
Stanisław August Poniatowski (Frederician RPF)
Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia (1709-1758) (Frederician RPF)
Yekatarina II Alekseyevna | Catherine the Great of Russia (Frederician RPF)

This means some fourth person kindly nominated Algarotti and -- I think? -- Stanislaw August Poniatowski! YAY! Thank you fourth person! Come be our friend! :D Yuletide is so great!

I am definitely requesting Maria Theresia, Wilhelmine, and Fritz (Put them in a room together. Shake. How big is the explosion?), and thinking about Elisabeth Christine, but maybe not this year.

I am also declaring this post another Frederician post, as the last one was getting out of hand. I think I'll still use that one as the overall index to these, though, to keep all the links in one place.

(seriously, every time I think the wild stories are done there is ANOTHER one)

Comments

Re: Alternate universes where everyone is at least incrementally more happy

[mildred_of_midgard]

(Me: "This is God's will?" what happened to "I die for you with joy in my heart" or "It's easy to die for so sweet a prince"?)

Idk, after watching it, maybe "Katte looks old enough to be Fritz's dad" happened to it? Is it just me being used to young characters being played by actors ten years older, or does Fritz look 15 in this? I looked up the actors, and Fritz is actually played by a 20-yo, and Katte by a 33-yo (that's still almost double their rl age difference), but wow Fritz looks young to me.

Also, as someone who's actually watched the movie and not as a silent-to-you 2x speed film, would you say the actors have the chemistry to sell one of the original lines for Katte's last words? They didn't seem to have many scenes together, but with good acting and screenwriting you can do a lot with a little, I guess.

Re: Alternate universes where everyone is at least incrementally more happy

[selenak]

I thought their first meeting, especially once FW has left the scene, had meet-cute type of chemistry, but subsequently there was more of an older friend and mentor vibe, true. Re: Fritz' actor - who btw is the greatgrandson of Käthe Kollwitz, legendary Weimar artist - true, he does look young, especially in the execution sequence, but then after the childhood sequence we do skip to a point where Fritz is 15, and as you say, the actor was 20 at the time, i.e. fitting with Fritz' age when the story ends. He does look more mature in his scenes with both the ambassadors (when he cryptically say "oh, I have plans alright" (for when he's king) and with Doris Ritter (not just because the actress plays her as shy while Fritz is confident but because of the way his hair is pulled back and the face is lighted (from below, not above), plus he's in "civilian" clothing whereas in his scenes with FW he's in uniform 99% of the time, which in addition to the difference in physical mass emphasizes his youth. Mind you: given Fritz was young, really, really young, it's fitting.

Re: Jan Niklas being 13 years older - he played young Peter the Great (from 18 to his early 30s, then Maximilian Schell took over) six years after playing Katte in "Der Thronfolger", so presumably tv producers thought he was looking youthful enough when casting him and only later once the actors actually played together thought they just didn't look like within the same age group?